Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had to cool my 1 yo az mt king, as he stopped eating..upstate ny, so weather cool outside... I put him in a dark closet the day after thanksgiving.. how long do i let a snake cool before he starves? he concerns me a bit because he always was a very picky eater, sometimes during summer months he would go weeks without feeding, would just outright refuse food. I would try all the tricks, braining, feedint outside tank, feeding inside tank, in a tub, in a brown bag, he just always refused to eat more then once or twice per month.. he would eat, but not as often or much as one would like.. he hasnt grown all that much from when i had him, but he still had no line on his back and looked healthy... but in november he stopped altoghter, so i cooled him.... when do I atempt to take him out? do i wait till march when it warms up outside? that seems like too long... and last dumb question.. .when does one find pyros feed best, morning, afternoon or night? I ask, because my desert king will only eat at evening or night, but i noticed my pyro would only feed early morning..its cool how different species have differnt habits, like my desert only comes out at night, whereas my pyros only come out durning the day, and seem to hide at night, is this normal behavior for pyros? sorry for so long...happy newyear, pete

Hey Pete! I have never had great success with Pyros, but others here have and probably will give you better advice. I just wanted to say that my male Pyro is a picky eater also. I found that he likes peach fuzzy mice or smaller. He very rarely will accept a pre-killed hopper. So maybe try feeding him small meals more often? As for how long to brumate, there are many variables in that equation. It depends on how healthy the snake is, and how cold his enviroment is really. Most people Brumate their snakes in general 2 or 3 months. I am not brumating my male cause he still eats a little and I don't have a mate for him anyway. Good Luck!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Fortuneately all of my baby pyros are up and still eating. Although some are a little picky and will eat only every other week. I'm content that they are feeding at all.

As Jorge pointed out many factors are involved in how long to brumate. In your case, with a picky feeder I would go 6-8 weeks and bring it back up to temps slowly then resume feeding. Since it's too young to breed anyway a longer brumation is not needed. Even this short brumation can really trigger a better feed response when they come back out.

As to time of day to feed. Consider this, pyros are a montane species. Feeding early in the day gives them time to bask in the warmth of the sun to better metabloize their food before the cool of the evening settles in.

Desert species would avoid the hottest part of the day and stay holed up until things cool off late in the day before feeding.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
0.3 P. c. sayi Kingsville X Stillwater red bulls
1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
1.2 D. corais Yellowtail Cribos
1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

Zane joining his girl cousins in the sphagnum moss container during brumation this last fall. Zane is one of my '08 males, but is smaller than one of his two '09 girl cousins. He is just not a big eater but is healthy. In the warm season he likes to spend more time than any of my other pyros in his moist sphagnum moss hide where it is cooler. He is being brumated with his cousins as a bonding experiment. He weighs 75 grams and his sister Dotz (same age!) weighs 175 grams. My other unrelated '08 male weighs 152 grams. Zane ate a lot more in '10 than he did in '09.

My older pyros generally have all quit feeding by late September. They go into brumation in October and come out in early February. By then they are ready to eat again. I am not brumating my baby '10 pyros but the set up they have, they can avail themselves of low 50's F or go under their warm hides for heat. Sometimes they will eat, so I give them that option. Next year I will officially brumate them, too. My records going back to '08 when I first got pyros shows they routinely stop eating in early fall and commence again in early spring. The babies will feed sporadically over the winter.

In the spring when they first start feeding again they will eat every week but as the summer comes on they slow down to about every other week and then by fall have mostly quit. I feed them multiple small meals, not one big item at a setting.

The two main reasons to brumate are:
1. To prevent weight loss during the winter fast. At cooler temperatures their metabolism uses very little energy, hence they lose very little weight.
2. To help with fertility of breeders, particularly viable sperm.

My pyros are early birds, coming out at first light and getting the morning sun. They hardly come out at all during the night except duing the hot part of summer. But it doesnt seem to matter when I feed them, as long as they are warm and hungry, they will eat any time of day. Usually I feed everybody in feeding jars, but with the babies, since they are all in separate cages anyway, I have been just putting the pinks in deli cups nested in the substrate. The pinks cant crawl away to die unseen. The snakes can get the food or go back to bed, their choice. It's easy for me to check with a glance whether or not the cups are empty.

Whether brumating or not, everybody has fresh water at all times. They really like water even when they may not be in feeding mode.

I am no big expert on pyros, but so far so good, they are all thriving. They are a lot easier than other types of snakes, at least in my limited experience.

Happy New Year to you, too! The days are getting longer again and I for one am looking forward to spring! Feeding my snakes is one of my most fun activities!

A funny side note: I am also feeding one of my '09 gopher snakes with the food in the deli cup in the substrate. She will come out and look in the cup and then look at me when she is hungry, like "Come on, already! Put something in this thing!"
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire