dormant periods??

[little twiglet]

was reading through the "Corn snake manuel" last night and saw something about dormant periods can anyone else elaborate on this for me please
Many thanks (in advance)

 

[Neil]

What page was it on?

 

[little twiglet]

i will find out for you

cant remember off the top of my head but will get back to you on this
one other thing i woke up this morning and twig was lying on his rock in the cool end he neva eva eva sleeps that end do you think that maybe the warm end is to warm for him?? the only problem that i have is that i dont have a time switch on mine or anything to adjust the temp should i turn it off at night or will he get to cold??

PLEASE HELP ME AND READ THIS

 

[SilverTongue]

Sometimes snakes want to be cool. What is the temp on the hot end? Another thing is it might be almost time for him to shed and he wants to cool and wet

 

[little twiglet]

thankyou

i woke up and thought he was dead probably scared the little git half to death bashing on the tank!!! oops
thanks

 

[Katie]

My corn spends most of her time at the cool end unless she's digesting. Don't worry about her, just get a thermometer to check the temps at the warm end and make sure they're around 85 degrees.

 

[Corney]

Yea,so does mine.

 

[little twiglet]

Anything on dormant periods

I would like to no if u should feed them less in the winter and if the heat mat should be turned off for longer pierods of time during the "dormant periods" whatever they are need help please please please

 

[Katie]

Dormant periods are kind of like a mini-hibernation period called brumation. They are not necessary for corns but you should do it if you plan on breeding that year. Basically you don't give any food for 2 weeks and gradually lower the temperature in the enclosure. Then put the enclosure in a dark cool area for a month - 2 months. Leave water in the enclosure and change it often but otherwise do not bother the snake for any reason. Do not feed the snake during this period. Then gradually increase the temps for a couple of weeks till it gets back to normal. The snake will probably shed within a couple of weeks at this point. You should also offer food again when the temps are back to normal. It would be at this point that you would start putting the males and females together for breeding.

If there is an underweight snake, it should not be brumated.
If you do not intend to breed your snake it does not need to be brumated (unless you want to)
It is my opinion that it is better to NOT brumate snakes less than a year old because they will put on more weight over the winter if you don't and there is no way you can breed them at that age.
Some people do brumate hatchlings, I don't. That is just my opinion.

 

[Kel]

if the heat mat should be turned off for longer pierods of time

You should never turn the heatmat off unless it's done automatically with a thermostat. In the UK I think you'd still need the heat mat for background heat, just turn the thermostat down. The ideal temps are in the Corn Snake Manual.

I'm in the UK and don't usually brumate my Corns, but I'm planning to try it in November this year. I usually feed the adults less in the winter anyway (once a fortnight).

Cheers
Kel

 

[Blue Dragon]

do you really need to

hi I was just wondering
do you really need to brumate your snakes
what does it help with and what happens when you don't
also when do brumate your snakes

 

[Corney]

dont turn off the heat pad cause,well youll lose heat.Just keep it turned down a little bit more like the others said.

 

[Iris]

Well, this is how I plan to do it for the one snake I will brumate this winter
No more food starting Dec 1. I will keep the heat pad on for another 2 weeks however so he can finish digesting anything he has left in his stomach. Wouldn't want any leftover mice to rot in there.
Then I will unplug the heat pad and carry the tank down to the basement where he will be staying for 2 months. (I'm not exactly sure how cold it gets down there but I will be monitoring temps and if get gets too low I am going to put him in a quiet place on the 1st floor.)
Of course he'll always have fresh water to drink.
Then starting at the end of Feb I will turn the heat pad on for a few hours a day and eventually keep it on. Then I'll give him a small meal and if he digests and poops all right it's back to crawlers/hoppers.
Does any part of this sound wrong? anyone?

 

[Katie]

No that sounds exactly right Iris. And you do not want to be heating their enclosure too much while you're not feeding them. This will cause them to be awake, angry and hungry. The purpose of doing this is to simulate a natural hibernation period where it gets colder, the corns systems shut down, etc. If it's too hot the vital systems of the corn won't shut down and it will just be underfed for 2 months. If your house is too cold for a corn to brumate without heat then how do you live there? Lol. I know I'll probably have trouble finding a place in the house that will stay cool enough (because our winters are very cold here the house heat is on constantly to heat the house).

The main reasons why people brumate their corns are breeding. They seem to have a better breeding response after being brumated than they do if they weren't brumated. Also, it's pretty convienient for alot of people to have their snakes "sleeping" during the busy holiday season (not saying this is the ONLY reason to do it, just that some people find it nice).

You wouldn't want to do it if your corn was sick, underweight, had mites, ticks, internal parasites, etc. You also don't have to do it if you don't want to. Many people keep pet snakes and never brumate them. The snakes are none the worse for wear. Brumation is mainly for breeding purposes in the spring.

 

[Blue Dragon]

if you don't brumate them one year can you do it onther year
or if the snake is older and has never been brumate can it be brumate