I'll just try to add to what John said, a little bit.



I only raised a pair of cb conspics from Rex, but I am in a neat location for brumating cool adapted colubrids. This year, for instance, we had a very warm Fall overall, and I didn't put down any subtropical snakes until January when it got colder. They did fine until then and there's plenty of winter left to cycle them. The problem for me comes in when the really cool adapted ones go off feed on their own in early Fall. I have to try to cool them and hope the Brumation Room gets cold enough soon after. Once the ground freezes outdoors I can maintain around 50*F. in my Brumation Room.



I don't think conspics need a terribly cold brumation temp. I think I cooled the babies for near three months at around 55-60*F. They started feeding for me in early spring, around the end of March, I think. They fed all year, including summer, and I think the key was the fact that my Herp Room doesn't get overly warm. It generally stays bt. 70 and 80*F. during the summer, and even cooler in fall. The conspics went until late fall when I cooled them again, maybe four months the second winter. I don't remember exact periods.



I believe w/c conspics are different in that they feed mainly in the spring and likely go off feed during summer for at least two months. Then they resume feeding again for a couple months in fall. They don't seem to tolerate hot temps, but tolerate cool temps very well.



As far as getting them out of the wild, you'd have to first deal with the parasite issues, which may be few with this species. Acclimating them might be difficult, especially if you couldn't keep the temps down in the range they like. Certainly extra heat wouldn't be necessary. If you could get a gravid female, and then some eggs, you could hatch out babies which probably would fair much better. Also, young snakes would probably acclimate much better than adults, just like in other northern species.



Let's look at the fox snakes again, briefly. If you collect an adult, the acclimation process is going to be difficult because they've had several years of coming up from brumation in May and going back down in early fall, like September or early Oct. They're going to want to stop feeding long before you have cool enough temps for them, in most cases. If you collect a juvenile, they usually won't care in they brumate, or they can be fooled with a very short brumation. The same might be true for young conspics, not brumating, or fooled with a short one, maybe a month, or so.



Anyway, that's the way I'd approach it. Good luck finding one Shane.



Terry

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