John,
Thank you for your valuable input as well, it is much appreciated and I am really happy to have it. Please see my responses to your suggestions/statements below.

"if possible you might read the literature regarding thermal ecology of ruthveni coupled with your knowledge of NP over wintering behaviors and draw some sort of conclusions . I would avoid doing anything that will ultimately create a situation that is difficult or impossible to maintain with your given situation. The more work you make for yourself the less likely you will be to carry through in the long run. With that said there is little doubt that if your project contained adult WC individuals you would need to mimic native conditions more closely but CB&B individuals can tolerate a relatively wide range of conditions.
Yes, I am familiar with the 2006 paper on the subject. After a quick review it appears as if the lowest recorded temperature of ruthveni in the study was about 52F, which is significantly higher than I had expected to see (~45F).
Here in the "Barrens" we can get cloacal readings in the 30sF easily. As a matter of fact, for several years now I have hibernated my northerns at very cold temps for very long periods of time with outstanding results (5 months and temps as low as 35F). Perhaps I should take a less aggressive approach to ruthveni.
My collection of northerns has no wild animals at all, yet I have chosen to treat them as such and they do outstanding. It's interesting how they can adapt and overcome. They are true survivors to say the least.

I would probably avoid temps in the 40's (for any Pituophis).... Ok so they can survive but probably not ideal and probably not best case senario... Remember that temperature has a profound effect on the functioning of their immune systems.
Interesting again. It will be hard for me to avoid 40F temps, but I will try to keep them at a minimum. Maybe I should consider putting them down now, but I am getting night time temp readings in the upper 40sF and this week we should see some 30sF creep in. My northerns are already almost completely inactive...then again you've seen my setup so you know why

I put everything "down" in Nov. and bring them up in late Feb... maybe 12 weeks and they generally remain in the range of low 50's to low 60's. Undoubtedly "too short and too warm " for some "too long and too cold" for others but it seems to work and it is manageable, (based as much or more on what I can provide over what would be ideal for each regionally evolved taxonomic group).
Perhaps, but if it ain't broke then don't fix it, right? Obviously it works very, very well for you!

If you do fiddle around with the ruthveni cycles keep records and let us know what your findings are....
I would be curious to what growth records are like for animals that have a shorter dormate season....."
Yes, I will be sure o keep good records. BTW, did I ever send you the data sheet samples that I keep on each snake in my program? I derived it from data sheets I used at HA. Pretty neat.

Anyway, thanks again John, I really appreciate the advice and suggestions from you!!
Cheers,
--Brian
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--Brian Scott

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