Posted by:
Rtdunham
at Thu Feb 23 17:14:03 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Rtdunham ]
In a thread a week or two ago Tim Spuckler reported accounts of breeders in his area breeding hondurans without brumating them. I suggested we get more detailed accounts, and Tim referred me to one such breeder, Doug Matuszak of Boa Basement.
I wrote Doug about his experiences. Here's his reply:
"the temps my hondos are at range between 72 - 76 degrees depending on how long the furnace is on to heat the house in the dead of winter. The snakes are fed once to twice a week on large to jumbo mice. most eat while a few of the older animals(6 years ) might refuse once in a while. The reason I stopped the more drastic cooling practice was due to the fact that these animals come from a neotropical environment and I felt these more drastic cooling practices caused undue stress upon the animals. The 05 season went great doing this while previous years at the cooler temps produced less eggs and fewer females laid eggs period. These lower temps were in the low 60s into the high 50s which was what I was taught originally to get these animals to go. I now leave all my colubrids, kings and corns and the hondos in the warmer temps and they all seem to be doing better for the change.
What this also does is stop the mad dash to fatten ones females up before starving them for several months while we humans relax. I can pretty much guarantee that these animals eat year around in the wild.
Regular feeding schedule to get them to lay twice a year is 3 - 4 times a week starting around mid March into April."
So it sounds like doug is one person who's bred successfully, at least for this first year (05) without dramatic brumation. Note that his snakes ARE exposed to lower (but only slightly so) temperatures in the winter, and do eat LESS by about half, compared to the regular feeding schedule. Nevertheless, they're kept "up" and feeding on that reduced sched throughout the winter. I've asked Doug to report here how this season goes, and i urge others to report their results if they use non-conventional brumation. The "traditional" method need not always be the right one.
peace
terry
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 UPDATE to earlier thread re: NON_BRUMATING HONDOS - Rtdunham, Thu Feb 23 17:14:03 2006
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