Nothing succeeds like success….
You got allot if good input here from good people who succeeded with breeding colubrids. I would agree with all said. I don’t think I could add any new recommendations, only discussion.
All factors, photoperiod, temps, length of brumation, humidity all play a part; how much each plays is up for discussion and the variability in opinions often are based on species to be bred and where the breeder lives.
On photoperiod….
One year when I lived in South Florida, a number of home factors lined up where I had to not to breed my animals. All were kept at 78 F and of course fed because their metabolic rates were still rolling. A window permitted natural light to enter the room and I used a photo sensor to synchronize cage lights with natural lights (although I personally doubt if cage lighting had much of an effect.).
Result – All Florida and south Texas species and variants still bred and produced viable eggs; Corns, Yellows, Everglades, GulfHammocks, Grays, Brooks Kings, Mex Milks, gray-banded kings, etc. Animals that didn’t breed were Black Rats, Foxes, Eastern Milks, etc.
Super important points made:
On Water
DRE said “I would leave her some water”
I personally find it hard to beleive that a wc animal can't find a water bowl.....
On Pre-brumation – Having food in their guts during temp drop can be a disaster:
DRE said “Make sure they have defecated before bromating”
Mchambers said “Like well fed before and a period of time to defecate is important.”
Personally, I stop feeding 3 weeks before cooling and keep temps up for that time.
On Temperature……
Markg said “Fact is, a male's sperm will die if he gets too cold for too long, or if he is too warm for too long, right before breeding.”
This sounds very feasible.
There is probably a different temp for different variants of Rats.
55 – 65 F seems optimum to me. The objective here is to slow their metabolism so if the animal chooses not to eat because of photoperiod, it doesn’t loose the healthy weight it needs to breed.
Toby said “but I would carefully monitor temps.”
This is an extremely important point in that with temperature (and sometimes humidity), don’t guess.
All the large department stores and hardware stores carry inexpensive, indoor/outdoor, digital thermostats that let you know without guessing;
1. Temperature where the unit is.
2. A second temperature where the outdoor probe is.
3. Maximum Temps for both.
4. Minimum temps for both.
The MAX/MIN temp recordings are most important. Most hibernacula don’t swing in daily temps very much because of mass temps not necessarily air temps. If you can insulate your hibernaculum well (even a large cardboard box wrapped in fiberglass) you can lessen the time period it takes for the sleeping animals to change temperature.
Length of Brumation
Your original question = ???????????????????
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To just add my recipe for the mountains of East Tennessee:
• I feed the last meals the middle of October. Redundant water is checked weekly.
• Put them down the weekend before Thanksgiving (Permits family travel for the holidays).
• They are in a detached, well-insulated shed and hibernate in their cages.
• One small window permits a small amount of natural lights. Cage and room lights, of course, are all off.
• The shed is heated by two separate heaters, each with redundant Ranco etc controllers to set the winter temp at 58F and to cut off at 63F (in case the heater runs away). I have a remote temp/humidity transmitter so room temp/humidity can be monitored inside the house.
Temps are returned to normal over a 1 week period about the last week of February.
This has produced 100% viable breeding of southern Rat Snakes such as Tamulipan, Everglades and Deckert’s Rats and northern Rat Snakes such as E. Foxes, all treated the same!
Separating the sexes would make for another interesting thread!
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Regards, Bill McGighan
