Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All, new member here!

I’ve had my California Kingsnake for a few years now, and he has been doing great! Eating well, shedding beautifully, easy to handle. He is my first snake, and I’ve been very pleased with him.

I live in Northern British Columbia, which means that over the winter we have very short days about 6 to 8 hours of daylight. Kingsley brumates for about fivd months out of the year - stops eating around September/October as the days get noticeably shorter, and comes out of brumation around mid-January, as the days start getting longer again. He comes back to activity, sheds (always a good shed), and starts eating again a few days after.

This year, he stopped eating in late July/early August: looks like he started brumating early, which was weird as we still have plenty of daylight and warm days. He became active again about a month ago, so mid-November, had a good shed, and is active and eating - so now he is about two months early in his brumation cycle.

My question is, has anyone else who lives in Northern lattitudes experienced this with their snake? Is it common for the brumation to be consistent at first and then to start to vary?

Not overly concerned as long as he is doing well, just curious and would like to learn more.

What temps do you keep the cage and is it consistant? Are there cool and warm spots in the cage?

Scott

>>Hi All, new member here!
>>
>>I’ve had my California Kingsnake for a few years now, and he has been doing great! Eating well, shedding beautifully, easy to handle. He is my first snake, and I’ve been very pleased with him.
>>
>>I live in Northern British Columbia, which means that over the winter we have very short days about 6 to 8 hours of daylight. Kingsley brumates for about fivd months out of the year - stops eating around September/October as the days get noticeably shorter, and comes out of brumation around mid-January, as the days start getting longer again. He comes back to activity, sheds (always a good shed), and starts eating again a few days after.
>>
>>This year, he stopped eating in late July/early August: looks like he started brumating early, which was weird as we still have plenty of daylight and warm days. He became active again about a month ago, so mid-November, had a good shed, and is active and eating - so now he is about two months early in his brumation cycle.
>>
>>My question is, has anyone else who lives in Northern lattitudes experienced this with their snake? Is it common for the brumation to be consistent at first and then to start to vary?
>>
>>Not overly concerned as long as he is doing well, just curious and would like to learn more.
>>
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How many nuns could a nunchuck chuck if a nunchuck could chuck a nun?

He's in a 45 gallon, infrared heat lamp over one half. The warm half is about 80 to 85 degrees, the cool side around 65 to 75 degrees.

The first year that I got him, I was still new and clueless, and kept the tank too warm - he still didn't eat over the winter, but was very active with the heat, and the activity caused him to loose weight. The following winters I got a bit wiser and kept the tank cooler.

Come to think of it, we have had a very cool summer - normally, temperatures can be in the 80's and 90's during the summer, where I don't use extra heat. This year the temps barely broke 75 and I kept the under-tank heating pad and the infrared lamp on.

Some times I have found that a snake will refuse a full grown mouse as winter aproaches, but if the temps are still warm, they will still take smaller meals like hoppers or fuzzies, and maybe spaced apart a bit more. This will help him to keep his weight. My Alterna stopped eating early this year, and would refuse their usual large meal, but after about 10 days they ate fuzzies. Even if they take large pinkies, sometimes that will work. Here in warm Florida I have to wait till the temps drop enough, (usually January), before I can force them into brumation for 2 months.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

Kingsley is like that too. Sometimes he will refuse a regular mouse, but I can entice him with rat pups or hopper mice.

Though I have another question now. I posted on another reptile forum, and a person there said that only female Kingsnakes shed post-brumation. That would be news to me, but I really don't know.

Does that mean that Kingsley is really a Kingsleyette?

One of my male pyros shed about a month after he came out of brumation. Then he finally decided to eat. He did not breed, as he was with little females (he is a little dude).

My other much bigger adult pyro male began eating about a month after coming out of brumation, but then mated and did not shed until after mating and doing catch up on eating, which he didn't do during mating season.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.