How to Produce Hybrid Snakes
Breeding snakes makes sense to many who already are caring for snakes as pets. Choosing the right snake to mate with your female requires research to make sure they share the same hibernation patterns and ancestry. Creating a hybrid snake, with new patterns of coloring, demands the same precision as if you were breeding two snakes identical to one another. Make sure you aren't setting up your hatchlings for failure.
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Things You'll Need
- Egg incubator
- Two separate tanks for male and female
- Hibernation area in female tank
- Adjustable temperature aquarium lights
Instructions
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Find a Suitable Partner
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Find healthy, suitable partners for mating. Consult websites specializing in the hybrid breeding of snakes to see what types of combination are working and which ones won't. Snakes of varying colors or patterning within the same family will often mate, producing striking new patterns. Other times, according to expert breeders, the larger, often female, snake will attempt to dominate the smaller.
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Keep the male and female well fed for four months, starting in late summer and leading up to the beginning of their hibernation period at the start of December. This will align their hibernation with the natural seasons and allow them to put on needed weight for a three-month period without any food.
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Begin a cooling period that's appropriate for your type of snake at the beginning of December that lasts three months. Separate the two snakes and make sure both have adequate hiding places for this to occur naturally. Boatips.com, for instance, recommends between 55 and 65 degrees, but your snake may benefit from a warmer or cooler temperature. Check with other breeders of the type of snake you seek to mate.
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Increase the temperature about three months later to simulate the onset of warm weather or spring -- 83 degrees during the daytime, advises Boatips.com; 75 degrees at night. Begin to feed both snakes regularly.
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After a month or so of feeding after hibernation, gently place your female and male in the same tank in slowly increasing amounts of sunlight and artificial light, spraying mist inside regularly to raise the barometer.
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See if the female is allowing the male to comfortably get near, indicating that she is ovulating.
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Watch the female for another shedding, indicating she may be pregnant. Check with experts on your particular breed for the gestation period. Separate the male and female.
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Observe the female's aquarium for eggs after the gestation period ends. Continue to feed the snakes regularly, while waiting for the eggs to hatch.
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Remove the babies from the mother's tank, after removing the mother, and place them in a plastic container lined with wet paper towels. There could be a dozen, or dozens, depending on the species and fertility of the snake.
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Remove the paper towels after a few weeks. As soon as possible, place the baby snakes in new aquariums to avoid overcrowding. Feed them young versions of their mother's favorite food, be it mice, crickets or something else.
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Tips & Warnings
Make sure you have adequate supplies and housing for your new snakes. If you don't have pet shops or new owners lined up, you'll need to house your snakes in comfortable aquariums with adequate temperature control, food and water for each. According to Unusualalbinosnakes.com, releasing snakes into the wild is frowned upon in the snake breeding world, since snakes bred in captivity are at a disadvantage for survival.
References
Resources
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