I have a question about brumation. How long of a hot spell is safe for them to endure or go with out eating before you need to start feeding them again? It's been in the 80s this week and I'm worried that it's too warm to keep them in brumation. I keep them in the garage and it is pretty hot in there the last two days.
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How long of a warm spell is OK during brumation?
- Thread starter DougM
- Start date
MegF.
That's for sale???
Nope. They'll wake up, although I find darkness is almost more important than temperature. I've had very successful brumations with temps occasionally going above 65 degrees as long as they were in a dark place. 80's is pushing it though. I suspect they'll become active. I usually brumate in a closet in an unused room in my house. It stays pretty cool in there and in the dark they rarely move at all.
Thanks for sharing your experience. My problem (if you'd call it that) is that I live in Florida and it's warm most of the winter. It dips into the high 50's at night and then into the 70's during most days. This is my first year brumating and breeding so I have no experience. I've read Kathy Love's book several times but still have questions.
I bought a male that had already been entered into brumation in Ohio. He is doing great. I've only seen him out of his hide 1 time during the night. He appears to be sleeping well. My female has been in Florida her whole life and doesn't seem to want to go to sleep. She is a little less active than before.
I put them both in the garage. It's pretty dark in there as there is only one small window in the garage and not much light comes in. I'm wondering whether or not I should bring the female in and start warming her up. They've only been out there 2 weeks so far.
Maybe I should leave her out there another week or two and then bring her in?
I bought a male that had already been entered into brumation in Ohio. He is doing great. I've only seen him out of his hide 1 time during the night. He appears to be sleeping well. My female has been in Florida her whole life and doesn't seem to want to go to sleep. She is a little less active than before.
I put them both in the garage. It's pretty dark in there as there is only one small window in the garage and not much light comes in. I'm wondering whether or not I should bring the female in and start warming her up. They've only been out there 2 weeks so far.
Maybe I should leave her out there another week or two and then bring her in?
MegF.
That's for sale???
I cover the tubs with blankets so that it's completely dark. The fact is, you don't have to brumate to breed. I've just found that if I don't brumate, I have trouble getting them to hook up and the clutches don't have the high fertility that the brumated animals do. However, the ones I didn't brumate were first time breeders so that is also a possible factor for fertility. I'd suspect in some parts of FL, snakes never brumate and are active year round. This was true of California as well. Unless it's very cold, you can find snakes out in winter time if there were some warm days. You might call Kathy and see how she brumates her snakes. She's in a warm area of FL as well. She might cool using air conditioning or something though.
Susan
Go Ahead, Make My Day!
The occasional day in the 80's is fine. I don't know what part of the Tampa Bay area you are in, but it really hasn't been that warm to really worry about the temps getting too hot for too long (current temp in Tampa is 63F). I used to use my Mom's garage for brumation as there was less fluctuation in temps between day and night, but I now have my Dad's old shed which still holds the cool air longer during the day as well as not dropping the temp as fast at night.
Thank, Susan. I'm in St. Petersburg and it is usually 5 degrees warmer here than in Tampa. So far the male has been sleeping like a baby. My female keeps coming out about once a day. I'll keep my eye on her. Maybe I'll bring her inside in a couple of weeks and start feeding her again. From what I've read they don't have to be brumated. I just wanted to increase my odds since this will be my first attempt at breeding any reptile. I've also read it may be more important for the males than the females so I'll leave him alone as long as he is sleeping.