Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok just want to double check, it's ok to have snakes in a basement unheated with an under tank heate?. Now is this for all kingsnakes or just adult kingsnakes. I have half of my kingsnakes in the basement and was afraid the winter in NYC this year will be long.

Also, I was under the impression not to feed during their brumation but it's ok if given an heat source and they are willing?

thanks in advance for the replies

Ok just want to double check, it's ok to have snakes in a basement unheated with an under tank heate?. Now is this for all kingsnakes or just adult kingsnakes. I have half of my kingsnakes in the basement and was afraid the winter in NYC this year will be long.

Yes neonates and adults alike. Feed them all winter if they are in a cold room. Just make sure the temps are on the warm side on the other end. You will start to see your snakes sit on the cold side to conserve energy and on teh warm to digest.

Also, I was under the impression not to feed during their brumation but it's ok if given an heat source and they are willing?

yes definetly feed them. Some adults may slow down and maybe get the neonates a little warmer to keep them feeding more.

I do make sure the the cold side is cool enough for my adults. I don't want to heat up the heat strip so hot that they are warm to the touch when sitting on the cold side.

Blaze goini x Peanut butter het

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www.Bluerosy.com

"They that can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." -Benjamin Franklin

Yes, as long as the warm end (approx.1/3rd or so) is warm enough to allow them to completely digest meals(low-mid 80's ), it is fine, but DO NOT guess at this. Put an accurate thermometer down on the substrate surface where the snake will actually be to monitor this.

This will allow you to brumate adults and not have to worry about feeding them for a while, as well as keep smaller ones growing if you want to throughout the fall/winter, just keep very close tabs on things to see how things are going.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

"Put an accurate thermometer down on the substrate surface where the snake will actually be to monitor this."

Whoa... your snakes have learned how to read digital thermometers? I'm impressed.
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Holly

1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Belle Gunness)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Fire Skink (Peter Dinsdale)
1.0 Vietnamese Golden Gecko (George Chapman)
0.0.1 Blue Day Gecko (Joe Ball)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

shoot, Doug's snakes can read a thermometer, cook dinner AND take out the trash!
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Todd Hughes

But I STILL can't get them to NOT poop in their own drinking water..LOL!!!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

so i'm not the only one they do that to? It's just nasty.

Your definitely not alone there on that one. They must think they are defecating where it will get washed away from their enclosure, like a little fresh water stream or something..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

>>... They must think they are defecating where it will get washed away from their enclosure, like a little fresh water stream or something..LOL!

yeah, if that's normal behavior it gives me second thoughts about all the times i've scooped a handful of stream water for a drink.

.
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

That has been a long ongoing secret project of mine, then I was going to get on that stupid TV show and "WHOA" the audience with it..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

NY winters and Florida/GA winters i'm sure are very different.

I'm not sure what part of NY you're in, but i'm in NYC (Brooklyn) and we've had some cold days already, i think we'll have a harsh winter (unlike last year)... personally i wouldn't keep my kings in an unheated basement even with belly heat.

I keep my snakes in a heated room (I close off the heat a bit), with the windows cracked open AND I still supply heat to my enclosures. my heat runs along the back of my enclosures, none of my snakes get belly heat (I'm not a fan of belly heat)... personally i think a "hot spot" is better!

Additionally i think "we" need to keep in mind where the snakes we keep are from. A lot of people seem to follow the same method i've read in snake books no matter what species/subspecies they are working with, which is irresponsible in my opinion. you wouldn't import snakes from Asia and just subject them to methods that work for North American snakes so why treat every North/South American species/subspecies the same?

This hibernation/brumation thing (i believe) is highly overrated. I read all the books when i started getting into snakes they all read the same when it cam to feeding, keeping and breeding... over the years i haven't followed ANY of it and got great results. the 1st time i tried to "do it by the book" (just to see what'd happen) i got horrible results, some snakes didn't breed, some that did breed gave me slugs, some "perfect" eggs when bad really early, etc (some snakes showed no change)... Now it could be because my snakes were accustom to one method and this new method just threw them out of wak... but if my method, which goes against much of what i have read works, then how accurate is the method in these books?

I feed most of my snakes all winter, i don't feed my adult males as much as i feed my adult females. i feed holdbacks alot! with last season as an exception; most of my females breed early, i get large clutches with health eggs or small clutches with HUGE eggs and i have double clutched some females without any trouble.

hope that was helpful

~ZF

In some ways I also find it funny that everyone here seems to talk like there is only one kind of kingsnake. And many of them just lump all terrestrial colubrids together. Haha.

