Breeding / Incubation

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Click HERE to see what pairings we have made in 2012.

Click any photo to see a larger version in a new window.

Venomous Species I have bred, by year.

Year	Species Common Name	Species Scientific Name
2003	Eastern Brown Snake	Pseudechis textilis
2005	Eastern Brown Snake Spectacled Cobra (Sri Lanka)	Pseudechis textilis Naja naja
2006	Equatorial Spitting Cobra (Yellow) Indochinese Spitting Cobra (Black & White) Indochinese Spitting Cobra (Solid Black)	Naja sumatrana Naja siamensis Naja siamensis
2007	Equatorial Spitting Cobra (Yellow) Indochinese Spitting Cobra (Black & White)	Naja sumatrana Naja siamensis
2008	Equatorial Spitting Cobra (Yellow) Indochinese Spitting Cobra (Black & White) Central Asian Cobra	Naja sumatrana Naja siamensis Naja oxiana
2009	Equatorial Spitting Cobra (Yellow) Indochinese Spitting Cobra (Black & White)	Naja sumatrana Naja siamensis
2010	Equatorial Spitting Cobra (Yellow) Monocled Cobra (Poss. Dbl Het Leucistic/Sunset) Monocled Cobra (Suphan) Pygmy Mulga Snake (King Brown)	Naja sumatrana Naja kaouthia Naja kaouthia Pseudechis rossignolli
2011	Monocled Cobra (Het Sunset) Equatorial Spitting Cobra (Yellow) (5 Breedings) Indochinese Spitting Cobra (Black & White) (2 Breedings) Central Asian Cobra (Naja oxiana)	Naja kaouthia Naja sumatrana Naja siamensis Naja oxiana
2012	Monocled Cobra (Normal Het Albino to Normal Het Albino) Monocled Cobra (Suphan to Blizzard) Equatorial Spitting Cobra (Yellow) (2 Breedings) Indochinese Spitting Cobra (2 Breedings) Southeastern Philippine Cobra	Naja kaouthia Naja kaouthia Naja sumatrana Naja siamensis Naja samarensis

Breeding

My Cobras breed at different times, and not always the same time, according to specie. Below, you can see the time spans that specimens of the same specie have bred at my facility.

Naja kaouthia - October 20 - January 22

Naja naja - January 4 - March 18

Naja oxiana - January 25 - March 21

Naja samarensis - February 2

Naja siamensis - January 26 - March 13

Naja sumatrana - January 10 - March 4

Most breeders I know, cool their snakes for a period of a month or two, sometimes longer, before breeding them. Though this is not always needed, especially with species that are native to warmer climates. I usually start cooling my snakes at the beginning of Oct., and cool them for 1 1/2 months. I cool my snakes down to 65 - 70 F / 18 - 21 C. Otherwise, my snake room is kept at 79 - 82 F / 26 - 28 C at all times, day and night. It is also dark at all times, except when I am working in the room of course. Daylight and dark is not needed to successfully breed snakes. I will use a garden sprayer to spray water in the cages of the snakes that will be breeding, to simulate rain. If it happens to be raining outside, opening the door will usually make the snakes go crazy breeding.

Until I establish when a particular female is ready to breed, I keep an eye on them to make sure they do not hurt each other. My male Naja naja will bite and hold onto a females head or body if she is not yet ready to breed. It is obviously not the same as when a male will sometimes "hold" the female by the neck while breeding her. Once you have established the time a female is ready for breeding, things are fairly simple. I normally feed my Cobras in late afternoon or night, and put them together the next day. Sometimes males will stop eating when females are ovulating, and maybe even continue not feeding for a month after breeding season. After putting the female in with the male, if a male does not start twitching and rubbing on the female right away, I will separate them for half a day, and try again. Once the male is acting interested in her, I let them be, and come back later, and sometimes catch them breeding. I will usually leave the pair together all the time, except when feeding, until the female is visually gravid.

Once the female is visually gravid, I put her back in her cage. I keep accurate records of when I first put a female in with a male. Sometimes they breed that first day, and I see them breed, so I know they will be laying eggs approx. 60 days later. A week before she is ready to lay her eggs, I put a "laying box" in her cage. The laying box, is just a plastic container, that is small enough to keep the female from knocking the eggs around, as well as giving her a moist place to lay her eggs, so she does not lay them in her water bowl or on the substrate where they will not have enough moisture. I put sphagnum moss in the box and spray it with water so that it is completely soaked, but not sitting in water.

When the female lays her eggs, I take them from the laying box, and put them in the incubating containers. See below about Incubation.

Small (Corn Snakes)

13 x 9.5 x 3.5 Inches

33 x 24 x 9 Centimeters

Medium (Small Cobras)

14 x 10.5 x 4 Inches

35.5 x 26.7 x 10.2 Centimeters

Large (Large Cobras)

22.5 x 16 x 6 Inches

57 x 40.6 x 15.2 Centimeters

Incubation

When I first started reading books and researching articles online, about the incubation setup/process, it all seemed a bit overwhelming. There were containers of eggs suspended over water in an aquarium. Styrofoam incubators for hatching chicken eggs, and many photos of professional and homemade incubators. Most homemade incubators held only a few eggs, and the professional incubators held many eggs, but were very expensive. Then I saw some larger homemade incubators, and I figured I could make a large incubator out of an old upright freezer, using a couple small fans, and heat tape.

