Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just moved into a house and the basement is completly finished and heated. I live in New York and I used to just put my snakes in my unheated basement to cycle them for breeding in the spring. How do people in Florida cycle their snakes since they have warm weather and no basements? Are there any tricks of the trade besides running an air condioner in a room all winter?

A large cooler with ice.

Depends how many snakes and how big if I can help you or not, but here’s what I’m doing.
I bought a wine cooler from Best Buy for $104.00. I’ll include a link to it for specs. It’s a thermocooler so it’s super quiet and uses very little electric. It’s got a great glass door, awesome seal, a circulating fan, light, and the interior is like a cube- no cut in from a compressor. It is designed to cool at 55 degrees, but is adjustable. I just took some pictures of some of my modifications, if you are interested let me know.

Here with the boxes inside-

I added an aquarium air pump to pump air into it on a timer, it goes into the bottom left container with water and an air stone so the air gets chilled a bit. I added another air line for exit with a tiny in-line filter and check valve.

Very small aquarium air pump I tied to the back with electrical ties. I ran the tubing up into the top corner and into the box.

I am only brumating Brooks, Goini and rats (seven snakes) so this thing seems perfect so far. Temps were in eighties until today here in Ft. Lauderdale. The picture shows about 59 degrees but I was opening the door and stuff, it is normally right on 55.

This WS is the “youngest” I am brumating.

This lucy (She Devil) rat is the “oldest”. Both fit inside those ZipLock containers, bagged with no water. I am cooling them for about seven weeks. We’ll see how it goes...

This is a great timer I got at Big Lots for seven bucks- it can adjust every fifteen minutes on or off twenty four hours-

Here’s a link to this Avanti wine cooler like the one I bought.

http://www.beveragefactory.com/wine/wine/16-24/EWC16B.shtml

Heres the manufacturers picture of this thing- works great for me so far.

what is the depth of the wine cooler. I was wondering if I could fitt the critter cages from brumator in the cooler. I like the idea of being able to keep thtem inside no matter what the temp!! Also, what do you mean by "bagged with no water".

I see the tied snake bags now and they have no water...duh!!! Interesting there is no water, is this because you only keep them in there for 7 weeks. I am curious about his since my snakes keep making a mess in there "cooler" with the water.

why would you not give them water? I observe my snakes drinkning quite frequently over winter. Especially since the air in our heated homes is so dry.

Have you ever done this before with success?

Basically, this is the only way I’ve ever done it. I have experience in North Carolina where I kept them outdoors all year round, and now in Florida, where I am keeping them in a warehouse bay for the first time with no air conditioning available. I am only cooling them a few weeks here, but it will be uninterrupted steady good humid cold. Then they will be brought up and have water right away. I could see the situation you describe in a heated house up north with the very low humidity for a really long winter they would have to have water or they would probably get dessicated. I think brumating in south Florida is probably a lot different than inside a house up north. Previously here I kept them in an outdoor shed that was allowed to have natural temps. I had to keep them watered because it would only get really cold a couple of days at a time, so never a good steady brumation. Since this is where Brooks come from anyways, I figured they would be just as fine as the wild ones. Now I am trying to provide a better more solid cold time for them, and my warehouse bay is always pretty warm. I had to come up with some artificial brumator. I’m obviously wanting your opinions so don’t be shy. I’m not claiming to be an expert, but I have brumated them as I described without water before and everything was fine. It maybe was only fine because they were out doors- not to be taken as an option in other situations like yours.

