Lets switch to rosy boas for this example. Textbooks and breeders will likely say that a nice 55 deg cooldown is a necessary part of breeding. Yet, I produced nice big babies with hardly any cooldown at all, just allowing the natural light cycle via a window into the snake room.



I'm not saying I have found the answer. Rather, I'm confused. I'm confused why it works one way for some and another way for others. "Just because" is not a good enough reason. There is something we are missing. Probably we lack a real knowledge of what conditions are really like where snakes live and breed.



Analyzing conditions where the snakes live is a good point. There are a lot of variables for each person in how they keep their snakes, and is why it is talked about so much. This is what I’d like to discuss and learn about.



Using rosy boas as an example isn’t too fair, however. They are very different snakes from kingsnakes. I believe it is likely rosies are active year ‘round in their habitat. They live in low desert regions where they likely utilize hot spots to keep their body temps up and to find and digest food. I would expect rosies to be able to stay active all winter and still produce young the following spring or summer.



Kingsnakes, however, are a different animal. Also, I believe a lot of folks don’t live in regions where kings have favorable conditions for staying active all winter, and many keepers don’t have access to computers or the info on these forums. A lot of keepers will read books for the average keeper, so bare with me with my literature references.



I’d like to quote Markel from his 1990 book, Kingsnakes and Milk Snakes. “Snakes need a dormant period for the brain to trigger hormonal production that then causes sex cells to be produced. Once these cells are produced, the female will produce sex hormones that act something like a perfume to attract males. Once a male comes into contact with a producing female, breeding almost always takes place. This whole process is stimulated by the hibernation or dormant period. Without a hibernation period, most snakes will not produce sex cells, but they may still breed. Usually these breedings go to waste and no eggs are produced.”



I don’t believe this is true in all cases even with kingsnakes, but I do believe Markel had lots of experience with kings and thought this was the best way to keep and breed kingsnakes of various species. Also, this book is 15 yrs. old and a lot of data has been accrued since then. I’m sure there are areas where kings stay active all year. There are likely kings that can produce w/o cooling.



Another variable in how we keep snakes has to do with lighting. Keepers in the northern part of the U.S. and Can. have very short days over the winter. We can have as little as 8.5 or 9 hrs. of daylight in winter mos. whereas, in southern states it is closer to being even day and night. This might be a factor in how long snakes remain active in captivity.



A friend had adult pyros CB. He kept them in a barn-like structure where he housed some boa constrictors. He used a space heater to keep the air temp from falling below 72 deg or so, although the floor got cooler.



The room was quite humid nearly year round. Not at all what I would previously have thought of as a good environment for pyro. Yet, his pyro produced healthy eggs and offspring w/o being subjected to below 65 deg temps in Winter and usually warmer. Just doesn't seem right, does it? Yet it happened, 2 or 3 years in a row before he sold the pyro adults.



Actually it sounds pretty good to me. A lot of keepers might think it wasn’t cool enough or too humid, but I think pyros might be able to cycle at 65-70*F for a couple months. Also, pyros likely have lots of humidity in their underground retreats. One of the things we don’t see is what their habitat is like far underground. Even though they live at quite high altitudes, pyros may be able to find fairly warm temps underground, and the montane habitats certainly have a lot more precipitation and humidity than down in the deserts overall.



I don’t claim to have more experience than others with these snakes in the wild, and I do tend to theorize with the knowledge I do have, but I’m interested in generating ideas about how snakes live and how they should be kept. I’m willing to reflect and change my perspective when others put up ideas and facts that can help form our ideas.



Thanks for the conversation and hanging in there

TC



Photo: December in 2003 in Gardner Canyon, Santa Rita Mtns, AZ. Notice the ice on the stream in this early morning shot. I plan to visit the area again this coming December.

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