Breeding Advice

[Greg'sGarters]

Hey guys, as some of you may know, I am fairly new to breeding garters. What steps (after coming out of brumation) do you guys take to get them breeding? How long does it take them to breed after taking them out of brumation? I hope that this thread helps me personally, as well as people who want to breed garters next year. Any and all advice will be appreciated, please advice only, discussion is discouraged.

[guidofatherof5]

There is no set time for any of this. Nature will take its course. I've had males lockup with females a few minutes after placing them together. Then its taken a few weeks and on some occasions it never happens. Nature will do what nature does.

[d_virginiana]

Might depend on how horny they are lol. My 12 year old male that's never mated before starts putting the moves on my female after about 30 seconds, even without being brumated. Once or twice he's tried courting what was apparently a very attractive cage decoration :rolleyes:

[woody44]

My vagrans were locked up within 5-10 minutes

[Greg'sGarters]

It's been 3 days since they came out. No lockups, no copulatory plugs :(. I hope mine breed. I am really nervous.

[guidofatherof5]

Chill out. It's got nothing to do with you. Give them some time and space.You don't watch them 24/7 so it might have happened already.

[Greg'sGarters]

Thanks, Steve! Anybody got any other post-brumation advice?

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Greg.... did you give your snakes hides like Neil told you to? The last I talked to him, he showed me that you weren't wanting to provide them with cage furniture for fear of them not focusing on breeding. Breeding shouldn't be your primary motive... it's just icing on the cake and good husbandry is what makes for happy snakes. No happy snakes, no babies.

[ConcinusMan]

What snakes are you trying to breed? I've never had concinnus' or northwesterns breed right away after brumation anyway. I'm sure it happens but it hasn't happened to me. It usually happens in the days following the female's post-brumation shed. It's actually quite typical for my snakes to breed 3-6 weeks after coming out. Here in the wild, sometimes I see breeding / courting right away and other times I see them breeding after they've been out for a month.

Be patient. Fact is, it could happen anytime in the coming months. Usually after the female sheds. Could just be she needs more time to produce viable eggs before becoming receptive and sometimes they just skip years.

[Greg'sGarters]

Greg.... did you give your snakes hides like Neil told you to? The last I talked to him, he showed me that you weren't wanting to provide them with cage furniture for fear of them not focusing on breeding. Breeding shouldn't be your primary motive... it's just icing on the cake and good husbandry is what makes for happy snakes. No happy snakes, no babies.

That wasn't necessarily the case. I didn't want to restrict any room for them, and feared that if they didn't have enough room they wouldn't breed. And to answer your question, yes I have hides in the cages. I know garters LOVE hiding and that it is one of the most important parts in successfully keeping garters.

[guidofatherof5]

They'll breed in a toilet paper roll. :DDon't worry about restricting their movement.
It only becomes an issue when the female starts dragging the male around by his junk. Then less obstacles come in handy for the male.;)

[Greg'sGarters]

Thank you for clearing the air on that one Steve.