question about breeding

so last night I was checking on my corns, and my female had just shed, so I put her in with my male Anery and they instantly started doing the jerking motions following eachother around, so I closed the top and let them be. this morning I checked on them again, and it looks like there is a small spot of blood in the aspen, not much at all, but it looks to be blood, not sure what else it would be. both snakes are 100% healthy, no past problems and I have had them quite a while. is this, or can this happen during breeding?

Male corn and rat snakes typically bite and hold onto the neck area of the females when they are courting and/or copulating, it could be from that.

Yes, it is possible. If Rich happens to see this and he knows where either the thread (it may have been over on CS ) is or the picture of the bloody massacre he had posted previously and could post it you'll be happy there was only a spot.

ok, this is my first time with the corns, and I was hoping nothing went wrong!! Thanks so much for the replies!! I'm really hoping this works out!!

It's also possible that the blood is from the copulation itself rather then a bite. I have some snakes (Ball Pythons and Cornsnakes) that every time they're breeding their is some sort of blood on their paper. Some more so then others.

another question haha, so I was feeding last night, and I noticed my adult female was not interested at all in her food. she is an 1100 gram pig, and has never refused a meal for me. is this normal after copulation? I would think she would be taking the food down!!

My females normally ate almost right up to laying time... but I never tried to offer right after putting them together either

what do these jerking motions mean? Is it part of the courtship?

The jerking is part of courtship. I dont do enough corn breeding to know exactly 'what it means', but, its what they do when they want to do the dirty. Lol. I also notice it after feeding time as well. As far as the blood, my ball pythons will often have a small amount of blood from the cloaca after breeding (and even sometimes after shedding). With them, it is normal. I cant say for sure with the corn snakes, but, I would assume so. It only takes a tiny amount of blood to color something blood colored and make it seem worse then it actually is. If they both seem fine and you dont see blood leaking from them I wouldnt worray about it.