Posted by:
FRoberts
at Thu Oct 2 13:34:20 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by FRoberts ]
I was kidding about them moving their hide boxes to thermoregulate. ( guess you don't read my posts often I am sort of a sarcastic / jokester type ).
I was against you placing bricks on them because the snakes may choose security over temperatures associated with successful gestation and parturition involving viable young being produced with low incidences of still born and or infertile ova.
Snakes like to hide and if you put the hide in a place that is not optimal they may choose to stay hidden even when temps are not optimal.
They are obviously moving them by accident but bricking them down will not help in my opinion and your current success makes that obvious. Snakes are known to have a strong inclination to hide even in their water bowls ( if no other hide is provided ) to the point of getting Necrotizing dermatitis .
I have a couple of Yellow Anacondas while they didn't get Necrotizing dermatitis they where always in their water bowls. I added some hides and they are always in them and rarely are found in their water bowls. Given a choice they prefer to stay dry most of the time. They do often defecate in their water but don't use them as "hides" any more.
Your actions could do more harm then good unless you have concrete knowledge of what temps are necessary to achieve desired results.
Temps are most certainty directly related to the outcome of pregnancy.
So I believe especially in regards to hides I would be careful when offering a situation where the snake rather feel secure then gestate her young. She has to survive to reproduce and give birth and hiding is a major part of that outside the captive environment
>>Frank, I really don't think they are moving their hides to thermoregulate. The hides are so lite that they can't move past them or under them with out moving them. Besides, Aurora had the same set up. She had 17 babies but she also had 2 still born and at least a dozen slugs.
>>Interestingly, I wasn't going to breed them this year so I didn't start cooling them until a month before I introduced the male to them and I only got 5 females out of Auroras litter. Last year I bought Bailey from a pet store in February and introduced my male to her 3 weeks later. Neither of them were cooled for more than 3 weeks and I only got 4 females out of a litter of 15. Aurora and my male were cooled all winter the year before when she produced 28, I didn't sex them until I only had 14 left but 7 of them were females. I havn't gotten around to checking the sexes in this last litter yet but I'm starting to wonder if a short cooling cycle leads to a high percentage of males.
>>
>>Dan
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Roberts Realm Of Reptile Research
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Thanks,
Frank Roberts
I opened my mouth and out flowed a melody black.
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I was kidding about them moving their .. - FRoberts, Thu Oct 2 13:34:20 2008