BREEDING GUIDELINES FOR COLUBRID SNAKES This does not have details of everything someone should know to breed snakes. It is only to be used as an outline of important points to remember.

Make sure animal is in good health. ( no mites, or RI, healthy wt and size etc.) Prior to the brumating, feed animals heavily for two months to increase body fat stores. Brumation Two weeks before brumating stop all feeding to allow food to digest. Snakes must not be cooled down with food still in their digestive track. This could kill them. Weigh snakes  and record weight. Lower room temperatures  for several days to 65-70 Degrees. Some feel its best to control lighting as well by keeping snakes in dark, or limiting amount of light times in the room. Around November , put snakes in brumation containers with clean substrate to burrow in and a small bowl of water.  Humidity must stay low in these containers so you may choose to just offer water several days a week instead of having it constantly available. Cool down the room to 50 to 60 degrees. Brumation periods vary. For most colubrids a full 3 months is recommended but can be lowered to 6-8 weeks with successful results with some species. Check on snakes once a week. Check for good breathing, that the container is dry, and snake looks generally healthy in all other regards. Brumation is a slower metabolic period for snakes. It is not a total hibernation. They will still be mildly active and drinking water during this time.      If you find a snake is looking distressed or has lost too much weight warm the snake back up and deal with the issue. At end of brumation period weigh snakes and chart winter weight loss. Increase room temperature slowly and length of light each day.   Mating At end of brumation period, gradually increase temperatures till back to normal at a gradient of 75 to 85 degrees. After being at normal temperature for a few days start offering small frequent meals. Give food generously to build strength up for mating After female goes through her first shed, introduce her to the male. There are differing opinions on whether the male should be put in with the female, or the female should be put in the males enclosure.  We currently put the female in with the males enclosure. Repeat male/female copulation visits  several times or until successful mating. Give animals several days break in between times together. This is necessary for the males to restore and keep female stress levels low. Keep eye on King snakes when they are together because they may attempt to eat each other.  Rat Snakes are less likely to behave in this manner but should be watched when introduced just in case the pairing does not go well. Record all dates of copulation. You will want this information later to figure out expected egg laying dates. After Mating, the female will go through a shed cycle again. This is called the "pre-lay shed".  Her body should now appear more gravid and larger due to eggs in rear third of her body Record date of the shed and prepare for egg laying to happen within 6-10 Days. Egg laying When the egg carrying female sheds, she is isolated from any more visits from the male and an appropriate sized dark container  for her to fit into comfortably is put into her cage.  An access hole is cut into the container  and it is partially filled with wet sphagnum moss or other moist substrate . Once female sheds,  within 6 to 10 days, she should go into the box to lay her eggs Do not repeatedly disturb her during this time. Check on her only briefly once each day and keep her area out of bright light or any other stressful factors. Once the female has laid all her eggs ( make sure ALL have been laid) then she can be removed from the egg laying container and offered fresh water. She will be tired and weak after laying eggs. If eggs are caught within 30 minutes of being laid they can be gently separated The breeder female and the egg clutch are weighed, and the information recorded The eggs are transferred to a container with moist vermiculite and placed in the incubator. The female is then cared for and fed  a small meal every two to three days to rebuild her strength. After two weeks she resumes a regular feeding schedule to gain weight for the next breeding season. Incubation There are many different ways to incubate.  Type of container and substrate can vary but there are main points that must be covered. Incubation consists of keeping eggs in a moist, light air flow environment and controlling temps to stay at 80 to 84 degrees for a period of approximately 7-8 weeks Incubation containers can be a plastic shoe box with a lid. The box is filled half way with Vermiculite that is properly moistened with water. The eggs are then placed halfway into the vermiculite and the lid is put on. Some air flow is important but humidity levels stay better if there are not holes in the box, so You can just open the container once a week or so to "burp it". Then the container is placed in incubation chamber or somewhere that the temps will stay around between 79-84 degrees . Do not rotate the eggs from their original top/bottom position when placing in the vermiculite. Keep humidity levels constant in the box without saturating eggs and keep at 79to 84 degrees until hatching time. Check on eggs once a week. Some eggs will turn brown possibly and not develop the Hatchlings within, it is common for some eggs in the clutch to be bad. If you can remove this once they are noticeably rotting, without interfering with another egg then do so . But do not pull apart from another egg that has living offspring inside of it. Hatchlings About 7 weeks after egg laying the baby snakes will cut slits in the top of their eggs when they are ready to come out. Within a week of the first one all eggs should have slit open. If not you may have to assist with a very small clipping. You should then start to see the little heads poking out as they gather up nerve to come out. Do not force them out. They will come out when ready. when they hatch the date and number of each sex of the hatchlings is recorded next to clutch size and weight After all snakes have come out, separate the snakes into individual hatchling containers.   Babies should shed very soon. Start them feeding on Pinky mice or Pinky parts depending on the size of the offspring.   Set up records for babies ( date of birth , sheds, feed records )