My only grief is that your not offering your brumating snakes, the basic necessities of life, which is water. In the wild snakes pick an area that are not wet, but have a high relative humidity, and when they need it, do have access to water. Your snakes may not need water all winter, but what if they do? You have denied them access to it, and by doing so put them in an unnecessary risk. Why? In the field, even in winter snakes do have access to a thermal and humidity gradient, and they do take advantage of it. I just do not understand the logic that goes along with eliminating opttions for your animals, that if needed could save your animals life, and has such a simple solution to prevent the problem in the first place? To each his own I guess.
-Phil

I keep this outside on my porch. It has flexwatt taped to the bottom and connected to a thermostat. As long as the temps are below 55 outside it works great.

you can see that the critter cages sit perfectly on the tray slides. I can place 4 critter cages along the slide and stack one more row of 4 on top of them. My temps are holding right between 55-57 degrees. All wiring (heat tape, thermostate probe, andthermometer probe) runs through the drain hole along with an air tube that is connected to an aquarium aiar pump.

yes, all cages have water in them!!

I brumate them in a snake bag, placed inside a Zip Lock plastic container with no water bowl. I am only cooling them for a few weeks. They are not going to drink while in the cooler. I posted about this on the Herp Health and Breeding forum to get some thoughts on this just yesterday, so I'm not repeating everything. I have brumated snakes without water available up north for many years and never had any problems. I keep reading how others do it, and you start wondering, even though this has worked for me, maybe I have been doing it wrong all these years? A lot of my "ways" I just have always done that way because that's what I read years ago and never really thought about doing it any different. Or didn't read about, and tried on my own. If it worked for me, I read about something else. I can tell you they don't need water when in suspended animation. You have to make sure they are well hydrated before, though. Some will rip me, but I do know what I know- it works fine in my actual practiced experience. It is always the case, when do you go against what has worked for you and get swayed by what everybody else is doing? Sometimes I think- wow this guy is a real expert. Then you find out they are not nearly as experienced as you are and maybe you should have gone with what you know first hand, you know?

Upscale, interesting post and if it works stay with it. The only thing wrong about your post is...you're the "guy" that we say .."WOW"..about, I've read most your post here and find myself agreeing with your ideas quite often, I think your underestimating yourself. Take care
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Richard Evans

no not THAT one

thank you, I always like to hear from people who do not just regurge the "correct line of thought" on keeping snakes. It's a breath of fresh air to hear about different techniques that have worked over time.

I was just offering to the original poster who specifically asked about Florida and how we are dealing with the heat. That is my problem. I did solicit responses on the other forum to get some opinions other than my own. Plus I posed nearly this guys same question here before and about rigging a fridge on the Cage and Habitat forum too. This started for me because I’m keeping my snakes in my warehouse for the first time now. There is no air conditioning so I had to come up with some kind of rigged refrigerator or something. I will have to do that by next year because I will be cooling more snakes than will fit in my little wine cooler set up. I looked around for a used fridge I could mess with, but I really didn’t have the time. I just looked at this thing and said, scroo it, I’ll just be done with it with this thing. The fact that it was pre-programmed to operate at a steady 55 degrees was the kicker. I can fit twelve of those containers in my cooler. One is not used to keep a snake, it has the water and aquarium air stone. I could actually put two smaller snakes in bags into one container. Two of my snakes are nearly five feet. One really fills up the Zip Lock container leaving no room at all. The other is too big for it. I actually have a few combinations of containers I can use for any size snake I have, and the picture is not actually what it looks like right now. That was right after I put the first three in there. I actually stagger when I put snakes into the cooler- after their last meal I wait until after they shed before cooling.
Since everyone is so infatuated with what wild snakes do, I imagine they gather in numbers occasionally (den) and stuff themselves into some crack as tight as they can and all brumate together. I don’t think they drink there either.
I will be right here to let you know if it is a failure or success. I enjoy contributing. If this helps anyone, great. If it shows you what NOT to do, well, that helps too.

Well said, hear, hear! I also like the wine cooler approach, heard about it, never saw it, and the cooler looks like another winning approach. In south Texas, it is similar to Florida, a little less humid but with very few cold snaps that last less than a week. I have a room dedicated to snakes only and a.c. it even in winter. This offsets very cold nights by keeping it a little higher when it is really cold. Water is mandatory in this situation as a.c. sucks the moisture out of the air.
Todd Hughes