So I'm going to be collecting my new corn snakes in the next couple of weeks, and there's a chance I'll be able to choose the sex (she can probe).
I am interested in breeding sometime in the future and was wondering whether it would benefit me to get females or whether it wouldn't matter. I'm thinking if I get females then I can make pairings in the future and perhaps not hold onto the paired male long term, but then I remembered that females don't rear their babies anyway. So I could do the same thing but reverse the sexes.
I have no idea whether or not I could actually do that; breed two snakes together for breeding programs but not keep the partner long term, but I know my husband will restrict the number of snakes I will be allowed in the future, and also I'm buying hatchlings with more than one het and also possible hets. So numerous pairings will be an option in the future.
What would you do? Do you think the sex of the snake matters, or would you be tempted to keep your breeding females permanently so you get to know them? Or would it be better to move on and sell proven females from a financial point of view.
I'm being very blunt with all this and not considering the emotional ties I will have to these future snakes, but I have to be to make this initial decision. I was just hoping for some input from the more experienced owners and breeders.
you can breed a number of females to just one male. if you only want to breed one pair and you can get a male and female hatchling that will produce hatchlings in the future that are the morphs you want then you may as well do that. you will have to keep them apart until there at the right age and weight for breeding as snakes that breed to young can have many problems
If you are looking at hets and possible hets then it would seem a waste to not keep the partner long term- Dependent upon hets it may take several breeding seasons before you've seen the full range of visuals the 2 can produce.
9.11 Cornsnakes 1.1 Hogg island boas 1.0 Dwarf Burmese python
That's a really good point. I think I should choose a couple of hatchlings that have great possible hets and stick with them :) It's just all so exciting I have to keep reminding myself to be patient and just start simple!
New snakes - M or F with future breeding in mind?
Posted - 08/07/2012 : 21:57:03
