Posted by:
zach_whitman
at Thu May 12 01:52:49 2011 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by zach_whitman ]
So every year, usually in fall, there are about a million threads on here about brumation. And it invariably comes up that some people find that snakes will brumate "on there own" even if they have the temps to digest. Others argue that no snake would ever refuse a meal unless there was something wrong. I would like to approach this subject again and hopefully keep it productive and on topic.
I keep cal kings and a variety of other colubrids. Over the years I have experimented with a variety of different conditions, from long forced brumations, to no brumation at all, to lowering the cool end to the 50s while still providing a basking spot during the day, etc, etc, etc. Throughout all of this I have always had a few snakes that start refusing food in the fall. They have all been male cal kings. They do not loose much weight if I let them cool, but they will loose a little if I try to keep them warm.
Things that have never changed...
I have always lived in northern latitudes
I have always had a natural photoperiod from large windows in the snake room.
Males and females have always been housed in the same room in separate cages except for spring.
This year I noticed something very interesting from another completely unrelated experiment I am trying. I set up several groups of hatchlings to raise together. I have housed snakes together year round, but I have never done it by raising them together from a young age and I was curious to see the dynamic that developed. I set up several groups of 1.2 siblings. In two of these groups (one cal kings, one corns snakes) I noticed something that fascinated me.
Each group of three hatchlings had numerous (8-10) tight dark hides. For the first few months of life they all usually hung out under the same hide by choice (even thought other hides had the same conditions. I would throw in 6-8 pinks every few days in the evening and remove whatever was left in the morning. Continued...
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 Spontaneous hibernation & group housing - zach_whitman, Thu May 12 01:52:49 2011
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