Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been brumating some knobs and pyros for about 6 wks now at temps between 55-60 deg.Everyone has been fast asleep except one of my pyro males is just not sleeping,has been active and is starting to lose wieght. I feel like I should offer him a small meal but does that mean i would have to heat him up for proper digestion. Now if i do that did i just screw up the whole brumation and mess his chances at having productive sperm this season?Any advice would be great.

/.......only time I ever saw a brumating snake actually just lay there and sleep they were dead....they always move around and look at me when I check them......never did weight them.....
.....make it colder for him?.....put that one on the bottom of stack?....

...good luck.....
-----
.

...(______________________)

55 to 60 degree temps aren't a big deal at all for montaine forms like knoblochi. As mentioned by the other poster, at these moderate temps they will typically be active from time to time. Just do as previously mentioned and try to get it a bit cooler, at the very least put him on the ground floor for as cool a temp as possible and see how things go there with him.

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

What about the obvious wieght loss? would it be ok to offer a meal? I am doing my best with the temps but unless i get some a/c going in the middle of winter( my wife would literally strangle me)!! If i do give him a meal do i have to heat him up?

Oh yeah!, he will HAVE to be able to warm his body for proper digestion, or he will regurgitate. This will send him into a horrible downward spiral in a HURRY!.

If you can, heat the one end of the enclosure to the mid 80's to very low 90's(do NOT guess at the temps either), use an accurate thermometer at the bottom of the substrate, and let the other side continue to be as cold as the rest of the ambient air temp so he can thermoregulate his own temp, otherwise, you will most definitely have to warm the whole thing back up if you plan to feed it. No way should you attempt to feed it at those cool temps. You could even kill it this way.

If you heat the very end of his enclosure, make SURE you do it without him being in it so you can monitor the temp and adjust accordingly before the snake is put back in it so you don't run the risk of a disaster happening. Many people have killed their snakes assuming stuff like this.

good luck!

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

>>I have been brumating some knobs and pyros for about 6 wks now at temps between 55-60 deg.Everyone has been fast asleep except one of my pyro males is just not sleeping,has been active and is starting to lose wieght. I feel like I should offer him a small meal but does that mean i would have to heat him up for proper digestion. Now if i do that did i just screw up the whole brumation and mess his chances at having productive sperm this season?Any advice would be great.

I have never seen a healthy snake loose weight in just six weeks......I had an adult Thayeri at 70F - 85F that went off feed for 3 months before winter and never had noticeable weight loss
If you can see a noticeable weight loss then I would lower the temps......What is the temperature right in his cage? If it is below 60F his metabolism IS shut down and he should not be loosing weight.......

Don't feed him....Drop the temps some more...Also total darkness helps......If you do want to feed him......Warm him up for a couple days then feed him....Allow him 7 days or so at the higher temps to clear his gut before you cool him down......

BTW...Are you brumating with hopes of breeding pyros next year? If you are....I wouldn't warm him up and feed him then cool him back down.....You could probably do that with Getula, but Montane snakes are a little more of a challenge to work with than common kings that will eat all year long and get prego from being down wind of a male......LOL
-----
John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

>>I have been brumating some knobs and pyros for about 6 wks now at temps between 55-60 deg.Everyone has been fast asleep except one of my pyro males is just not sleeping,has been active and is starting to lose wieght. I feel like I should offer him a small meal but does that mean i would have to heat him up for proper digestion. Now if i do that did i just screw up the whole brumation and mess his chances at having productive sperm this season?Any advice would be great.

Do you have the cage covered, keeping him dark? That's as important as temps, imho.

My pyros were always active through cooldown around 50. Don't let that surprise you.

There was a thread here a while ago arguing for warming up brumating snakes periodically during the cooldown, feeding them, then cooling again. I've tried it twice with a chain king and it's refused to eat both times. I think its system (influenced by temps and darkness) has decided it's not time for eating. Doesn't disprove the "warm 'em and feed 'em" argument, but anecdotally it didn't work for me.

Here is a little bugger (older pic of) that I just fed, twice, on Dec 12. I put a heat pad on the end of its cage after it fed. So even with 60 deg temps, this guy wanted food.

This isn't a pyro, it is a milksnake obviously, Western Mexico. Point is, 60 deg didn't keep him from wanting to be active. So a pyro can do it for sure.

You can try feeding him, can't hurt. If he does eat, just place a heat pad on the far end of his cage. He can then choose his temp.

Thing is, if this snake has an infection or something, lack of heat may be worse for him. Not saying this is the case, just saying it is worth a try.

-----
Mark