Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering at what temps you should stop feeding your BRB when cooling them. I know Daves "breeding BRB 101" post says he keeps feeding them throughout but he was only dropping the temps to 75. I love that post BTW, got it saved. I started cooling mine and after several days of checking temps I realized that my tanks are running 70-74 in the day and 65-69 at night. So is this in the feeding danger zone?

I didn't plan on droping the temps as far as I did but now that they are there I figured I may as well leave them so the snakes don't theink the weather/temps have gone haywire fluctuating all the time. I am not worried about them being to light weight but if it is safe to keep feeding more weight is, I assume, always better going into breeding. Also if the temp is too low for feeding should I keep it where it is at or allow them to slip a little lower?

Also if they are not fed throughout the cold season do they generally need to be started on smaller meals before jumping back into large rats? And assuming the female does not go completely off food after breeding is there a size of food that is better/safer?

Lastly, I know Dave mentions 'seeing evidence of breeding' but not actually seeing the copulation. What is this evidence and what does it look like for BRB's? Is it sperm plugs or something like that? Picture would be great if someone has one.

Merry Christmas,
Sean.
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1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

Hey Sean,

I'd suggest feeding smaller meals this time of year. If your females have good body weight, there's no need to make them work to digest large meals.

When cooling my animals, I've always dropped the night temps but left a daytime hot spot of 86. My thinking is that even if they get cold at night, they should be able to get warm and digest during the day.

After thinking about it - and reading your post - I'm not so sure the hot spot is necessary. often times, my females will avaoid the warn end of the cage as soon as breeding starts.

After the females give birth, i usually start them right up with a large rat. I don't think they've gone without food so long that it will hurt them. However, there's nothing wrong with being cautious. Small rats for the first couple of meals after they give birth is perfectly acceptable (though not necessarily...ummm...necessary.

Here is some shed epithelium from the hemipenes that I found one day in the cage of a sexually active male. Often, you'll find these in the water dish. sometimes smeared on the cage floor. Good luck with the season,

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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

Thanks for the quick reply Mike. I may see about possibly raising daytime hot spot temps with a lamp or something. If nothing else it would let me see if they seem to want to use the hot spot during the day or not.

Outa curiosity Mike, how low do you drop your nighttime/coolside temps for brumation? Just wondering what different people do. Also even though I'm farther inland and NE of you and Dave you guys are both close enough to give a good approximation for what works in this climate/zone.

Thanks again,

Sean.
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1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

I set my Helix for 68 at night during the cooling period. Hovever, i think they probably get colder than this at times. I don't think the ambient temps in my snake room ever drop below 50. But, you're giving me some ideas of things to keep track of next season. I often temp-gun the females during gestation to see what type of basking temperature they prefer. It would be easy enough to do this during the cooling period as well.

Hey, I'm not breeding any brazilians this season, maybe someone else could take temps of their females/males throughout the season and report back to us.
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

shed come from your chondros or rainbows?

That pic goes back to before I even had chondros. It's from a BRB. I don't think chondros leave them. With chondros, there is actual dried sperm attached to shed skins.
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com