why????.....
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high temps cause regurgs
bobassetto
Jan 26, 2006 07:23 AM
Replies (3)
Nokturnel Tom
Jan 26, 2006 09:23 AM
Good question. I would guess it has to with stress. Speaking only of Pits....I see that sometimes they prefer to be on the warm side...but more often than not they are away from the hot spot in the cage, even with a full belly. If the entire cage is warmer than the snake prefers it seems Pits get cranky as if their metabolism is running in high gear. With other colubrids it seems to make them poop more, and they also seem to often enjoy a nice hot spot. I have lowered my temps, even for my females a little over the past 3 years and they seem to be doing better. Especially my Southern Pines, the females cage was kept mostly around the high 70s and she produced a nice clutch for me. I also notice my Sonoran female would thermoregulate as you'd expect them to do in nature. Even if I have a nice hide box on both the hot spot and the cool side....she'd occasionally sit on the heat to digest a bit and then go back to her hide on the cool side. With many snakes I think cranking the heat at times can be beneficial, but with Pits is seems as if it can be problematic. Tom Stevens
jcherry
Jan 26, 2006 11:41 AM
Tom,
I tend to agree with you in speaking about pits in general with the high gear comment. I believe it to be a combination of things, the warmer temps get the motor running and then any little stressful thing ( traffic in the area, handling etc) seems to become problematic for them. In thinking about it though that is probally normal with high strung snakes that are as aware of the surrounding they live in such as pits.
The other thing I would kick in is that there does seem to be different levels of tolerance with bulls/sonorans being the most forgiving and deppei deppei/deppei jani being the least forgiving.
My two cents anyway,
John Cherry
Cherryville Farms
Steve G
Jan 26, 2006 08:56 PM
What pits are you talking about here? The deppei complex can assimilate their meals at temps in the 60's. North American pits: in the 70's-low 80's. It's the size of the meal, and the frequency of the feeding that usually causes a problem. Which one are you having a problem with?
