Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello all,

After spending about 10 years breeding corns and kings with no winter cooling and only having about an 80% success rate with getting good clutches from the females. I've decided to cool everyone down this winter.

I gave all my colubrids their last meal on Nov 2nd, turned off heat Nov 15th, and moved them to the cool area Nov 20th. The cool area is a basement closet with the insulation removed towards the outside and garage. I've checked it about every other day and the temp is sitting from 51.7 to 56.3 with outside temps ranging from -12 to 42.

I've got 8 corns, 2 desert kings, 2 cal kings, and a great plains rat down there right now. They are in either 10gal tanks or sweater boxes with large water bowls and a hide.

I checked on the actual snakes today to makes sure everything was going okay and they were all VERY alert and moved around swiftly as if they werent even remotley cold. Is this normal? Do they need to be even colder?

Also, i was planning on pulling them out of the cold Feb 1st, providing heat Feb 10th, and feeding a very small meal Feb 15th. Will that be long enough time in the cold?

I have a pair of bulls, two trios of pyros, and three gopher snakes in brumation. The gopher snakes have been rather quiet and not moving around too much, but the pyros and the bulls routinely mess up their water bowls (dragging moss into them) and in general move around quite a bit. Not as much as when they are actually warm but still some activity.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

For corns and common kings that would be sufficient.......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com