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Jeff Ronne consistently breeds his BCI without any cooling period. Has anyone tried this approach with BRB's? I have been trying to gather data from weather almanacs from the region where BRB live and have found very little data. I did find information about Iquitos, Peru and the weather there stays consistently around 80 degrees F for a mean daily temperature. The high temps were consistently between 81-90 degrees F all year round. The low temps ocurred at night and were between 71-75 degrees but usually a nighlty low temp of around 72 was acheived. These temps would support the theory that a cooling period may not be neccesary because a cooling period does not seem to occur naturally in the wild. The numbers do suggest that a night time temp drop to 72 degrees would effectively mimic natural temp changes.
However these boas have been bred in captivity for many years and I am sure that many approachs have been taken with breeding BRB's. I was just wondering if anyone has succesfully bred BRB without cooling or if all attempts to breed without cooling have failed.
This is the data I found about Iquitos weather. I acheived these average monthly temps by adding the temps from three days each month and dividing by three. Therefore these numbers are not true monthly average temps but should be close.:
Mean/High/Low
January: 84/94/75
February: 80/88/73
March: 79/87/71
April: 79/87/72
May: 78/84/71
June: 78/83/72
July: 81/89/72
August: 81/91/72
September: 80/88/73
October: 81/90/72
November: 80/87/72
December: 82/92/74

Here is a chart from USAToday.com that shows true monthly temperature averages for Barranquilla, Columbia. This data also shows that cooling months do not occur.

Month / Average high /Average low /Average precipitation
JAN. 86 75 0.2
FEB. 87 75 0.0
MARCH 88 76 0.0
APRIL 89 77 1.0
MAY 90 77 4.2
JUNE 90 77 4.0
JULY 89 77 2.6
AUG. 89 77 4.4
SEP. 89 76 6.1
OCT. 88 76 7.8
NOV. 88 76 2.7
DEC. 87 76 0.8
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Jared Douglas

Jared,
. That is a very good question and I wish I knew the right answer. I had better luck breeding BRBs when I used to cool them more than I have been the last few years. Jeff Ronne is not the only Bci breeder who says he does not cool his animals. It seems to me that even here in Savannah where the winters are mild the outside weather reaches all the way into my cages. When we have a cold snap I my heaters and thermostats do not keep the temperature totally the same as when the weather is warm. I cannot imagine that Jeff Ronne, who lives in the frozen northland does not have at least some cooling in his snake rooms during the winter. The good Bci breeders have pretty consistent results and so I would guess that Bci CAN be successfully bred with no or very little cooling. Someone is going to have to explain to me what is going on with the many Bci in captivity that breed year round and often without results.
Jeff

>>Jeff Ronne consistently breeds his BCI without any cooling period. Has anyone tried this approach with BRB's? I have been trying to gather data from weather almanacs from the region where BRB live and have found very little data. I did find information about Iquitos, Peru and the weather there stays consistently around 80 degrees F for a mean daily temperature. The high temps were consistently between 81-90 degrees F all year round. The low temps ocurred at night and were between 71-75 degrees but usually a nighlty low temp of around 72 was acheived. These temps would support the theory that a cooling period may not be neccesary because a cooling period does not seem to occur naturally in the wild. The numbers do suggest that a night time temp drop to 72 degrees would effectively mimic natural temp changes.
>>However these boas have been bred in captivity for many years and I am sure that many approachs have been taken with breeding BRB's. I was just wondering if anyone has succesfully bred BRB without cooling or if all attempts to breed without cooling have failed.
>>This is the data I found about Iquitos weather. I acheived these average monthly temps by adding the temps from three days each month and dividing by three. Therefore these numbers are not true monthly average temps but should be close.:
>> Mean/High/Low
>> January: 84/94/75
>> February: 80/88/73
>> March: 79/87/71
>> April: 79/87/72
>> May: 78/84/71
>> June: 78/83/72
>> July: 81/89/72
>> August: 81/91/72
>>September: 80/88/73
>> October: 81/90/72
>> November: 80/87/72
>> December: 82/92/74
>>
>>Here is a chart from USAToday.com that shows true monthly temperature averages for Barranquilla, Columbia. This data also shows that cooling months do not occur.
>>
>>Month / Average high /Average low /Average precipitation
>>JAN. 86 75 0.2
>>FEB. 87 75 0.0
>>MARCH 88 76 0.0
>>APRIL 89 77 1.0
>>MAY 90 77 4.2
>>JUNE 90 77 4.0
>>JULY 89 77 2.6
>>AUG. 89 77 4.4
>>SEP. 89 76 6.1
>>OCT. 88 76 7.8
>>NOV. 88 76 2.7
>>DEC. 87 76 0.8
>>-----
>>Jared Douglas
>>

Thanks for the research, what I noticied was the rainfall in the lower chart.
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"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance- that principle is contempt prior to investigation." Herbert Spencer