Posted by:
John Q
at Sat Aug 26 10:19:55 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by John Q ]
This has come up before and I have my opinion based on my experience but I'm interested in hearing from others.
As far as your BP's. They produced so you obviously did something that caused them to cycle you probably just were not aware of it, not intentional. BP's may cycle in a rack without adjusting the temps. They only need a 10 degree evening drop. This can happen naturally in your house. As well as shorter daylight hours. Others have reported the same results you got, cycling with temp drops just because their house temps dropped in the evening.
As far as colubrids, I say brumate. I live in an area of So. Cal. that is near the beach and I'm in a canyon. I use my garage which drops down into the 40's and even lower. Just south of me, only a few miles, the temps are normally 10-15 degrees warmer. I have been able to breed ruthveni and greeri when breeders just south of me got infertile eggs or no eggs. Both species have been known to require lower brumating temps.
I have noticed that on years when the temps are cooler, more rain, cooler temps into spring, I have produced more fertile eggs. This is also true of the local wildlife. This last spring and winter was not very wet nor was it cold. Myself and some other breeders in the area did not do so well. Not much to speak of as far as snakes that I have seen on hikes, in my front yard, DOR, etc. The previous year we had record rains, a longer, cooler winter, and I did much better. Also, many more snakes that I removed from my front yard and found on hikes.
Based on my observations of the local wildlife and breeding results of my colubrids, I say brumate.
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RE: Brumate or not to brumate? that is the ? - John Q, Sat Aug 26 10:19:55 2006