Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If my snakes continue to breed without actually cooling --- is there any other reason why I would have to drop temps. I have not yet dropped any temps - I do have a couple of girls that have gone off feed for a few weeks - one locked up with my pastel last night. I was waiting until November to start dropping so that I could get some weight on my boarderline girls. I didn't cool last year but ended up not needing to. So I'm just wondering if there was any other reason for dropping temps - like for ovulation or something?

Thanks,
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

A larger percentage of females may produce with a cooling period to induce Follicular development but the males will usually breed regardless. Frank retes successfully bred Lampropletis Pyromelana with no Brumation at all when many said it could not be done, and his fertility was on par with or better than many breeders that followed standard operating procedure. I think though that only the females that are borderline may be an acceptable group to utilize cooling and the other females will be just fine regardless.

I've read several times that feedings and photoperiods affect the breeding cycle just as much as temperatures.

Give it a try.

After all, I believe it was Socrates (or was it Meatloaf) who said: "Two out of three ain't bad."

Chris
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mean people suck

I'm far from being an expert, and may very well be wrong, but I was under the impression that it was the males that benefited from the cooling. Was told years ago that doing so insured that the sperm would be more viable. In any case I do it out of habit.

Quig

Its the female that benefits the most, if you do a sperm test the levels are about identical either way. The animals in the wild are not going to get even remotely the same cooling each year from drought or extreme temp changes yet they continue to breed and produce.

Thanks for clearin' that up for me. Like I said, I cool reguardless

Quig

How important is the light cycle?
It's difficult for me to pull off a proper light cycle without a lot of work~ my PC is in my snake room. I turn on the lights after "dark"~ I've thought about using a blanket to cover the racks the breeders are in~ but that will only cut off MOST of the light~ and be a pain in the rear to do every day. I've thought about just not using my computer after dark~ but I take classes on-line~ it will be almost impossible (and sure torture) for me to not use the PC after dark!

I've adjusted temps~ and two of the males have bred~ but the two I really want to breed have not yet. ~ It's only been a week of lowered temps though.
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

Since it is a nocturnal species the differentiation between standard day and night cycles are all that is needed.