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Education animals and winter?

Alli_Draggy

Alli_Draggy

Wadjet's family
If you use your animals for education purposes, do you do so when it's cold out? I have a teacher who wants me to bring in my snakes next week, but it's COLD outside. Both Wadjet and Pinkie are pretty chilled out snakes, but I don't think either wants that to be a literal description. Should I just decline?
 
My girlfriend/partner is a teacher. We do educational shows at pet stores and do show and tell at her school. The kids have been asking "when can you start bringing in reptiles". She explained that it is just to cold. The last couple of years, thanks to a warm start to spring, we brought them in in March/April. I'm feeling that that won't be the case this year. We have 20+ reptiles just for show and tell and exhibits that we winter over just for the kids and shows.
Sure you could do it safely by warming the car, parking close to the door, Heat packs, doing pre-brumation protocol, etc. but we wont risk it at these temperatures. I would put it off till warmer weather arrives.
 
I put the snakes in a cooler. If it is under 70 degrees out, I fill up my water bottle with warm water (hotter the colder the temps are). Then I wrap the bottle in a towel, place a second towel on the bottom of the cooler, put the snake bags in, and place another towel loosely in to cover. Close the cooler and you're good.
 
As others said, you can pack them up for travel quite well. That part would not concern me. But some places keep their indoor temps pretty cool in the winter. Just yesterday my husband and I walked into a restaurant wanting to eat and walked out less than 5 minutes later because we didn't want to have to eat while shivering. So I'd make my decision based on that.
 
It depends a lot on what kind of snakes they are...

Colubrids such as corns, rats, kings, gophers, etc, will not suffer in cool (but not really COLD) temps if their stomachs are empty. Keep them in the warm cooler as described, and take them out for a short time while handling them if indoor temps are a bit cool. It should not cause a problem for them.

I would be more concerned with boas and pythons. The cooler would also work well with them, though. And if they are wrapped around your arm or shoulders when out, then you will provide a "heat pad" for them. Or, you could plug a heat pad in on the display table so the animal can sit on it while being displayed in a cool room.

I am actually more concerned with overheating during the summer. Heat kills WAY more quickly than temps that are too cool. The cooler in the summer (with cool packs) may be even more important than it is in the winter, at least for colubrids.
 
AliCat37 said:
I put the snakes in a cooler. If it is under 70 degrees out, I fill up my water bottle with warm water (hotter the colder the temps are). Then I wrap the bottle in a towel, place a second towel on the bottom of the cooler, put the snake bags in, and place another towel loosely in to cover. Close the cooler and you're good.
Click to expand...

kathylove said:
Colubrids such as corns, rats, kings, gophers, etc, will not suffer in cool (but not really COLD) temps if their stomachs are empty. Keep them in the warm cooler as described, and take them out for a short time while handling them if indoor temps are a bit cool. It should not cause a problem for them.

I would be more concerned with boas and pythons. The cooler would also work well with them, though. And if they are wrapped around your arm or shoulders when out, then you will provide a "heat pad" for them. Or, you could plug a heat pad in on the display table so the animal can sit on it while being displayed in a cool room.

I am actually more concerned with overheating during the summer. Heat kills WAY more quickly than temps that are too cool. The cooler in the summer (with cool packs) may be even more important than it is in the winter, at least for colubrids.
Click to expand...

Sounds like good plans especially if your in the 40's + during the day.
As Kathy and I also mentioned, have their stomachs empty just in case.

My brain was thinking negative temps during the night and single digits to teens during the day as it has been here. Also transporting lots of reptiles as we are use to doing. I need warm weather to thaw the ole brain out....
 
It's actually supposed to be in the 60s-70s next week! I'll hold off feeding a few days, and I guess maybe we'll be good to go.
 
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