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Who brumates their FEMALES?

Drewby07

Drewby07

curiocreatures.com
So I have 5 pairs I'll be breeding in the spring. I thought I'd try brumating them this winter in my unheated attic. It stays pretty cold up there, but doesn't actually freeze...so I think it will work perfectly. I am also thinking of putting an electric heater up there on sort of an "emergency" thermostat....so if it goes below 40° or so the heater will kick on.

My main question is ...how many of you brumate your females? I have one in particular that is overweight (pics HERE) that I think will benefit from brumation. I'm hoping it will help her burn off some of her fat deposits.

I also have the other 4 females....and I'm trying to decide what to do with them. They are all large healthy adults...so do I brumate, and ensure they are all "synced up"....or do I keep them up and get some extra meals in before breeding season starts?
 
I did not used to brumate...I did last year for the first time and what I saw was a rise in fertility, and overall a seemingly healthier group of snakes overall. I also have seen some snakes go off food early this year so some are already down for the winter.
We have been unseasonably warm these last 10 days so I am waiting to put the others down until it chills back out. My unheated attic works great for mine as well. The lowest I have seen the temps go up there is about 50. It worked really well last year.
 
Yes. Every snake I intend to breed or possibly breed were brumated from November 15th to February 15th. The other aspect is it cuts down on the feed bill too.
 
Yup, I'm brumating everything over 300 grams, males and females.
It not only cuts down on the feed bill, but supposedly it's easier to predict female ovulation when you brumate. Not that I'M any good at that myself!
 
Yeah the ovulation thing would be nice. I know my 2007 and 2008 timing was really hard to predict....and was about 6 weeks different. Knowing that everyone would be "in the mood" around the same time would be nice.....lol
 
you know i brumate males and females. the only problem?? when you bring out all females at the same time.... they all get pregnant and all lay eggs and all the eggs hatch at the same time... this year i had 3 clutched hatching at 1 time... boy was that CRAZY! trying to get the shoeboxes set up and making sure siblings weren't mixed with another clutch. but i'm going for more clutches next year.. so we will see if i can maybe take 3 females out of brumation at a time....
 
Wouldn't it be better for Fatty Snake if she was up, burning calories, during the winter? They are supposed to maintain condition during brumation, not lose weight, right?
 
I dunno....maybe you're right. I thought since she wouldn't be eating while in bru' she might lose some weight....but I dunno.
 
I would brumate all your snakes you intend to breed except for the "fat" one. I would keep her "awake" and feed her minimally, like every 3 weeks. I believe that would help her lose fat deposits more than brumation would.

Like others have said, brumation is great at setting up timing for breeding, once you pull them out, you figure to breed in a month, get eggs a little over a month later, and then babies two months after that. It makes it nice and easy (theoretically, of course).
 
sober_serpents said:
you know i brumate males and females. the only problem?? when you bring out all females at the same time.... they all get pregnant and all lay eggs and all the eggs hatch at the same time... this year i had 3 clutched hatching at 1 time... boy was that CRAZY! trying to get the shoeboxes set up and making sure siblings weren't mixed with another clutch. but i'm going for more clutches next year.. so we will see if i can maybe take 3 females out of brumation at a time....
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. I had 6 clutches and they were hatching back to back. Then 2 females doubled and it happened again. I didn't brumate last year, but I am this year. The males are going down first, next couple days, and the females will go in a couple more weeks. It's been a bit warm here so I am trying to wait until the temps get a bit cooler.
 
according to my weight records from last year the average weight loss was about 25-30 grams. I did have one go light but she would not sleep in her hide and seemed to be more "active" than any other snake in the same location. She was a weird snake all the way around.
 
bekers71 said:
It's been a bit warm here so I am trying to wait until the temps get a bit cooler.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean there. Normally we are in the 40's during the day now and into the 20's at night. We have not even had what I would call a hard frost yet. Great for the heating bill but could mess up sleeping schedules for the snakes.
 
We brumate every colubrid that will be breeding. They have almost cycled their last meals and will be ready to go down in the next week or so. We keep all of them in our basement which never goes below the mid to high 50*s on the coldest days. We do a two month brumation which seems to work best for us and keep them covered with a dark cloth for the entire brumation other then to check the water.
Last year was the first time we decided to stagger the wake-up times for the pairs intended to breed so as to have a couple of clutches hatch at a time instead of the possiblity of them hatching all at once. It really didn't turn out like I had hoped because instead of a couple of clutches pipping per week it kind of extended the cycle. If I had paired all my breedings around the same time the natural cycle of each snake would have made it possible for all of the clutches to hatch within a 2 - 3 week period. By me altering this cycle by staggering the wake-up times I had clutches hatching over a 21/2 month period and definitely extended the laying and hatching time from first clutch to last. I think I would prefer all my clutches pipping around the same time. I was worried if one of the later females had double clutched I would have had babies hatching into late October and it could have possibly had an effect on this years brumation schedule. Fortunately none of the doubled.
Jay :cool:
 
It sure wouldn't hurt the "husky-sized" girl to be out watching TV for an hour a night on the cornsnake treadmill!
 
Sounds like a plan! I think I'll keep the "plus sized" girl up...but put everyone else down over the next week or two. It's been about 11 days since they last fed....2 weeks should be safe, right? Do I just wait for a bowel movement to be sure?

I think I'll get them set up in their brumation tubs with shavings and a water dish....and stack them up in the snake rooom but not on any sort of heat tape....then after about a week i'll put them up in the attic. Sound good?
 
I'll brumate anything thats over 100g's.. My food bills are to damn expensive to keep the monsters all up.. I make darn well sure I check on the water bowls often though.. I sure don;t need no incredible shrinking snakes..

Regards.. Tim of T and J
 
Well I think they are going under this weekend! Wish me luck! The snake room is going to look so empty!!!
 
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