Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do people who live in warmer climates (like Florida) cool down their AZ Mt Kingsnakes for the winter. I understand that the snakes need to be kept so they don't get above 55 degrees for 3 months. I live in the Arizona desert and the high in the winter is almost always above 55 degrees. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Le Roy Shontz

Old fridge modified.
Later Jason

I cool them as I do all my others really... Most times normal temps are good, but once in a while I will use the a.c. to keep the room as cool as I can.
My pyros have bred for me with no cooling whatsoever in the past as well.
If you have a regimen in place for your other colubrid snakes, I'd say the pyros will be o.k. with the same conditions.
Ideally, I feed for the last time right about now to begin their "cool down" on Thanksgiving. Keeping the snakes as cool as I can or as near to 55F as I can get usually does the trick. On Valentine's Day, I reverse the cycle and bein to warm up and feed.
:Mark
-----
Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

So that you don't think I'm crazy, I wanted to tell you that I mean the petition effectiveness post to be a response to what you posted on the thread about banning the rattlesnake roundup. I'm not sure how my post was put on this thread. I'm not completely sure that I was posting to you, but I think I was. I was posting to someone who asked whether signing the online petition had any value if he wasn't a resident of New Mexico.

Bill

PS. If no one remembers a thread about banning rattlesnake roundups and you didn't post on that thread, both of my posts are more evidence that I really am crazy. I'm learning to accept that possibility.

But the thread got deleted for some reason

Later Jason

..

I am in similar dilemma in California. I find the low 50's amibient temp works well for most Colubrids. You might consider an old refrigerator but for greater dependalbiliy and smaller size, a wine chiller offers a stable temp in the low 50 range and is fairly attractive. Roughly 30" x 16" I do not use one, using an ice chest in an insulated outbuildig instead. Maybe we don't need to go much below mid-50's, some of FR posts are making me question many of the things we collectively do...FR, will you comment?

Not to put words in his mouth, but FR would probably say to give them a wide range of temps and let them choose, which I agree with. Here in MI we don't have much of a problem. We have temps in the 40's in Oct, but I can see that in the Southern states you might have a hard time finding a place that will cool off. I would think if it got in the 40's or 50's at night, you could find a way to cool them at least at night, and let them be at 70 in the day. Could you have a snake room where you can leave the window open, or a garage, or porch, or something. Another alternative would be to not cool them and hope they keep feeding.

TC

A couple thoughts:
1) brumation isn't just temp, it's light periodicity and lack of food. Not feeding's the easy part--if they're cool they won't want to feed anyway. But be sure to darken the room--a night light suffices; i have my lights on a timer and they come on for 1 hr/day.
2) be careful of ALL artificial heating or cooling devices. I bought a "7-11" style drink cooler, the kind you'd get sodas out of at the convenience store, AND had it rigged with a safety valve of some kind by a refrig specialist, and then decided to run it for a week before putting snakes in it. two or three days into the test i found the device with condensation all over the glass and an inside temp of more than 100. I don't remember what caused it, but it left an indelible note of caution.
3) ditto for incubators--others here can vouch for horror stories when a cheap electrical device killed a fortune in yet-to-hatch snakes.
4) i'm in fla and have a ton and a half a/c unit to cool my 8x11 snake room, where i cool the pyros. I leave the door open a few inches and it cools the adjacent honduran room about 5 degrees less, adjustable by opening the door more or less.
5) the greater the volume of air the less the risk--a simple malfunction can more quickly overheat or overcool a cubit foot than a 650 cu ft room.

good luck!
terry

>>How do people who live in warmer climates (like Florida) cool down their AZ Mt Kingsnakes for the winter. I understand that the snakes need to be kept so they don't get above 55 degrees for 3 months. I live in the Arizona desert and the high in the winter is almost always above 55 degrees. Does anyone have any suggestions?
>>
>>Thanks.
>>
>>Le Roy Shontz

Terry, I would add humidity also.

I think humidity is a factor because many of my snakes become less active when the humidity goes down (MI) and because snakes want to avoid dessication while brumating. With some like my Mandarins, I even put a moist hide in their cage while they are in brumation. In AZ I think the dryness as well as the warm winter temps can make brumation problematical. More thoughts on brumation later...

TC

>>A couple thoughts:
>>1) brumation isn't just temp, it's light periodicity and lack of food. Not feeding's the easy part--if they're cool they won't want to feed anyway. But be sure to darken the room--a night light suffices; i have my lights on a timer and they come on for 1 hr/day.