Posted by:
BrandonSander
at Tue Nov 18 16:12:41 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by BrandonSander ]
You should be fine not "cooling" them. (By that I mean not adjusting or changing anything with their environments.) However, if you heat the whole room instead of the racks or tanks, you will need to drop your temperatures.
Also if the room is well insulated you may want to drop the temps since they won't experience much of a flux in temperature due to the change in seasons.
If you are unsure about whether you need to cool them then the answer is: Yes, cool them. Some people only do a drop in temperatures during the night some people drop them round the clock. Either will work as long as it is not so cool that your snakes are at risk for infection and the change isn't so slight that they don't notice. Cooling is just that... not brumation, not hibernation (it's basically just to "get them in the mood" .
Go ahead and offer them food during this time, but you may notice that they either will stop eating altogether or they will slow down considerably. Offering every other week is generally more than adequate for adults during the winter. Offer more often if they will take it, less if they are refusing.
Separate your males and females before offering food. It can stress them out and possibly be dangerous to feed two animals in the same tub.
Give your males (and females) a couple days rest at least between breedings. I usually give them 3-4 days together followed by 3-4 days separated (the second day of separation is usually when I offer food since they will have had a day to "settle back in" to their tub).
If your rack is dark enough and secure enough, you won't need hides. If the male and female don't seem to be interacting due to one or the other sitting outside of the hide - remove the hides. If the female does not normally have a hide, don't add one. Add the male to the female's enclosure not the other way around... a stressed male is easier to get to breed than a stressed female.
Keep some old sheds from both sexes. Keep them separated during storage. If they don't seem interested in each other, add a shed from either sex to the tub with the potential pair. Be sure that the sheds are from sexually mature animals.
If I pop out sperm plugs from a male I will place them in a female's tub that a different male is in. The idea of competition can drive a lot of breeding behavior... so the scent from another male's sperm plugs or old shed skin, or the scent from a sexually active and mature female can induce them to be a little more competitive.
This is just a long list of some of the tips and tricks I've picked up or tried over the years. All of them work to varying degrees depending on the individual animals. Remember to treat them like individuals - there are many tricks that will work with most of your animals, but there are not any tricks that will work with all of the animals. Each one will have their own preferences. It'll take time to figure out each snake's preferences and also to figure out when each of your females cycle. Some will consistently be ready in the early fall, some will need to be cooled for a longer duration... sometimes as late as late spring or early summer before they are ready.
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Tips & tricks -as always.. I wrote a lot - BrandonSander, Tue Nov 18 16:12:41 2008