Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My indigo has slowed and finally stopped eating as temperatures have dropped to mimic Florida conditions. The first part of winter was fine and she was eating and defecating marvelously. Orlando temps look to be between 52/72F, mine are more like 58/68F with a hot hide at 73F. She has eaten about once every three weeks for the past six weeks, 2-3 small thumped rats, but at about three weeks she is stopping. Size between 4-4.5 feet, girthy.

Should ambient temps be up to 73 and should she have a hotter spot for awhile during the day or am I just worrying too much?

Matt

I just stop feeding them during the winter cool down. Since mine have already been through about 8-9 weeks of cooling, I've gone ahead and brought them back up.

If you're gonna keep the snake cool for much longer, just don't feed it during that time. Indigos can do just fine with fasting during cool months.

Hope this helps.

Doug T

Although the weather channel may show a high of 65 degrees in Orlando, in the sun it's a totally different matter.

You can test this theory by taking the surface temp on a sunny 50 degree day. You can get readings of 90 degrees in the direct sun on the ground in a 59 degree day (I teseted this in S Ga last December)

In the winter, indigos stay somewhat active. They come out and bask WHENEVER the sun hit the ground....and are able to warm up.

In the winter, I allow my indigos to go as low as 55 at night in the coldest part, but even then, the basking light kicks on for about 4-5 hours at mid-day, and the ALWAYS come out and bask.

I believe long periods of cold without access to a very warm basking spot is going to cause serious problems.

Good luck