Brumation

[Tommytradix]

just wanted to start a thread about brumation before the time comes so the new members have something to go off of.
i would like to hear how everyone brumates their garters cause there are so many ways of doing it and different species require different temps. my system has proven effective for radix and easterns. ill start it off.....

i use a regular size fridge with all the racks removed (currently its in my shed packed full of pinks) i bring it in my snake room so i can control the temps more accurately. i turn it to the warmest setting then take readings every couple of hours with a temp gun adjusting it until i reach my desired temp of 52 degrees. prior to doing this my snakes have not eaten in 10 days so their bowels are clear. i place them in the coolest room in my house (60f-65f degrees) for one day. while they are cooling in the room im setting up their tubs which are 28qt with locking lids and air holes in the sides. i fill about 1/3 of it with aspen and place a water bowl in. i separate males from females and place them in their tubs then in the fridge. after a couple days i adjust the fridge again to drop 1-2 degrees and do that over the coarse of about 2 weeks until it reaches 48 degrees (note there will be a temp fluctuation of about 2-4 degrees from night and day the 48 is the night temp) my total brumation time is 8-10 weeks. i bring the males out a couple days before the females so they can eat before they breed cause they usually stop eating for a couple weeks during mating.
so lets hear how you do it!

[Albert Clark]

I have a temperature controlled room in a storage facility that I use. Firstly my snakes are pumped up pretty good on a varied diet prior to the initial cessation of food altogether. Three weeks prior to conditioning for brumating I don't feed at all and just give water to hydrate. The temps start out at 55f and are lowered by 3 degrees per week once the animals are in the brumating tank. Tank is a thirty gallon screen top that has a smaller tub in it to house the males. I use "care fresh" as the substrate to facilitate burrowing for the animals. After a three week period of gradual lowered temps I am down to 46f. Two months of 46f and only fresh water . I then begin a gradual rewarming of 3f per week back to 55f. After temps at 55f I take them out of the room and give them normal temps of 75f for two to three days and offer small meals then. Usually just fish , then gradually increase the meals to include rodents and start pairing them up from there. :) That's how I roll!

[Tommytradix]

I have a temperature controlled room in a storage facility that I use. Firstly my snakes are pumped up pretty good on a varied diet prior to the initial cessation of food altogether. Three weeks prior to conditioning for brumating I don't feed at all and just give water to hydrate. The temps start out at 55f and are lowered by 3 degrees per week once the animals are in the brumating tank. Tank is a thirty gallon screen top that has a smaller tub in it to house the males. I use "care fresh" as the substrate to facilitate burrowing for the animals. After a three week period of gradual lowered temps I am down to 46f. Two months of 46f and only fresh water . I then begin a gradual rewarming of 3f per week back to 55f. After temps at 55f I take them out of the room and give them normal temps of 75f for two to three days and offer small meals then. Usually just fish , then gradually increase the meals to include rodents and start pairing them up from there. :) That's how I roll!
thanks albert! yea i forgot to mention i bring their temps up the same way i bring them down lol i knew i would forget to add something and i prefer the first meal to be a pink or night crawlers. what species do you do this for?

[Albert Clark]

thanks albert! yea i forgot to mention i bring their temps up the same way i bring them down lol i knew i would forget to add something and i prefer the first meal to be a pink or night crawlers. what species do you do this for?
Kool. I condition all the garters this way when its planned. I have to be careful to avoid any accidental breedings! You and I both have the stories to prove in that category! Lol. I will have three pairs for this coming season. My albino checkereds , the granite pastels , and my red spotted pair are all going into the brumating tank.

[Tommytradix]

Kool. I condition all the garters this way when its planned. I have to be careful to avoid any accidental breedings! You and I both have the stories to prove in that category! Lol. I will have three pairs for this coming season. My albino checkereds , the granite pastels , and my red spotted pair are all going into the brumating tank.
i have 12.12 for this brumation and tons of babies to raise over the winter lol i got my fingers crossed for your granites to drop a nice big litter for ya!

[Albert Clark]

i have 12.12 for this brumation and tons of babies to raise over the winter lol i got my fingers crossed for your granites to drop a nice big litter for ya!
I want it to be this season too. I only have the 4 month old who may or may not be ready. Worse case scenario , I have the two het females who are both parents already. Fingers and toes crossed!

[Albert Clark]

i have 12.12 for this brumation and tons of babies to raise over the winter lol i got my fingers crossed for your granites to drop a nice big litter for ya!

Wishing you the best also Tommy. I still want my albino radix pair when you get the time. Haha.

[Tommytradix]

Wishing you the best also Tommy. I still want my albino radix pair when you get the time. Haha.
my albino het snow definitely looks gravid. its pretty rare for them to double clutch. have you ever heard of it or know someone who had a garter double clutch?

[Albert Clark]

Absolutely! Seen it a couple of times before but none of my animals. Usually it happened due to retained sperm and not the breeders doing.

[Tommytradix]

Absolutely! Seen it a couple of times before but none of my animals. Usually it happened due to retained sperm and not the breeders doing.
who was the breeder(s)?

[liveunderoath]

I live in Tennessee, when should I start the brumation process with my Checkereds?

[Albert Clark]

Start conditioning your animals now by feeding aggressively and varied diet. Give them as much food as they will take , especially the girls. Two to three weeks before you start decreasing the temps and light cycle stop feeding males and females altogether. This will give them a chance to evacuate any food in the digestive tract. Just provide them with clean drinking water. Probably around Dec. they should be ready to take the plunge into the hibernation enclosure. Good luck.

[Tommytradix]

all my adults are in the fridge.. i put them in 2 days ago. im shooting for march litters so ill have them for the show in april :)

[Albert Clark]

Nice, sounds good! I already have the 5 double het pied x albino ball python babies and if my pied x pied pairing is successful I will have some pied babies for a show in the future. Maybe havre de grace and the Hamburg shows for 2016. Lol just the pumpkin pieds. My albino pied project is a couple years away. That's going to be big!

[liveunderoath]

Start conditioning your animals now by feeding aggressively and varied diet. Give them as much food as they will take , especially the girls. Two to three weeks before you start decreasing the temps and light cycle stop feeding males and females altogether. This will give them a chance to evacuate any food in the digestive tract. Just provide them with clean drinking water. Probably around Dec. they should be ready to take the plunge into the hibernation enclosure. Good luck. I actually started them on hairless hoppers last week, and they are taking them very enthusiastically. I tried to upload a video of my female eating her first one but had alot of trouble with it.

[mikec205]

I also bromate in a fridge. I just make sure to open the fridge every couple od days to get some fresh air in there. Some people do it in a fridge and keep the door cracked. First of all that means the fridge is running 24 hours which is not good for the electric bill. When they are in brumation they don't require that much air because there metabolism is very slow and I have never had a snake suffocate while in brumation. I make sure I open the door like twice a week and leave it open for a while to change out all the air.