Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When do you wake your snakes up from brumation?

I have a male who just decided to sleep all on his own around Thanksgiving...I just opened the window temps read at 55-67 that would be a night low and day high.

I dont have a female to breed with him so when is the earliest I can wake him up?

There are no set "rules" when it comes to ending a brumation cycle. If you have animals that you cycle annually it generally helps to keep them on roughly the same cycle each year.

Think about the factors that may have stimulated the animal to brumate originally, such as shortened day length and temperature. When those factors change he should resume natural feeding and activity regimes.

Here in the SW our problem is that the climate often makes it difficult to get a long and cold brumation. I generally put my stuff down in late Nov and "wake" them in mid to later Feb. Think about under what seasonal conditions your snake's ancestors evolved to deal with, example; is it a bull from northern latitudes with a brumation that starts in Oct and ends in late April? or is it a southern pine whose ancestors evolved with a much shorter "winter" season?

Also factor in the snake's body weight and health at the time of brumation when considering how long to keep them down.

I know this is somewhat vague but I hope it helps.

Ginter

Well I know he gets light from the window, and a big cold front moved in...it snowed in Vegas. He was around 1500grams before he went into brumation and he is either Affinis or Annectens or both, no one could give me a clear anwser and I cant tell. Thanks for the info.

You're not going to find a "concrete" answer. If you are cooling the snake because it's stopped eating, you might be able to bring it out of brumation today and have it begin feeding...or you might not. It's all up to the snake and all snakes are individuals with their own tendencies.

It would be natural for a snake to come out of brumation in the spring-like weather and resume eating, but "spring-like weather" occurs in different months in different parts of the country.

If your snake isn't having any problems, why not keep it in brumation for another month or so? The longer it stays cooled, the more likely it will start eating again when it's warmed up.

Tim

Third Eye