When it comes to reptiles and having them as pets, the corn snake is one of the easiest to breed. No one knows how many are bred in captivity each year but the number is, easily, in the hundreds of thousands.

Breeding your pet corn snake will give you the opportunity of seeing babies being born and the surprise of seeing what they look like when they hatch. Hopefully, this is the main reason behind your interest in breeding pet corn snakes because the chances of making a profit from this hobby is very small. You have thousands of other breeders to compete with and this, often, creates environments that are unhealthy for these reptiles.

Before you attempt to breed your snakes you will want to make sure that their health is up to par. Sick or unhealthy snakes can create health problems in the offspring or the mother or both. Through the summer and fall, slowly increase their diets by feeding them larger prey or by feeding them more often. When it is time for the brumation, make sure that your corn snakes have emptied their digestive tracts and move them to another tank with a temperature between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep them here for about a week.

After a week has passed they need to be put in temperatures of 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit for around a month and then about 50 degrees Fahrenheit for another month or two months. You want the entire brumation period to last three months or a little less.

Following the cooling period you will, essentially, go through the same process in reverse. Take them from the 50 degree temperature to 55 to 60 and then up to 65 to 70 for a week. After this put them back into their normal tank or at their normal temperature. After two or three days you can try to feed them a small serving. After another couple days you can resume their normal feeding schedule.

Once the female has eaten three or four times it is a good time to place the male and female together. Leave them together except for during feeding time. Copulation usually takes place during the night so you may not even notice that it is happening. Watch carefully and once you notice swelling in the abdomen of the female you can separate the snakes for good. Once this happens you can increase the frequency of feeding the female to help her provide the nutrition she needs for herself and her eggs.