Reptile & Amphibian Forums

yeserday i pulled out all 4 of my snakes from cooling and right now they are warming up little at a time. my question is when would be a good time to start feeding them and how often? all i know is that i need to feed them smaller food than usual. thanks a bunch. i can't wait to breed them, gonna be my first!

what are they? getula? if so how did you brumate?what temps?light?time period? the cooling as well as warming should be a relitively slow proccess over the coarse of a week or so imho. when optimal/desired temps are acheived eitherway cooling or warming. feedings can then ressume. a 45/50/55 degree snake cant be brought up to 80 or so and expect to feed in a 24/48hr.time period i suppose some can and do but the main purpose of brumation is to trigger a breeding responce later on,sometimes months later... its not like a switch that can be turned on and off at will anyway im rambling now,,,,,,,,,thomas

well it's a pair of corns and a pair of brooks kingsnake. i had them put down for very close to 3 months and i don't know why the heck i didn't wait little longer to bring them out oh well. anyway i had them in my bedroom and crack the window open a bit and in darkness. i shut the bedroom heat off during that time. the temp has been in the low 50's once in a while the room did hit high 40's.
i just took those snake off the heat source and out of their rack and i am going to let them sit in a room temp. in the low 70's and i am not sure when to put them on their heat source such as heat tape. right now i am just trying to slowly heat them back instead of putting them in the rack where its has more heat in it.
i am just still learning towards breeding this is my first time. thanks for any help.

whatever you do, you do it very gradually. Like Thomas pointed out, in nature temps don't usually come and go like a light switch, although they fluctuate somewhat, the trend is basically a steady one. Also, snakes can get sick when temps. suddenly rise and fall too quickly. The length of daylight also plays a key role in giving snakes the natural "cue" that cycles them..........the two species you mentioned you had should do fine on a fairly moderate brumation cycle, as they naturally occur in somewhat mild geographical ranges........make sure when you do bring them out of brumation, if you can warm them gradually over a period of couple weeks(or even longer), this would be ideal, while keeping in mind not to feed during this transition period..........also, plan ahead on what and how you are going to deal with many potential offspring, even though they are a long ways off, you did say you were new to this, and many people don't realize what this entales. It's always a good idea to know what your "game plan" is well in advance......hope this help,...............................................Doug
-----
Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

doug....thanks for helping me out. you mentioned that light cycles plays a role as most people would agree on this..then why would we keep snakes in darkness while they are cooling? ya know? but i think what your saying is that when it's time for them to warm up..during that time the light cycle will be use? make sense to me. anyway for now i should be holding on to the food and do the feeding in the next few days to 2 weeks? this is what i am planning on doing. again,thanks

Snakes brumate in darkness, when the temps rise enough they come out to bask, usually still under objects with mass but closer to the surface. They use burrows, cracks, etc. and can see the light and sense the lengthening of the days. Hope that helps, Derek.
Todd Hughes

that what i was thinking. thanks. boy!! i love learning more about snakes even though i been keeping snakes for 9 years now. i guess my next level to learning is breeding. opps i am going off subject lol.