But, thankfully, before I got into buying an old freezer and other materials, and building the Incubator, I asked a person that I had purchased many snakes from, how they go about incubating eggs. I could not believe what I was told. You do NOT need any kind of incubator to successfully incubate snake eggs. People make it much more difficult than it really is.

All you need is:

1) A container secure enough to keep the smallest bugs out, and the hatchling snakes in.

2) Some type of medium, like Vermiculite.

3) Some water.

4) A shelf to set the container on, where it will remain at the proper temps, plus or minus a couple of degrees.

The first three times I incubated snake eggs, I used fine Vermiculite, purchased at Lowe's Garden Center, mixed 50/50 by weight with water, and I put it in Sterilite Shoe boxes. I incubated Eastern Brown Snake eggs first, and the next year, I incubated Eastern Brown eggs, and Sri Lankan Spectacled Cobra eggs. I buried the eggs halfway in the Vermiculite, and set the containers on a shelf where it was about 85-86 degrees, as that was the temps in my Hot Room back then, on that shelf. The shoe boxes worked ok. I put some tiny holes in the lid for air, but the lids did not fit tight and some tiny bugs got in, so I needed to check on them often to keep the bugs out. They also allowed the vermiculite to dry out more, so you must make sure it does not get too dry. The eggs hatched fine, but I decided to change to a different type of container.

The next time I incubated eggs, I used clear plastic Deli Cups, (pictured below), like the ones used for displaying snakes for sale at snake shows. I ordered cups that had no holes in the sides, or if they had holes, I covered them with plastic electric tape. I took a small sewing needle, heated it ,and put 6 or 8 tiny pinholes around the outer edge of the lids of the containers. I used the 6.75" x 3" high Delis for small eggs or small clutches, and I use 9.75" x 3" high delis for larger eggs or clutches. I only breed Corns, Kings, and Cobras, so I have no need for larger containers until I start breeding my King Cobras.

I now incubate the eggs in my "Nursery". The Nursery is a bedroom in my house, where I keep hatchlings for the first two years of their lives. Once they reach 2 years, or are of a sufficient size, they are moved to the big Hot Room.

I still prepare the vermiculite the same way, only now, I use the large grain Vermiculite, purchased at a farm and feed supply store. I still set the containers on a shelf in my Nursery Hot Room, but now at 80-83 degrees (26.6 - 28.3 cm), as I seem to get more 50/50 or female heavy clutches at these lower temps. See the above link button "TSD in Snakes?" to see my results. Below are some photos of how I set up the deli cups.

Normally, I do not need to add water to the deli cups after the initial mixing, as condensation builds on the inside of the cups. If anything, I need to removed the lids periodically, and shake off the excess condensation that has accumulated on the underside of the lids, so it does not drip onto the eggs below. This way of incubating snake eggs seems to work just fine, as I have very few, if any, eggs that do not hatch.

6.75" x 3" with Albino Cal King Eggs

9.75" x 3" with Equatorial Spitting Cobras eggs

Incubation Rack

Rack with 9.75" deli cup houses for Cobra hatchlings.


Naja kaouthia Normal Het Albino X Normal Het Albino KaoN-002-08-F X KaoN-001-08-M	Naja kaouthia Suphan Female X Blizzard Male KaoS-002-07-F X KaoB-001-08-M	Naja sumatrana Bright Yellow F X Darker Yellow M SumY-004-07-F X SumY-007-WC-M
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Naja sumatrana Bright Yellow F X Bright Yellow M SumY-004-07-F to SumY-003-06-M	Naja siamensis High-white Banded F x High-white Striped M Sia-010-08-F to Sia-007-08-M	Naja samarensis Sam-002-09-F to Sam-001-09-M

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Naja siamensis Banded F x Spotted M Sia-003-07-F to Sia-004-07-M	.	.

2012 Breeding Season
Specie	ID # of Specimens Bred	Date Bred	# Eggs	Date Laid	Date Hatched	Sex Ratio
Naja kaouthia (Normal Het Albino x Normal Het Albino)	KaoN-002-08-F to KaoN-001-08-M	11/26/11	18	15 Good on 01/17/12	22 on 04/04/11	13 . 9 .
Naja kaouthia (Suphan x Blizzard)	KaoS-002-07-F to KaoB-001-08-M	11/28/11	13	10 Good on 01/21/12
Naja sumatrana (Bright Yellow x Darker Yellow)	SumY-004-07-F to SumY-007-WC-M	01/20/12
Naja sumatrana (Bright Yellow x Bright Yellow)	SumY-006-08-F to SumY-003-06-M	01/22/12
Naja siamensis (Hi-white Banded x Hi-white Striped)	Sia-010-08-F to Sia-007-08-M	02/02/12
Naja samarensis	Sam-002-09-F to Sam-001-09-M	02/02/12
Naja siamensis (Banded F x Spotted M)	Sia-003-07-F to Sia-004-07-M	02/03/12


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