I chatted earlier about some very successful locks between my corns about two weeks ago now, and I just wanted to ask about the schedule for corn breeding. My girl has suddenly gone very blue, very grumpy, and much less explorative, so I’m hoping these are some good signs. But I wanted to ask, IS this even a pre-lay shed? It feels awfully soon unless that first lock really did it. She’s also looking a bit chunkier and wanted some input (if possible!) I don’t want to disturb her much if at all
I have a clutch that should be pipping any minute, and there were only 17 days between first lock and her pre-lay shed. I’ve never had it happen like that before, but apparently it can. Most of the time it’s at least 4 weeks. Just treat it like pre-lay and make sure she has a lay box. She’s pretty.
Thank you! Got her as a gift along with her boyfriend with a large purchase of ball pythons, and she was so pretty I couldn’t help but try my hand at corns for once, hoping that some of the mystery pos hets I was told about could shine through
Keep us posted.
I’m thinking congratulations are in order. That time frame is a little on the quick side, but she surely might be gravid. She hasn’t shed just yet, she looks to be at the height of the"blue" stage. She will most likely complete the shed cycle, shed, then lay in about 7-14 days. Most of mine seem to be in the 7-10 day post-shed range. All of that will probably put her laying in the average timee of 30-45 days post-lock. If you haven’t, go ahead and give her a nest box with something like damp sphagnum moss. Snakes don’t necessarily follow the expected schedule and it is best to be ready early. Also, if needed, replace her usual water dish with one that she can’t fit into. Am option to soak is normally good but not when they’re gravid. They’ve been known to lay in a water dish, usually resulting in drowned embryos.
Do you know the parents’ genetics? The female is pretty. I like Motley Tesseras.
Miami stripe pos hets for motley (which she could just be a motley stripe, they’re so hard to tell apart) and amel which I remember X Miami mess of hets didn’t write down in time unfortunately I know het stripe is in him though so I assume they’re somewhat related, but when I asked the person said not siblings so that’s better
Hopefully the babies will show something or other, otherwise I’m happy with a bunch of nice looking miamis if my luck is bad.
She has a large water bowl but not big enough to fit in currently, just a kitchen Tupperware, and I was preparing her lay box tonight since I had to throw out my last ones after a gnat problem along with fifty dollars of substrate. I can’t palpate any eggs but I have no idea what I’m doing there so it makes sense, but in the second pic where I’m holding her if you look behind my hand she looks like she ate a golf ball which I hope is promising too
Edit: after some quick brain refreshers I remember amel, hypo, stripe, motley for sure
Sounds like you’re set for eggs to arrive. Your girl’s pattern does look to be homozygous Stripe, going by the width between the stripes and the way the pattern looks on her neck and head. I apologize, I had a brain blip and somehow thought I’d read that the male was Motley Tessera. Obviously I confused myself with something else there. Sorry! Sounds like you have a lot of potential variety in this pairing.
The easiest way to feel eggs is to lay your hand flat, palm up under some thin, smooth cloth like a sheet and let the snake crawl over your hand in a relaxed way. You should be able to feel a series of bumps if she’s gravid, like she swallowed a necklace made of giant beads.
So exciting! Congratulations. I agree with @Caryl on the homozygous stripe. She sure is pretty! Hope your possible hets work out. Genetic roulette is a fun game