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BRUMATION

R

REG

New member
Hello to all. I am in the process of building a shed in my backyard. it will be completely insulated, have electric and air conditioned. My goal is to raise my corn snake collection within it. I live in south florida. I would like to use it this winter to brumate my corns. My question is as follows, regardless of what size air conditioner i use, it will only be able to maintain a temp of 63 to 65 degrees farinheit. Otherwise the coils would freeze up on the unit. Is that a sufficient temp to brumate corns successfully. Will i have to do anything different as far as feeding, photo periods....etc. Thankyou REG:confused:
 
In my opinion, 63-65 degrees is a sufficiently low ambient temperature to cause true brumation, but it is on the high side. I would make certain that there is as little amount of light in the shed as possible, because the photoperiod to which a snake is exposed is also a factor in brumation. If they feel like they would if they were in a cave during winter (dark and 65 degrees), I think you'll have success.

As to feeding, don't. Unless they are visibly losing weight, which would mean they have not ever reached true brumation, they should be fine for a few months without any food at all. In fact, at those temps, digestion cannot really take place anyway. You will want to make sure they have fresh water every so often, but try to disturb them as little as possible.

When you increase the temps, do so gradually over a couple of weeks. After they've been at full temps for a week or so, feed them a small meal. If all goes well, start feeding normally, maybe a little heavier and more for the females you intend to breed.

Hope that helps!
 
Darin- What about slightly fluctuating temps?

I am hoping to attempt brumation in my basement this year...its between 55-65 in the winter day and night, but not constantly 55, and not constantly 65 if you catch my drift....

This is worrying me. Should it be a concern?

bmm
 
I use a light timer on my snake cage thinking the constant 12 hr photoperiod and UTH would keep them from being in the mood..

WRONG- they know it's winter and the second the days started getting longer in the spring they were getting it on all the time, I think especially if you live up here in NY/PA where sunlight (real light) changes drastically it's very easy to brumate without even knowing it...

Just my experience

Good luck!
 
bmm,

Slight and temporary fluctuations aren't going to make that much difference anymore than they do for the wild corns when it gets warmer for a week or so in February. Remember, these animals are native to southern states where it often gets warmer at times in the middle of winter. Just keep an eye on their weight/body mass. If they look like they're losing grams, and you can't lower the temps any more, you might consider bringing them out of brumation slowly and try another means next year.

Homer,

It may be that your snakes never did brumate at all. In fact, if you kept your photoperiod constant and your temps up, I'd say they definitely did not brumate. However, unlike other species, corns don't HAVE to brumate to breed. It's just thought that brumation increases fertility, and it gives breeders a nice break from feeding for a couple of months! :D But, failing to brumate does not keep corns from breeding, as you know first-hand.
 
Thanks Darin.

And for sure about the breeding thing. Didn't brumate anyone last year, my female laid two clutches....one of 19 fertile eggs which had a 100% hatch rate, and another of 13 duds and one good egg which should hatch really soon.

bmm
 
Brumation is essential

IMPO (subsitute "personal" for the usual "humble") to acheive consistant large clutches and good hatch rates. I have a local buddy who hasn't- and putting aside egg numbers (which I had much better results) I have hatchlings with much more vigor. I only tried non-brumation once ever, but only had six viable eggs from a normally productive female. This is just my experience and personal practice, by no means does it make it a "rule". :)
 
June clutch #1: 19 total, 14 successful

August clutch #2: 19 total 13 sucessful

Photoperiod regulated (via artificial light), temperatures MIGHT have decreased slightly and constantly seeing as how they were on my dorm room floor about 4' away from cracked window.

I was under the impression that females and males needed the switch from cold to warm to trigger the hormones necessary for egg and sperm production.

IMPO of the "non-brumated" snakes you speak of who have mated successfully, I bet that they had some window available to them (were housed in a windowed room) and are much more sensitive to temperature/light/weather than we can conceive....

Anyone have non-brumated pair that is housed in a room with no windows to the outside?

Anyone have/know of any articles on hormone cycles of snakes and whether they are on a time cycle or truly are triggered by temperature changes?
 
I didn't brumate my corns last year and got 17 good eggs, all hatched. However, the snakes are not totally isolated from the change in seasons - the house temp drops from sometimes the low 80s in summer to sometimes the low 60s in winter, plus there is a window in the room so they can probably perceive the change in day length.

I would be interested in the results from corns kept in a controlled setting - no light apart from one provided on a static schedule, and a constant ambient temp.

The corns probably perceive the small changes as a signal to the seasons, even without true brumation.

What are the brumation habits of corns in the extreme southern range around Miami and the Keys, where the average winter high is 70 degrees?
 
I kept two of my snakes awake all winter at "normal" temps (didn't change any settings) it might have been slightly cooler in the house... there was a window in the room they were in, and although i tried to feed them every two weeks, they seemed to 'want' to brumate- they were inactive and didn't eat as much... the female had a small clutch this year. I'm guessing if they had true brumation the clutch would have bigger....
well that's my experience...
 
I'm sure there are brumated snakes that have small clutches too, we just need to be careful of correlation without causation. Can't just say brumation is correlated to clutch size simply because there are a handful that have had the two occur in tandom. I'll see what I can dig up for cause of all this over the weekend.
 
Where i live it is cool enough to artificially lower my temps. for brumation in the begining to mid October and i can get them warming up again on January 1,( I keep my corns in a well insulated shed all year round) During Brumation I keep them at about 65 f with a dim light for 6 hours/day. When the shed and snakes are warmed up again they start to shed there skins (almost all at the same time within about a week) in the begining to mid Febuary, they then have always breed very well at this time. Out side the snake shed it is still winter and often in the minus temps. So I think light and temp. cycles plus brumation are very important for corn snakes to breed.
 
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