Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can anyone tell me how brief a brumation can actually be?
I live in a high heat climate with only mild winters. I plan on doing a natural brumation, only supplimenting heat when necessary so my snakes don't get below 50 degrees. I am confident I can maintain an average of 50-55 for 1.5-2 months. Thats the best I can do considering my living situation.
Species are
Corns
Hondurans
Thayeri
All of these snakes are found in climates that are just like where I live. South Texas.. With that being said, I think it will be succesfull.
I am not looking for advice on how to brumate longer or better!

I just need some experienced thoughts and some evidence to say whether this will or will not work.
Thanks!

Actually they do not require hibernation, what so ever. But they do need temps belowe 70F, 65F is fine.

Do you mean constant year round access to 65? I agree that would most likely work although I could never try it without adding some type of cooling device.

My thoughts and experience has always been that it is mainly extended high temps during breeding time, like above 78, that kills sperm and they don't really need that long or cold of a hibernation as long as you can keep temps somewhat cool through breeding trials. I once got fertile eggs from a female mex mex that had only been hibernated 3 weeks but the male was hibernated about 3 months.

I also remember that Lloyd Lemke prefaced one of his Vivarium articles(breeding Kunasir Ratsnakes I believe) with the note that his techniques were tailored specifically to his climate and may not work the same in all climates. I took that to mean backround temps are just as important as hotspot temps.
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www.hcu-tx.org/

I have had snakes reproduce successfully by simulating Spring conditions. A warm spot all day and nice and cool at night. When I did that I lived in an area that made it easy. When I moved to a warmer area, it was tougher to do that. I did not figure this out - some breeders were doing this in the 70s, I happened to read about it in an old snake book.

Too much cold for too long of time likely inhibits sperm to some degree. We all know so does too much heat. Males try to find that sweet spot temp-wise to ensure motile sperm, so they alternate from warm to cool to do so, which is why in the wild male kings can be found basking a few weeks before they may need to breed. Well, at least Cal kings do - I've seen it.

My friend would flip boards in a field everyday in Spring. He then checked the sex of the snake and sketched its head pattern. He found out they were all males by far, and some were repeat males each year he did this. What an informative study. He has no college degree BTW. He found some females but always about 2 weeks or more after the males. All this in a field the size of a football field. Cal kings apparently can live in quite dense colonies when conditions allow, which is what FR has been saying all along about kings in general.
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Mark

That's interesting about the males emerging before the females. I know male montane kings too can tolerate alot of heat from finding them in high temps in the wild too. But it gets cold at night at elevation and I can't think of any microhabitat that would consistently stay above 80 all night, so I think they need the cold too. Except hot springs and kings aren't restricted to those anyway. Thanks for the information.
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www.hcu-tx.org/

Its funny that you mention the high temps here. I have a Mex Mex that is about to lay eggs this week. Time will tell if the sperm of the male, who was kept around 85-90 degrees during the day will do the job. I did have the AC on but.... Texas is experiencing record highs in 100s right now. I did move the pair into another room once I confirmed mating and kept them together for a solid week and a half. Cage temps were 78-80 during the day 75-78 at night.

NO I am not keeping them at that temp all year (65). Thats just an estimated average temp my reptile room will be during the winter here in Texas. Im sure it will get as low as 40 and as high as 75.

I will add heat so they don't get below 50.

I live in central Texas and all I do is not feed for 3 months, (middle of November through middle of February) they stay in my garage which is uninsulated and don't use any heat at all, it usually stays above 50 in there, and I've never had a female refuse a male. I have speckled kings, Florida kings, and desert kings and have had lots of success, hope this helps
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Dustin Smith

{B]i live in central Texas and all I do is not feed for 3 months, (middle of November through middle of February) they stay in my garage which is uninsulated and don't use any heat at all, it usually stays above 50 in there, and I've never had a female refuse a male. I have speckled kings, Florida kings, and desert kings and have had lots of success, hope this helps

Same here. I have a snake room that gets down to 40F. i lave the heat tape on and feed them through winter.

They mostly stay on the cold end unless they ate and are digesting.

When I used to breed the old institutional method. I cooled young snakes for only two weeks and they bred. I also kew someone (Ververkas) who cooled snakes in a cooler for 2 weeks dyrung summer and the snakes bred in the fall.

Now that mine are housed together in bonded groups I get eggs during nov, dec, jan, feb marh. But the majority of my kings still breed in May and lay in june/july.
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www.Bluerosy.com

If they are housed together, how is your heat tape set up? Inside?
How often do they eat during the winter using this method?
Last Feb, I had a hard time getting mine to eat, even when it was 70 degrees during the day.
Can you also send me a link to your blog on bonding?
I couldn't find it on your website.

I keep mine in a cold room. So they have a heat gradient from 40-50F to 78-85F. They will eat if given the choice. But if kept at a constant 70F they know the choices aren't there and will probably not eat.
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www.Bluerosy.com

"its kinda like your model builders that work from a kit, if you follow the instructions, its suppose to come out well. Unfortunately, snakes are alive and all manner of things can go wrong, at any time for a million reasons. The truth is, most of those reasons are NOT INCLUDED IN YOUR KIT(husbandry recipe) that you get over the internet. Those are the fun things you get to learn on your own.

Its like you folks think your perfect. Well how you judge that is not what you think, but your results. They tell you how good you did. And that means, past tense. As each and every time you do it, your can succeed or fail. There are no guarantees, no matter how much you know. You must apply your knowledge, each and everytime, and each and everytime the results are a measure of your ability and effort. "

Frank Retes

I only brumated for 45 days this year. I got good results.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

Just what I needed.
I posted something similar on the milksnake forum... Everyone was giving me ideas on how to create brumation chambers and snake houses with ac.
I just want nature to take its course without any stress.