I don't think that the exact temperature had anything to do with whether or not they are hibernating. Like I said I have some females that are in cages with a 55-85 degree gradient that are not hibernating at all. But i also have males that have not eaten in 4 months, and remain motionless as cold as they can get for days on end.



I think that those snakes are hibernating. Call it what you will.



I wish I could make it colder to see how far down they would really choose to go, however I am faced with the realities of my setup and it is not possible.



So my question is... If a snake chooses to sit at 55 degrees for months on end, year after year, then why am I paying to keep the heat on?



More importantly it brings up other quetions...



Are some snakes more biologically programed than others to shut down their metabolism for part of the year? Maybe an eastern from NJ and an eastern from SC are really evolved to handle changing seasons very differently. Maybe they are more in tune to their outside environments... Maybe breeders in AZ or FL notice that their animals don't want to hibernate but in Vermont they do...hmmmm



Is a snake that hibernates less productive or less healthy in any way than a snake that remains active? You have said yourself... you can either crank the heat and feed them tons, or allow them to conserve energy and feed less. Is one better than the other?



Fundamentally I think we are talking about the same thing...trying to the best of our ability to let the snakes come as close as possible to doing whatever they want...I am not trying to define hibernation...or recommend something as a blanket procedure for breeding snakes... But you make it sound like a hibernating snake in captivity is doing something wrong (Or ignorant or stupid) and I disagree.



Like I said, why keep the heat on if 95% of my cal kings don't use it?



This picture below was taken at the end of last winter after this guy hadn't eaten in several months. He went on to breed with several different females (during which time he didn't eat either) and then bred a few again to double clutch. At 15 and over 5 feet he looks like hes doing fine to me. And he has hibernated by choice every winter of his life, whether I tried to "Allow" him to stay awake or "Forced" him to hibernate.



Cheers

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