Cool you temps down. In the past I have cooled traditionally as other have discribed above. However through the use of ultrasound I have been able to observe females building follicles throughout the year. This year I tried something different. Throughout the summer and early fall the ambient temps in the snake room hovered around 85 most of the time. In October I dropped the ambient temps in my snake room to 80 degrees and turned off the hot spot heat to all breeders (males and females). I kept the hotspots on in the hatchlings and yearling yearling racks and they have continued to eat all winter so far. There is about a 1 degree drop at night that occurs naturally as a result of dropping temps outside. I have three clutches in the incubator, 8 more that have ovulated, and about another 20 females with follicles over 2cm which have been bred 1-2 time each, and another dozen or so females with building follicles between 1.0 -1.5 cm which I will soon start to place males with.
I will tell you that I had several females that had begun developing follicles which were approaching 2cm before I ever turned the temps down. I know this goes against conventional wisdom, but I think the "temperature gradient" thing is not nearly as important as many think it is. I think it is important to lower the temps to about 80 degrees to get the males turned on, but I believe (from my experience over the last couple years)a gradient from day to night is not really necessary. I will go further and say that a hot spot prior to ovulation is actually detrimental to cycling. There are MANY others with much more experience that me and many people successfully breed balls using many different techniques. But this year is turning out very well for me with the temps at a constant 79-80 degrees. Anyone else had similar experiences?
Grant Whitmer

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