Snake Breeding

Until a fairly short time ago it was uncommon for snakes to breeding captivity but fortunately the picture is changing and more and more species are being captive-bred, as we discover more about their requirements.

If you are lucky, you may find that when you buy a snake it is already gravid (pregnant), in which case half the hard work has been done for you. Some snakes give birth to live young and if this is the case your only problem is to persuade the babies to feed. What they eat will depend on the species but, remembering that all snakes are carnivorous, it is worthwhile providing a variety of suitable prey to see what they will take.

Some baby snakes will refuse to feed at first and as a last resort they might have to be force fed, but this is very stressful to the snake and can be dangerous for it, so do not try it until you have been shown the technique by an experienced herpetologist. However, sometimes it is possible to start a snake feeding with little persuasion. Mouse tails are useful as a starter food. All that is necessary is to remove the tails from dead adult mice and chop them into short lengths. If the snake is gently held and the piece of tail is gently pressed against the mouth, with luck the snake will open it whereupon you insert the tail just inside the mouth, release the snake, and hope it might swallow the food.

If your adult snakes are egg-layers, and it is most likely that they will be, they may be of a species that incubates the eggs, in which case let them get on with it; or they may leave the eggs for you to deal with, in which case they should be placed in a container which can be maintained at a suitable temperature and humidity. The latter is critical, but a careful watch has to be kept on it to make sure that the eggs do not contract a fungal infection, which will be fatal. See Lizards below for further details.

Perhaps the most difficult part of snake breeding is inducing the adults to mate in the first place. Sexing snakes is not the easiest task for the novice, but an experienced herpetologist will be able to help. However, you can take a look at the snake from the side in the region of the vent. At this point there Lisa sudden change in the outline of the female while a male tends to taper evenly towards the tail. When you are sure you have got at rue pair, wait till the autumn and try reducing the temperature gradually over the winter. When spring comes and you increase it again this ought to act as a stimulus, in conjunction with photo-period - in the wild, the day length increases in the spring and this increase in the hours of daylight is just as important as the temperature, so, depending on your snake room, you may have to fake an increase in day length with artificial lighting .Typically, with snakes such as Corn

Snakes, mating will take place in early spring and a clutch of about twelve eggs is laid six to eight weeks later. Incubation is also six to eight weeks and the young, when they hatch, are 20-25 cm (8-10 in) long. Two final points about breeding snakes are worth remembering. The first is that all snakes - babies are no exception - are escape artists, and can escape through the tiniest holes. You might well have small holes somewhere in the viaticum that you have taken for granted since you knew they were too small for the adults to escape through. You probably do not notice them any more but Incan promise that your new babies will find them. The other point to watch is that snakes are carnivores and big snakes might eat little snakes, so take care to remove the babies to their own tank.