Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I guess this pertains to second clutch ,late hatch milksnakes as well..I have a 6 month old Pueblan male eating well since hatching in July, 07. Early this month, the temperture was inadvertently lowered in his cage to low 60s for perhaps 10-12 hours; raised back to low 80s as soon as noticed. Per reliable and credible herp vet's examination of the snake he has no ill effects other than an apparent "seasonal response" to the drop in temperature; a trigger to lose appetite and anticipate brumation. He now refuses to feed. Questions: If I dont brumate him, what course can I expect re: when he will feed again? If I do brumate, how long and at what temperature necessary before bringing him out of it to resume feeding? Thanks

I'd get him to 60 for at least 8 weeks, bring him up in March then feed the snot out of him. You can expect a very skinny snake if kept warm with no food, make sure he has a bowl of water, just MHO.
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Todd Hughes

You can give your snake a week or 2 and see if he resumes eating. If he "goes off feed", meaning does not resume eating you can brumate it. Before you cool a snake you need to make sure there is no food in his system, so that will take a good 2 weeks anyway.

More then likely it will not begin to eat again until it senses spring has arrived, and the benifit of cooling it is that it's metabolism will slow down and it wont burn all of it's reserves. If kept warm it will lose considerable weight and may even perish.
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"The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which ones pink?"

thanks for replies..must the snake be brumated for say 8 weeks or so, or since it isn't being prepped to breed, would a shorter period of cooling work to restore the feeding appetite?...thanks for reading the post..joe