There is so much variety from species to species and even with a species. I have 6 male cal kings and only 2 of them completely go off feed for the entire winter no matter what the temps are. So I turn the heat off on them so they don't lose weight. They breed and grow just as well as the ones that eat all winter.

By the same token snakes are such masters of their environment that if you look at what each species does in the wild they all find a way to do the same thing. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, a dark rock in the sun is hot and 4 feet underground is cool. I think the most fun part is seeing how many different ways there are to get to the same goal of growing and reproducing.

Well it's our (human) nature to group things together in order to simplify them... Now most think this is a good trait (simplicity that is) but i don't exactly like it... there is an OVER-simplification of many things especially in this hobby.

For example the post from about a week ago with the "Hypo" desert kingsnake.

Yes a snake with reduced black is HYPO-melanistic but you can't lump every morph that displays reduced black as a hypomelanistic can you? (just an example)

Now from time to time i get a private email or two asking me to explain certain things... and i really don't mind. I like people that try to learn more. but i also get emails where some think i'm complicating things... i think if you're gonna work with a morph or a particular subspecies you should make it your priority to educate yourself! If that means a basic knowledge of genetics then get to it!

Especially now with this Internet business... you can find info on ANYTHING!

ok... enough of my rant... have a good one ...

~Z

I'm in staten island zenny and I am afraid of the long cold winter this year. I don't think my uth pad will suffice in the basement. I don't think it can maintain 80 degrees on the pad if the room is 35-40
I'm going to try and bring everyone up to the main floor the temp range for the home is usually 68=70 daytime and 61 night time

sounds better than being surrounded by 34-40 degree temps with only your belly getting the warmth. My room gets to about 68-70 degrees at the lowest.

~Z

actually my snake room gets down to the 34-40 range during jan-march. Just turn the heat strips on high.

I should clarify i use the old-school heat strips that are used to keep pipes from freezing. I do have about 10 racks that are using the flexwatt and so far they work as well in the Reptile basics units. But this year i got some newer units made out of aluminum and i don't know if they will keep the snakes warm enough. if not i will just turn on a room heater to bring the temps up to 50-55.
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www.Bluerosy.com

"They that can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." -Benjamin Franklin

Basements get colder than 33F? LOL! No , I assumed everyone knew that youy can't use this method keeping snakes in a room where water ferezes. Or in outerspace. Well, maybe in a space capsule.

If it gets that cold then I am sure another part of the house will suffice because it is so *(&&*&*(^&# freezing cold where you guys live. I can't belive you guys live there. I can't believe I am living in GA. Coming from Calif and Hawaii I thought Georgia was almost unbearable.

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www.Bluerosy.com

"They that can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." -Benjamin Franklin

How do you live in a state with that many people?!? Yerk. One thing good about the north--not so many inhabitants.

If only I can convince my wife to move to Montana...or maybe just western Wyoming...

that snake looks like it's trying to lift its upper body off the ice. what's the context for that photo?

that snake looks like it's trying to lift its upper body off the ice. what's the context for that photo?

Not sure what you mean about "context" but we were discussing freezing temps in other states. I had that pic on file just because it seems to have fit into cold weather talk. It is a Golden peanut Butter if that was what you were asking.

I live in GA and we have what is called a greenhouse effect. When clouds (percipitation) move in it warms just above freezing and then we have rain instead of snow. When we have sunny skies it gets down to the 20 and low 30's. It gets buttt cold here when the skies are clear.

It hardly snows here in GA and I just took the snake out for some quick pics. Just in case you might think I was hurting the snake or something..??

On another note I have found that havings snakes go from one temp to another in a short time does not effect the snake. That is proven by the fact the snakes choose to move from the warm side to the cold side by choice. Just thought i would mention that since there is talk that warming snakes up slowly or cooling them down gradually is what some always suggest. In my experience this does not harm the snake in anyway.
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www.Bluerosy.com

"They that can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." -Benjamin Franklin

>>It hardly snows here in GA and I just took the snake out for some quick pics. Just in case you might think I was hurting the snake or something..??

i wondered whether it was out for a photo shoot, or was perhaps an escapee you found moving with snow on the ground, like we see in the occasional thamnophis and pyro field shots.
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>>... the snakes choose to move from the warm side to the cold side by choice. Just thought i would mention that since there is talk that warming snakes up slowly or cooling them down gradually is what some always suggest

that's a compelling argument: they don't take 5 days to a week to move from the hot spot to the cool end, do they!