Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have looked up in my textbooks on Herpetology and Vertebrate Biology about metabolism during hibernation and mostly find information about metabolism related to thermoregulation in heat. I am just so impressed with my skinks' ability to just bury themselves in the sand or under a rock and not eat or drink for months at a time as long as the nighttime temp drops to a certain level. I would love to find some literature that discusses this phenomenal ability. It would be interesting to see how reptile hibernating metabolism compares to mammal hibernating metabolism. Also, comparing across group lines... lizards vs. tortoises vs. amphibians. Snakes would probably be extremely similar to lizards in this regard, although it's interesting to me how lizards can hibernate just based on eating enough insects and plant material, while snakes can eat power meals before they go down. I just am so impressed with reptiles' amazing energy conservation abilities.
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Lisa Rakestraw
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My skinks:
1.1.1 Corucia zebrata (Berman and Joni, baby Charlemagne)
2.2.2 Eumeces schneideri (Jack and Mabel; Kaa and Cochisa their babies)
2.3.9 Egernia striolata

Hubby's snakes:
1.0 Bogertophis subocularis (Humphrey)
0.1 Lampropeltis alterna (Sandy)

Lisa:
I don't frequent this particular Kingsnake forum very often so missed your post of last December.

Cannot guide you to the literature you seek dealing with metabolism during the brumation (hibernation) period in herps. There are some older published information on weight loss that occurs in species of snakes during brumation but it has been many years since I came across that information. From recollection, I recall that some species like rattlesnakes, lost a significant fraction of their pre-brumation weight during the winter months and I believe some other species such as Gopher Snakes and Racer experienced the same.

But that is just the opposite of what I have found in the species I study, Charina bottae, the Rubber Boa. Both in captivity and in the wild, weight loss is usually marginal and in a few cases, weight gain has been recorded which can be explained by water intake.

I cannot speak for other species but in the boa, most if not all meals taken late in the year are fully digested before the boas enter brumation. It is very, very uncommon to have a boa that has come out of the brumation period to produce a scat with undigested material. Both in captive and wild specimens, I obtained weights in late Oct. or early November then again when the boas (males) emerge from brumation in February. Just off the top of my head, weight loss is usually less than 2%.

Richard F. Hoyer

Thanks Richard. I've heard about the weight gain... you say due to water uptake... as in the snake consuming water during the brumation period, but not evacuating it?

My interest is in lizards, but since snakes are just specialized lizards (evolutionarily) much information about them can probably be used to understand lizards as well. I'm interested in how the metabolisms change... it seems easier to find info about the maximum metabolic rates of lizards (e.g. how hot can we make this lizard before it gets damaged) but not as much about the physiological changes that take place during brumation. I am saying this only from an armchair-research point of view. I suspect that if I undertook *actual* research at the University library that I'd find plenty of info!

Thanks so much for your input!!
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Lisa Rakestraw
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My skinks:
1.1.1 Corucia zebrata (Berman and Joni, baby Charlemagne)
2.2.2 Eumeces schneideri (Jack and Mabel; Kaa and Cochisa their babies)
0.0.4 Egernia striolata

Hubby's snakes:
1.0 Bogertophis subocularis (Humphrey)
0.1 Lampropeltis alterna (Sandy)