Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it possible to reverse the time of cooling for a hognose if I started it as a baby that hasnt been cooled yet. In other words, Breed in the winter and put down in the hot months of summer. I live in the san fernando part of los angeles and it hits 100 degrees during the summer. This seems like it would be a better time to work with the snakes.

I have heard rumours of people pulling this off with other colubrid species? However it could all be BS, and the female might not go into estruss during the winter months.

Any imput would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Jason

You could try it but there are several factors, temps, number of hours of daylight, natural internal clock. I live just west of you towards Agoura, Thousand Oaks, etc. only it's a slight bit cooler in my area compared to the valley. I would suggest that you take advantage of our temps and cool slightly later in the year. I can feed most of my snakes right through December if I need to. This lets me get a longer growing cycle. This helps to get those borderline two year olds up to definite breeding size. I also cool for 60 days to 75 days and rarely go the full 90 days. I can do this because my cooling area gets down to the 40's and stays there for weeks. I start my cooling later, cool for slightly less time, and get my eggs to hatch at about the same time as everybody else.
I did notice that a few breeders started early this year and do have hatchlings a little sooner but I'm not sure if that is really having any affect on the market.

Its good to hear from a local. I will try this, those hot days in early may just suck. Every year I forget about them and have to scramble to keep the snakes cool. Thanks for your help.
Jason Mc

I know kingsnake dosent like to sell through the forms but if you could email me with what you breed or a webpage, it would be much appreciated. Im at dmcelroy1@socal.rr.com

Again thanks and goodluck with your animals.
Jason Mc