Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I've picked-up quite a few adult corns, kings and milks over the summer and want to brumate them to induce a stronger breeding repsonse in spring. How do you all go about dropping the temps? Assuming every snakes has digested their last meal(s) and they're currently being kept at a temp gradient of 78-86 degrees, do I drop them to 55 all at once or gradually lower the temps? I'd hate to lose any of the snakes or have them become sick so I'm open to your experiences and advise.
Thanks,
Charlton

After my breeders digest their last meals (2 weeks), I just put them in my brumation room. I keep the room cooled with an A/C unit to about 60 degrees, and the temps do drop lower as winter set in (its my carport storage shed). I keep a space heater set up on thermostat set at about 50 for extra cold snaps as a precaution against freezing. I actually need the A/C here in South Louisiana due to warm winter temps experienced. You can always select an area in your garage, basement, etc. that stays fairly cool and constant (between 50-60 degrees). Some species will cycle simply by turning off their auxillary heat sources for six to eight weeks and leaving them at "room" temps (corns), but others need full blown cooling at temps of 50 degrees or lower for three months or so to induce breeding/successful fertilization (mountain kings).

Thanks Kevin! It's funny that you mentioned Mountain Kings because that's what I've got. I can't get my reptile room cool enough due to keeping pythons in the room too so I think the garage is the way to go. I may have to move some racks out there too however as the temps will definately drop lower than 50-60 degrees. It got down into the upper 40's last night here in California and it's only October.

Well, so far my "method" has worked great for my corns and even greybanded kings for me. You mention fluctuating temps, but to be honest I do not freak out about that too terribly much, especially lower temps. My goal is to make sure the temps are low enough to keep them inactive and not burning fat stores, but not too low that their health is compromised. I would say between 50-60 is ideal for corns and more temperate climate colubrids. If the room drops down to the 40s or up to the mid-60s sporadically, no big deal IMO. Even if the temps are in the 40s outside, it is probably not that cold inside the building where there is not wind, and some insulation.

As I mentioned, some folks have luck not even really brumating their corns. My method works for me and I get great fertility rate. As far as the mountain kings go, I think you may need to keep the temps more like 40-50 MAX for a good solid three months. I know folks here in LA have hit or miss success with pyros, mexicana, and sometimes even thayeri due to cooling issues. I have also been reading where some folks have success keeping a heat source present so the snakes can choose between brumating temps and warmer temps and even feed a bit during brumation.

Good luck!

Every breeder here is going to give you a slightly different answer to your question based on where they live and how they have their animals set up.

Here's how I do it, based on the fact that I live in south eastern Illinois and keep my breeders in Freedom Breeder racks out in a large 2 car garage attached to my house:

I feed the 'last meal' at the end of October...many of the Colubrids at this time have already started going off feed and have started brumating themselves.

I leave the heat strips plugged in until the end of November to give the snakes plenty of time to clean out their systems (take a dump). I continue to check on them and clean tubs and fill water bowls as needed.

At the first of December I unplug the heat. In the winter the ambient temps out there drop to 50-60F....sometimes lower on really cold days. I continue to check water.

About the last week of February I plug the heat back in and start feeding at about the first of March.

Around the first of April I start introducing males to females. I start seeing eggs usually in May through June and I'll start seeing hatchlings in August through September.

There are as many ways to to it as there are breeders but that is the system that has worked really well for me.

GuyerGenetics,
Thank you, this is what I had thought too, just wanted confirmation. My Mountain Kings have stopped eating on their own within the past couple of weeks. My corns and milks continue to eat. I was planning on moving them all into the garage around the first of December. While they're still in the house, I'm planning on stopping feeding the rest of them the second week of November.

You'll want to give them more than two weeks to clean their systems out.

I know that all of the caresheets out there say that two weeks is fine.

But...the first couple of years that I bred Corns I just gave them 2 weeks to clean out before I dropped their temps and I had a LOT of snakes poop after I warmed them up, before I started feeding them again. That tells me that they had that in them throughout the brumation. That kind of scared me because so much could go wrong with all of that poop being retained....And I did lose a pair of White Sided Black Rats due to Septis infection caused by poop retention during brumation.

For the last few years I have given the Colubrids an entire month to clean out before dropping the temps down and it has worked out wonderfully.

Other people have probably had different experiences, but that's the way things worked out for me.

Sorry, didn't mean for it to sound like I was only going to do two weeks. I will do at least three weeks if not four. In fact, I think I might start clearing them out now with daylight's savings time playing a role in the shorter days.