Guide To Breeding Corn Snakes

Corn Snakes are fairly easy to breed in captivity, and they make many keeper’s first foray into the practice of reptile breeding. That said, you need to approach the process with a well constructed plan, making sure you have all the pieces in place for incubating eggs, caring for hatchlings, and keeping multiple snakes at a time.

Read also: Complete Corn Snake Care Guide

Some key factors in corn snake breeding include the winter brumation period, properly introducing the pairs, and incubating the eggs with optimal temperature and humidity. The following guide covers all of this and more, so that you can successfully introduce a new brood of corn snakes to the world.

Corn Snake Maturity

First make certain that you have an accurately sexed pair. I recommend waiting to breed females until they are at least 3 years old and at least 3 feet in length to reduce the chances of egg binding and failed birth. Males however can be bred in their second year. If you don’t know the sex of your snakes, you can refer to this YouTube video by SarahsSnakeShop for instructions on how to determine male from female.

Brumation

Brumation — the reptile equivalent to hibernation — is crucial for stimulating breeding in corn snakes. The winter cool-down is part of their natural life cycle, and springtime warming is part of what activates their hormones for reproduction.

Once it is determined that you have an accurately sexed pair that is old enough and large enough to breed, they should be brumated at a temperature of 55-60F for a period of 60-90 days. I recommend doing this during the winter, though that’s not strictly necessary if you control temperatures carefully.

It is important to not feed the snakes for 2 weeks prior to brumation to ensure that their digestive tracts are empty before cooling them down. Also do not attempt to feed during the brumation period.

Introducing the Pairs

Once the brumation period is over, warm the snakes back up to about 80F and start feeding them. The breeder females should be fed rather heavily at this time to help get them ready for the production of eggs.

Once both snakes have eaten a few meals, have pooped, and have shed their skin; start introducing the male into the female’s enclosure for a few hours at a time. Be observant at this time for possible cannibalism — although rare with corn snakes, it can happen.

Continue introducing the male to the female until you are sure that the female is gravid. This can be determined by the increased girth in the rear 1/3 of the female’s body combined with her refusal to feed.

Egg Laying and Incubation

Eggs should be laid about 30 days after successful copulation. Once it has been determined that the female is gravid, it is important to have a ‘laying box’ ready for her to deposit the eggs in. I like to use large Tupperware containers with lids. I will cut a hole in the center of the lid roughly twice the diameter of the snake and fill the container 2/3 full with damp sphagnum moss. Once she has laid her eggs I merely switch out the lid that has been cut with a lid that has not been cut and never have to touch the eggs.

The eggs should hatch 55-65 days after being laid, if incubated at a temperature of about 82F with a humidity of about 80%. I open the lid of the container for about 30 minutes each day to provide some ventilation. Be careful about the humidity of the eggs. If they get too damp, they will mold and kill the egg. If they get too dry then the egg will shrivel and the hatchling will not be able to split the egg and die inside of the egg.

Upon hatching it is normal for the hatchling to sit in the egg with only its head sticking out for 12-48 hours after splitting the eggshell. It is sucking up the last of the egg yolk at this time and should not be forcibly removed from the egg as this can likely kill the hatchling. Give the baby snakes time to emerge on their own, and once you find them in the laying box you can remove them to a separate hatchling enclosure.

Raising Corn Snake Hatchlings

About 4-5 days after emerging the hatchling will go through its first shed. After that time you can begin to attempt to feed the hatchlings 1 newborn pinky mouse each about once a week. Make sure to house and feed the hatchlings separately to avoid possible cannibalism.

Hatchlings can comfortably live in a “Kritter Keeper” or other small plastic enclosure. Make sure that the lid closes securely because these young snakes will squeeze through the smallest cracks. If you plan to raise the hatchlings for a few months as they grow bigger, you might go ahead and put them in a 10-gallon tank that they can grow into.

For bedding I prefer newspaper or paper towels because they are cheap and easy to clean, but hatchlings do fine on a variety of substrates. Be extra careful about particulate substrate when feeding small snakes. Any type of bedding that is granular, finely shaved, or dusty can cause issues with impaction. To solve this you can use a clean feeding area or feed the snakes in a separate enclosure.

Housing Multiple Corn Snakes

Many breeders or hobbyists who maintain large collections of corn snakes opt for a rack system type of setup. This basically involves a shelving type of system where the bottom of one ‘shelf’ actually works as a lid to the tub underneath. Rack systems are most often heated by heat tape running along the back of the ‘tubs’ controlled by either a thermostat or a dimmer switch. As far as the ‘tubs’ go, a plastic shoebox will work fine for juvenile snakes; while plastic sweater boxes are commonly used to house adult snakes.

Whichever setup you decide to use, drinking water and hide boxes are important to provide. I like to use large dog water bowls for this purpose that have notches cut in the sides for hand grips. The snake can get under the water bowl through these grips, so the water bowl also doubles as a hide box.

Remember that a 10-gallon aquarium or equivalent size is fine for juvenile snakes, but corn snakes benefit from plenty of room to move around when they are full grown. Adult snakes need an enclosure no smaller than a 20-gallon long, but a 40-gallon breeder or larger is much better.

As with any reptile breeding endeavor, make sure you have a plan for what you’ll do with your new snakes. Long before you start the process you should think about how long you’ll keep the juveniles and where their eventual home will be. Reptile breeding is extremely rewarding, but you should only start if you can ensure proper housing or finding a good home for the offspring.