Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do you cool your adult mexicana over the winter?
At what temp?
How long?
Does anyone use a light cycle?
Does anyone use a light cycle solely without cooling?
Does anyone use a light cycle along with cooling?

Again....Just curious...

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John Lassiter

"Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part....."

i dont have a whole bunch like some people here... but i brumate my snakes along with my corns.... i have baseboard heat in the reptile room so i usually turn the heat down low.... and its usually too cold for me... about 50-60 so i dont go in there.... the only light they get is through the window. but i keep the blinds closed so what little light can come through is what they get...
~kin
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~Sober Serpents~
www.freewebs.com/soberserpents
Corns, Creamsicles, A Black Rat, A pair of Leucistic Black Rat X Leucistic Texas Rat Intergrades, Thayeri, Cal Kings, A Jungle Corn, Ball Pythons, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, 2 Snapping Turtles, a White Cheeked Mud Turtle, an Eastern Box Turtle, a Bearded Dragon, an Adult Rescue Iguana, and A Baby Iguana

I cool them and keep them dark, I don't never get them under 70. I just keep them dark.

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Michelle
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

>>I cool them and keep them dark, I don't never get them under 70. I just keep them dark.

Michelle,

In years past I used to brumate this way....I kept them completely dark for 90 /- days, but I would cool them to just below 60 degrees......I had mediocre success. YOU ARE HAVING MUCH BETTER SUCCESS THAN I EVER DID.....

I always thought that a mexicana snake would go underground during the Mexican winter to a stable temperature (around 70F). I thought they did not eat during this period.....AND....After thinking some more (too much sometimes) I believed that their food source also went underground to this stable temperature....SO do wild mexicana kings eat through the summer in the wild?
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John Lassiter

"Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part....."

I don't know if the wild ones eat while under ground. Mine don't act interested and don't move very much. I just check the water every couple of weeks and don't disturb them. Sometimes the temp may drop to a 67-68 but that is rare. 70 seems to be the stable. They don't shed or hunt and I just leave them alone, they may raise their head and look at me but don't usually come out of the coil. Now I let them sit this year from the end of Oct. cleaning out and started getting them down towards mid Nov, I didn't bring them up till it warmed here which was beginning of April. The interesting thing was I thought I may have waited to long and I started noticing the wild snakes crossing the road and then mine started breeding, so i guess they were intune to nature more so than I was.

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Michelle
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

They don't shed or hunt and I just leave them alone, they may raise their head and look at me but don't usually come out of the coil.

That is strange.....I've seen mine moving around with temps in the high 50's and low 60's..

Plus...I guess I am in a different 'situation' here...I have to replicate cool temps. The only real cool temps we have here are in January and February (40s at night rarely)......
Interesting Michelle.....That is a long time without feeding at 70F. But....it's working for you...and good job.
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John Lassiter

"Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part....."

Hmmmm... now I am confused. This past winter I brumated at around 65 and kept them very dark. I had 0% fertility with the Thayeri, and others suggested that I brumate cooler this coming winter. You say you brumate at 70 and I know you are successful. I wonder if I did something else wrong?
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Aubrey Ross

©
www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

>>I cool them and keep them dark, I don't never get them under 70. I just keep them dark.

So Michelle,
If you keep them at 70 do you keep feeding them through their 'dark' period? Or do you just fatten them up so they will 'sustain' the period in the dark with no food.....Since, you know their metabolism is still working at 70F.......
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John Lassiter

"Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part....."

I don't feed them. I know their metabolism is still working. But they come out really nice and fat. They have never come up looking thin or have had any trouble.
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Michelle
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Has anyone ever thought about using a natural light cycle?.....so the snakes kinda know what season it is by the shorter...longer periods of sunlight in a day?

I am planning a natural light cycle (with a sky light in the hibernation chamber) along with a cooling (with an air conditioner unit) into the 60s from the end of November til the beginning of March (90 Days).

Does this sound like a "correct" way of doing things?

Remember I live in South Texas and we have nearly no winter at all...It very seldom gets below 50 here and may hit the freezing point once every two years......
Many of the breeders from the north have to warm their snake rooms during the winter.....I have to cool mine....
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John Lassiter

"Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part....."

just move up here to Vermont, you wont have any cooling issues, i keep mine in a dark closet on the outside wall of the house, get right under 60, my first year breeding i had no luck but i think its because evelyn held her eggs alittle too long, but i have done corns at 55 degrees with great success, but i know they are an entirely different snake
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"Turn Left At Next Election"

I start mine out in the laudry room also my snake room and the glass door lets the light cycle through, I then move them to a closet after about a month to total darkness. So maybe they possibly do realize the days are gettng shorter and start to get ready for their rest.

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Michelle
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

I just turn off their heat tapes and allow them to cool to room temp with natural light cycles. I lived for 13 years in Tucson, AZ where the outside temps rarely go below 60 in the daytime in winter. I now live in SW Oregon and can get somewhat cooler temps. Even though my temps in the enclosures average in the upper 60's to near 70, I do not see any real significant weight loss when taken off food for a few months.

Greg