Corn Mating

[Malachi]

So I finally got a male for my female Corn. Just put them together for the first time and they immediately got down to the business of courting each other. Shortly after, the male lost interest and stopped just short of penetration. The female was ready, having secreted the fluids and was getting comfortable with the male and all of a sudden the male went into a freeze and didn't bother continuing.

I carried on monitoring the situation for a further 30min and nothing. The female just carried on squirming all over the male while he didnt bother even doing as much as taste the air.

Ive left them together, I spose until I see some sign of ovulation or eggs or whatever [Im a snake breeding virgin] but the body language was very strange to me.

Anybody with experience have any advice on this situation? Bit of insight into snake body language and will I ever get them to try again?!

[telefrag]

First of all, putting a snake you just got with one of your established snakes=really really really really bad idea.

Second
double check the gender of each one, sounds like it may be two males, or one may not be ready to reproduce, or they may not have been properly cycled, OR they wanted a little privacy.

[Malachi]

they are both first timers.

I probed them myself and the genders are matched.

I know its not such a good idea to put them together so soon, but i know both snakes well enough to know they should be fine together. [the newbie is from a good friend and i have handled the snake many times before]

im with you on privacy and have done just that. letting them be is probably the best for now.

Do you think that there will be a 2nd chance of mating?

[telefrag]

sure
corns mate from early spring to mid and even late summer, but it all depends on the environmental factors around them.
Daylight, temperature, age, etc.

[HARTSOCK]

Still sounds a little like you might have two males and when the one figured out it wasn't a chick, he lost interest, but the other one said, "eh, why not..."

First times are never easy or work out as good as what is expected.... give them another go later and see what happens.

[burmeselover15]

maybe one of them is not old enough to breed yet

[telefrag]

how many subcauds did each one probe?

what you can try is do every third day introductions.

I would introduce the female to the males enclosure, leave them for a day or so together, then remove, and try again after 2-3 more days.
do that for a few weeks and hopefully a fertile mating will take place.

Your not really likely to see ovulation like you would in a boid, but most times the females will slow down on their food intake, and you'll notice lots of anterior distending after several weeks.

[Malachi]

thanks guys. im going to try 3rd day introductions. they probed 2 [barely] and 7 [didnt bother going further as i was confident with the depth and didnt want to injure] subcauds respectively so it looked good. Ill reprobe both tonight and see what happens....