Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi
I have a thayeri that so far eating well no problems. I notice most here brumate your snakes . Is that due to breeding?
I am not a breeder he is just a pet and I prefer not to brumate him ever if possible .
Anyone keep for years thayeris without brumating? . A friend has an Arizona mt king that never brumated but when he got to around 4 yrs he wanted to sleep for months during the winter.
I imagine thayeri might be same okay this year but might want to sleep another year?
Tell you the truth I am a bit afraid of brumating so glad so far he is eating,active.
Thanks

It is not a requirement to put your snake through a forced brumation. Just keep the same feeding schedule and Cage temps at normal all year round and he should be great.

If he chooses over the years to brumate himself then you will notice by a change in his appetite and should not worry about him if all else seems well with him. Some snakes seem to "know" its winter time and choose to do this themselves.

Enjoy

Dawn

Thanks a lot for the help.

I have 19 snakes, and 3 of them are adults that brumate themselves. I went with it and I am going to try and breed the 2 GBKs together. The Scarlet Kingsnake is still eating this year, but in past years, she quit eating in early December. There is no problem if they don't. Derek

thanks. I infact looked into greybandeds two yrs back but read horror stories of not eating or going off food for months so opted not to.
I know they have like a cult type following great looking snakes but opted for good eaters.
Ca king and thayeri . I do plan to add another king/milk this summer and will change my name to ThreeSnakes lol.

I'm a fan of providing a cool area that the snakes can retreat to if desired. This might be a larger cage with just a small heated area in Winter, the rest of the cage allowed to drop down to high 50s low 60s at night.

Not that you need to do this, but it can be interesting to see what temps your snake chooses in a scenario like this.

>>I'm a fan of providing a cool area that the snakes can retreat to if desired. This might be a larger cage with just a small heated area in Winter, the rest of the cage allowed to drop down to high 50s low 60s at night.
>>
>>Not that you need to do this, but it can be interesting to see what temps your snake chooses in a scenario like this.

I like this answer, Mark.
I have a pair of thayeri that are two yrs old and don't have much choice, but to cool them a little in winter. Our outside temps are very cold causing the inside temps to drop. It's usually in the low 70's which the thayeri can digest at. Also the humidity is low this time of year. Sometimes I will turn the heat on under the tank and let them eat a couple mice. Then a few days later turn it off and let it be low 70's for awhile and even turn it down in the room at night and it will drop to 65*. If I go away I'll drop it to about 60 for a week or two and come back and resume normal temps. The thayeri do fine through all this, but don't eat as much as during the warmer parts of the year.

TC