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Breeding Issues & Suggestions
1. Species Confusion
In my experience the biggest problems with
breeding result from confusion about the three most common species
of house snakes that are commonly available. These three
species include,
- Lamprophis Fuliginosus (the brown house
snake)
- Lamprophis Capensis (the cape house
snake)
- Lamprophis Maculatus (the dotted house
snake)
 These
are the three most common species of house snake both
imported and bred in the U.S. today and many breeders simply
believe are all just phases and patterns of L.
fuliginosus. I have spoken to breeders that have
successfully bred combinations on these species and others
who have had negative results. What I can say
conclusively is in every instance with multiple generations
sooner or later slugs are the result of cross breeding these
three species.
In a world were we breed
Carbals (carpet and ball python crosses) and Sinacorns (sinaloan
milk snakes crossed with corns) it is hard to believe that
animals in the same genus will have problems with interbreeding
but the evidence currently indicates that to be the
case.
I am no purest and have
no problems with hybridization, my only advice here is be
sure of what you are breeding, keep good records and if
possible make the results known to others. There is a
lot of conflicting information and good documentation is the
only way we are ever going to be able get beyond the current
confusion.
2. Photoperiod
Photoperiod is simply
the duration of the daily exposure to light. In summer
there are longer days so a common technique is to reduce the
photoperiod for snakes in the winter, then lengthen it in
the spring to simulate seasonal changes. It is
generally accepted that you do not have to either chill
house snakes or manipulate their photoperiod to get them to
breed. I personally concur with this assessment.
There is however, a lot
to be gained by going with a very long photoperiod to
encourage vigerous breeding. Dr. Neil Ford from U.T.
Tyler who has done a lot of work with Lamprophis has
repetedly mentioned a photoperiod of 14 hours of light and
10 hours of dark prior to breeding and has reported
exceptional results from doing so.
My breeding efforts have
always incorporated this photoperiod and my results have
also proven stellar. While this manipulation may not
be "necessary" it seems to be very effective and
so easy to provide there really is no good case for not
utilizing it.
3. Temperature
As mentioned above
chilling house snakes is not necessary for breeding. I
have read an account by John Cherry who worked with
Lamprophis quite a bit in the past though of getting better
results from males with chilling, so if you have a
unproductive male you may wish to burmate your males while
you fatten up your females. By sticking to pure
bloodlines I have yet to find this necessary. House
Snakes do very well with a gradient from 72-88 Degrees Fahrenheit
and providing that is about all you need to do for excellent
breeding results.
4. Beware of
Water Dishes
Female house snakes seem
to be very self destructive of their eggs if you give them
the opportunity to lay eggs in their water bowels. In
the absence of a good laying box they will often lay in a
water bowel but even at times with a box in place if their
dish is large enough to soak in they will opt for the water
dish over the box. The problem is that even a brief
submersion in water will kill most eggs. I recently
acquired a snake that had been bred in the past and she happened
to be gravid with a second clutch. I failed to notice
this and she laid in her dish, the result 10 eggs, 4 made it
and 6 died.
My advice with your
gravid females as they get close to laying time, replace
their dish with as small a dish as you can provide.
Choose a dish far to small for the snake to fit in.
Keep a close eye on the water level to be sure she never
goes with out water during the stress of being gravid
. Provide a good laying box, typically a large deli
cup is perfect. Many breeders use damp sphagnum moss
in their boxes or damp perlite.
Both of these are proven
and work very well but I have recently found a new medium
for laying boxes and incubation that I can't say enough good
things about. The product is called Hatch
Rite and I highly recommend it for both laying boxes
and incubation. The nice thing about Hatch Rite is it
is already moistened to the perfect ratio, you just pour it
in and go.
In any event, to avoid
dead eggs make sure to provide a good laying box and reduce
the size of the water dish about hatching time.
5. Incubation
 House
snake eggs require nothing special from an incubation stand
point. I like many small scale breeders use the basic
model of the Hovabator
Incubator, which can be had for 40-60 bucks. Note
that you want the "thermal air flow"
version. Do not pay more for the unit with the fan,
the fan is for birds eggs which should be kept in a very dry
environment. Snake eggs of course do best in a slightly
moist environment so not only is the fan not needed and more
expensive it is actually very bad for reptile eggs.
House snake eggs do very
good in a temperature range of 75-85 degrees, I try to
incubate right at 80 degrees as that provides the maximum
room for up or down swings. Eggs usually take about 60
days to hatch. It may sound obvious but label your
containers if you have more then one clutch in the incubator
to be sure you know which parents are responsible for the
cute little worms once they emerge.
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