End of Season

Now that everything has hatched for this season, and the incubators are empty and switched off for the year, I thought now would be a good time to have a little catch up. This season - my first breeding season - has gone brilliantly as far as I'm concerned. The breeding process for both the Royals and the Corns has been like clockwork, despite the initial delay in confirmed locks between the Royals - eggs were laid exactly when expected, and I was able to predict with relative accuracy when each clutch would hatch. Out of a total of 65 eggs laid over 4 clutches (one from the Royals, and three lots of Corns) only one egg was lost, giving a successful hatch rate of 98.5%. The total countup for the season is;

Corn snakes;

• 6 Carolinas
• 6 Amels
• 36 Anerys
• 8 Snows

Royals;

• 6 Fires
• 2 Normals

I am obviously really pleased with the overall result, and am pleased to say that most of the hatchlings are doing well. There are one or two stubborn feeders that are proving to be difficult to get started on frozen/thawed pray, but this is really to be expected with large clutches, and the none-feeding blues is a topic I'll touch on another day. Additionally, all the mothers are doing great, are in fantastic physical condition - in fact you wouldn't even know that they'd been through the trauma of egg laying! Monty (female Royal) is back up to the weight she was before she laid and is feeding with continued aggression, and might be back in for another season next year. The Corns are preparing themselves for their annual brumation at the moment, but will be given next year off from breeding.

It's been a hectic year all in all, and a massive learning curve - plus the rush and expense of getting everything set up to accommodate such large numbers of snakes - but all in all I really have very few errors to iron out, and I don't think I'll be doing anything much differently next season, with the exception of delaying the pairings of Royals until a little later.

For now however, before the next season begins, I'm extremely busy with the results of the season gone - or more accurately, the routine of feeding, cleaning, and selling of 65 little snakes. I think it's important mention this, as it's not something that's often spoken about, and I feel many people wade into breeding without much thought as to what happens after everything has hatched. My daily chores have gone through the roof, at the expense of my free time. Looking after 65 young snakes on top of my original snake room residents keeps me very busy, with something needing doing pretty much every night - hence the lack of updates recently!! Corn snake hatchlings require cleaning and feeding twice a week, or every 4-5 days, so there is always paper to fold and waterbowls to scrub. Of course, pinkies are consumed by the 100 in a very short time - and certainly initially at least, I was paying for these out of my own pocket.

Corn snakes particularly are arguably over-bred in captivity, mostly by hobbyist breeders such as myself. Unfortunately many of these are by people woefully under prepared to house and feed large numbers of snakes, sometimes as a result of co-habiting mixed sexes, and as a result the market place is quite saturated. Often people will wade into breeding with a completely unrealistic view of making money - the reality is that many people often struggle to sell or even give their young snakes away - resulting in petshops and rescue centres bursting at the seams with them. I have been lucky in this aspect - the Royals were all reserved as soon as I had sexed them, and with the Corns I sell 2 or 3 a week, most weeks. It's certainly not a quick process - I put a lot of work not only into looking after all the little snakes, but also into listing them for sale and responding to advert enquiries - as well as vetting the people who have contacted me. I can't force people to keep snakes exactly as I keep them, and nor would I want to, but I can make the decision as to whether I want to hand over one of my animals to them, and unfortunately, sometimes the answer is no. I have sold quite a lot at this point, and I still have many to go, so I imagine I'll be looking after lots of hatchlings for quite some time yet.

It's important to remember that by choosing to breed your snakes, the results are your responsibility - to house them appropriately (separately), provide heating, feeding, and cleaning. This will all be at your own expense, both in terms of time and cost, certainly initially anyway. It will not be an overnight thing - expect to house hatchlings for many months, and don't get too carried away with illusions grandeur of making much (if anything) in the way of profit either. It's not all fun and games - these are completely dependable animals we play with.

But this makes it all worthwhile ;)