Brumation poll.

[2i2_D3gr33s]

Just wondering how many of you brumate before breeding. From what I can tell, brumating might help someone like me see more of the signs from corns that will let me know when they're ready to breed. (post brumation shed, etc...). Anyway, If you raise alot of corns, please post that number as well, because I don't want to give as much weight on the poll if someone brumates one corn, while someone else brumates 50.

 

[dionythicus]

I decided to try brumating two girls this year, but the temps are only around 60, so I'll probably take them out here soon and call it good.

 

[2i2_D3gr33s]

Wow, I thought I'd get more responses than this....

 

[Susan]

I've got about 35 breeders, but more than twice that in subadults and yearlings. I try to brumate every snake I plan on breeding unless it just isn't up to weight yet.

And give your poll some more time for more responses!

 

[manog]

I live in southern california and the lowest i could get the temps in my snake room was 60 f. One snake went down fine in those temps. The femal on the other hand didn't. She was very active and losing body weight. I shortened their brumation time to 8 weeks and would feed the female every two weeks a small meal so she would keep her weight. I just pulled them out so i will let everyone know if it worked or not. If it did i should have some good eggs in a few weeks.

 

[Taceas]

For me, brumating is a good starting point with which to calculate when the females should ovulate, so I don't miss it.

But to be honest, ALL of my females have ovulated without being brumated. I just didn't know when, and could have easily missed it had I not been lurking like a hawk over them.

So I answered "Most of the time". Plus, its good to get a break once in a while and let the "men" know when its their time.

Whether clutches conceived with or without brumation being better than another, I've not had enough experience either way to tell. But the one female I didn't brumate last year, had pathetic clutches. Small amount of fertiles per clutch. :shrug:

 

[vanderkm]

I brumate everyone I intend to breed in the coming season (22 this year) and often yearlings as well.

mary v.

 

[CornCrazy]

I also brumate all of the ones that are to be bred the next season. I am currently brumating around 30 adults and will be putting some sub-adults into brumation soon.

 

[Malkingray]

I answered most of the time because I am thinking of possibly just brumating the males next year. Last year I had 1 male and 2 females and had 2 clutches - one had 14, the other had 9. This year I have 3 males and 4 females brumating. I am able to keep the temps right around 55 degrees - although this week is a bit colder than normal and the temps might drop a bit. I usually start to drop temps first week of Nov and keep them around 55 until 1st or 2nd week of Jan.

 

[ghosthousecorns]

I said most of the time. I haven't tried to breed without brumating though I'm sure it works if you are good at telling when females are ovulating (I'm not)_ It's easy to brumate this year since it's cold here and I am trying to save on heating costs... When I lived in CA I had a hard time getting them to 'go to sleep' due to the mild winters.

 

[CJBianco]

I received my first three Cornsnakes a few months ago -- Amel Stripe (M), Amber (F), and a Ghost (F).

The animals have not been cooled at all. (Unless you consider the natural room temperature drops at night which affect the cool side of the enclosure by five to ten degrees.)

I am thinking about tossing the Amel Stripe in with the Amber soon. (Just to see what happens.) All of the animals are 350g+ proven breeders and feeding fine on thawed rat pups. (The Amber is almost 600g on empty.) So they should all be good for a little winter breeding experiment.

Who knows? (I'll find out on January 1st 2006.)


Chris

 

[snake5007]

I've never brumated. I use the cooler months to put a bit more weight on my females if needed. The temps in my snake room are lower at this time of year, but not low enough for brumation. The only change i make is to the photoperiod.

 

[MegF.]

I normally always brumate my breeders before breeding. The exception is this year, where I have a smallish female that I would like to continue feeding throughout winter to keep her weight on. She's at the lower limit of what I like to breed (340 grams). The male is young and will only be 2 years old so he's being fed thru the winter as well. This breeding is more out of interest to see if she has some suspected genetics and to see if she produces anything. If she has no eggs or no fertile eggs, we'll give it a go next year and see if the added age makes a difference. She's 4 years old though.

 

[starsevol]

This thread was drudged up from Dec 2005!

 

[snake5007]

This thread was drudged up from Dec 2005!

It's been here for a few days. Someone voted on it and it popped back up to the top.

 

[MegF.]

Didn't even look at the starting date. Just saw it up there at the top and figured it was new. Hadn't been on here in a while. Hadn't already voted on it either....it's a good thread to bring back up anyway. It's brumation time for most of us.

 

[Kokopelli]

I wasn't aware of this thread but I did find a comment back there that disturbed me somewhat- I hope I didn't read it right.

Someone mentioned that they put their cornsnake into brumation but in order to maintain a decent weight they fed that snake -while in brumation- once every two weeks. This can be fatal. The snake's digestion system is dangerously slow when there's no heating and it's cold- enough to warrant a regurgitation and in severe cases, the food can rot within the snake's body, which can lead to death.

Anyways- I feel that it's very healthy for the snake, it is a part of their natural cycle and that is how they were born and designed to function. Usually snakes that awake from brumation are very vital.
I believe it may have a positive effect, just as proper maintenance of day and night cycles, on the biological level. Just an opinion anyways.

 

[snake5007]

I wasn't aware of this thread but I did find a comment back there that disturbed me somewhat- I hope I didn't read it right.

Someone mentioned that they put their cornsnake into brumation but in order to maintain a decent weight they fed that snake -while in brumation- once every two weeks. This can be fatal. The snake's digestion system is dangerously slow when there's no heating and it's cold- enough to warrant a regurgitation and in severe cases, the food can rot within the snake's body, which can lead to death.

Anyways- I feel that it's very healthy for the snake, it is a part of their natural cycle and that is how they were born and designed to function. Usually snakes that awake from brumation are very vital.
I believe it may have a positive effect, just as proper maintenance of day and night cycles, on the biological level. Just an opinion anyways.

I don't think they brumate when they live somewhere like Florida.

 

[Kokopelli]

I must admit that the weather in the states is not my strong point... as I live in the middle east...
but I imagine that at least some if not most cornsnakes do dwell in places in which they are forced to brumate during the winter.
no?

 

[MegF.]

While Florida does in general stay warm enough that I doubt most brumate any length of time, here in S. Carolina, it's in the 20's at night and around 44 during the day. I'm sure they are brumating here.