Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am wondering at what temps do you guys keep your Thayeri at during a brumating period. I keep mine along with ALL of my colubrids in the same hibernation box. The box is 4'X 6'X 3' and I can fit Thirty 27 quart enclosures in it. It has it's own window unit and the temps will drop to around 49 when the a/c kicks on and when the thermostat kicks the a/c off it reaches 58 before it kicks back on again. My colubrids have all been down since Thanksgiving Day at these temps. They will be fully warmed up by March 1st and feeding along with some pairings taking place I hope.
What do the rest of you guys do to prepare them for the upcoming breeding season? I know a lot of you live where it stays cool all winter, but living in South Texas it reaches the 80's quite often in the middle of winter so my hibernation method is needed.
So, what temp is optimal?
And how long is optimal?
John Lassiter

John, our temps go down to 38 or so and all the way up to about 54............but average is about 45 degrees for about 3 months brumation......hope this helps.........seems to work pretty good......chad fuchs told me his temps have gone down to almost 32 degrees for short periods with no problems.

I have heard of temps during brumation hiting the freezing point. I have seen (this is my first year with brumation enclosure) my temps drop to about 45 once or twice, but years before when I have succesfully hatched Thayeri the temps barely dropped below 60. I think cooler temps are a must for montane kingsnakes like Thayeri and Greeri.
Thanks for your info Chris and Mike.
John Lassiter

I keep all my snakes in the garage from 1DEC to 1FEB. The temps range as low as 40 degrees and as high as 78 degrees. I live in North Florida so you know the temps fluctuate pretty heavily. The one thing I don't do is keep my male on heat throughout the year. He stays in a bottom box of one of my racks and that gets little to no heat and mostly just room temp. He serviced three girls last year totaling 5 or 6 clutches. Fertility was better than 90%.

Has anyone else noticed that thayeri process food just fine...without heat. I swear as long as I keep my snakes at 75 degrees they'll eat and poop just fine.

Russ

Thanks for the compliment on the photo.
My Thayeri also digest food fine without heat. After letting them clear their digestive tract before hibernation I still found feces in their enclosures throughout hibernation as well. My temps were well below 60 all winter. It is also amazing to see these montane creatures stirring around at 40 degrees.
John Lassiter