Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just finished putting mine to bed. That makes my life so much easier. I love this time of year.

Hey Coach,

What are your procedures to cooling down your alterna? I am thinking about cooling mines down next year and just want to know what exactly to do. And have you ever lost an alterna due to brumation.

Happy Holidays

I cool my room to mid 70's in Nov. I move them to the garage after a week where it is low to mid 60's. As it gets colder here in the NE the garage drops to around 50-55. If it goes lower then I tweak the space heater .

Same exact procedure as coach.....works like a charm.
JD

It's also worth mentioning to stop feeding about 2 or 3 weeks before cool down starts, keeping heat available, so that the snakes' bellies are completely empty before the temps are dropped. And in the weeks prior to that it's good to feed the snakes a little extra so they've got some fat stored up.
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www.hcu-tx.org/

Yes, it is very important that they are empty prior to cooling. Thanks Aaron.

I have had to put some snakes out in the garage and even though space heaters were used I still had some issues.

I don't knw how Tom does it but the best way is to have heat tape for them so they can still get warmth and even though it is cold outside, they will not get respiratory infections and will still be inactive but not freeze to death as well. I have lost many snakes due to hibernating without the heat tape. I think it's important. Would also like Tom's input on this as well.

Wayne

Don't be a wuss!!! You know you love feeding and taking care of all your critters!!!!

Bottom line with my collection is it gets freakin cold here in NY but the temps in the garage are pretty good on average (45-60) compared to outside (10 - 45) during the winter here. During the worst cold snaps I tweak the space heater to get the garage temps to above 50 where I'm happy. I usually lose like one snake per year but out of those only one alterna in 10 years. It was a little scary in the beginning but I'm confident now. I have seen snakes moving around at those temps and even seen them shed during the winters. I have even seen some soak in the water bowls ( if so usually getula ). This year I have put some babies into brumation that have not fed yet as I have been told they may eat when they come out. We'll see how it works.