I’m a new breeder of corn snakes, and my past breeding efforts were unsuccessful, so I’m hoping for better luck in 2027. I know we still have some time before breeding snakes need to go down for brumation, almost a year until I need an incubator, but I like to be prepaed and have time to do more research and budget for things, so I’m asking well in advance. Also, I’m a teacher on summer break, so trying to plan and prep before I get sucked back into the busy school year. 
I’m curious what experienced folks have used for brumation, especially for corn snakes? In the past, I tried using a closet in my basement, but now I’m wondered if it really got cold enough. I have a wine fridge I might try this year, but would also love advice on this. And I’m not sure how to fit all my snakes in the wine fridge either.
As for incubation, in the past I did a DIY incubator, because I only had single clutches in the past, but hopefully I’ll have more in ‘27. I always plan to be a small scale hobby breeder, so I don’t need to invest in a huge incubator, but wondering if there are cheaper reliable options, or better DIY options.
Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can give!
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As far as the wine cooler idea goes, remember you only really need to house the snakes you plan to actively breed. If you’re planning to skip a season they’re fine. I know sometimes I get too in my head about how many females I have and not how many I actually am breeding lol.
I guess I can tag some of the colubrids club in for advice too
@noodlehaus @deanaii @caryl
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Can you give a bit of an overview on what you tried that failed? For example, when you started pairing, whether or not you were observing for breeding behavior, how long you kept your pairs together, etc.
I’ve never brumated my snakes and haven’t really had any issues with not doing so, thus I can’t really give you any advice in that regard. There are some breeders that swear by brumation, but plenty of others who don’t do it at all.
As for incubators, I’ve never had more than three clutches at a time, so I stick to an off the shelf base model chicken egg incubator (Farm Innovators still air incubator) combined with a dual probe thermostat. This has given me pretty consistent results with few issues. This is the set up I tend to recommend to anyone doing smaller scale as it is quite cost efficient.
That said, my way works for me but may not work for everyone, so it’s best to get as many perspectives as possible and figure out what will work best for you.
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Hey! I don’t brumate my corns. I feed them kind of sparsely in winter anyway, but I start feeding the females I intend to breed heavily (every 6-7 days) starting just after Valentine’s Day. I start introducing pairs periodically after the female’s next shed. It doesn’t hurt anything to put them together before they’re ready.
I don’t use an incubator. I incubate at around 80F/26-27C, which is the temp I maintain in the snake room throughout the incubation period.
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The first season I bred, in 2023, the female breeder had supposedly been brumated by her previous owner, and was supposedly a proven breeder, as was the male. The female was new to me, and the male I’d had for 3 years and never brumated him, since up until that point, he was just a pet. They were paired 3 times, and I saw locks or evidence of locks in the bin afterward, and she laid 12 slug eggs. That was my only pairing that year.
In preparation for 2024 breeding, I put the male and female in brumation (in a closet in my finished basement, where temps are around 65, but sometimes warmer) and paired them after her first post-brumation shed. Again locks and again a clutch of mostly slugs, with 3 possibly viable eggs that never developed fully.
I took a year off due to some health reasons, ended up giving away the female to be a beloved pet to my cousin’s family, and the male, sadly, passed away. I suspect he was much older than I was told when I got him.
Now I’m starting again with a new crop of snakes, and hoping to be more succuessful this time,
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Ok, interesting! I don’t have a whole room I can keep reliably at that temp, which is why I feel like I need an incubator, but I’m interested to know not everyone brumates! I thought it was a requirement for successful breeding!
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So to me it sounds like your stock could have possibly been the problem and not so much your method, considering it was the same pair involved and the male ended up passing away. If you’ve got new stock, I’d consider giving things a go without brumation to see what happens first. You might be surprised at the results.
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Brumation synchs the males and females, which is nice. Less work. You know the female’s first shed will be the pre-receptive shed (the male will shed before). But if, like me, you don’t care about a little extra work and brumation conditions won’t be easy to achieve, try without.
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