brumation?

[vwsrcool]

when is the best time to start the steps of hibernation?

[Lori P]

And, Ben, if you don't mind, I'll jump in here too-- :-) -- will I need to make them hibernate if I'm not breeding???

[Lulu Bennett]

i will be burmating mine for the fact it saves on my electricity bill and also food for a month or two lol i dont know if mine will mate but i hope so. dont burmate them if they are less than a year old as they might not be strong enough.

[Snaky]

Hibernation is not needed, but recommended. It's a natural cycle, so in my eyes it's better to brumate them, even if you don't want to breed them.

I usually start in November, depending on the wheather in early of mid November. I start with 2 weeks not giving them any food and keeping the temperature at normal levels. After that I slowly decrease the temperature during the next 2-3 weeks.

[GarterGuy]

Not starting a debate, but I don't brumate any of my snakes unless I'm going to breed them. I've got an 18yr old PI King that's never been brumated and had a Manitoba T.s.parietalis that I had for 9.5yrs that had never been brumated. Those that I do brumate, I start "cleaning them out" in Nov., so that they can be put down over Dec, Jan and Feb. and then bring them back in Mar. or April.

[drache]

last year I didn't intend to put snakes into brumation, but two of my kings just stopped eating and disappeared in their damp hides, so I turned their heat off
this year i want to be a bit more intentional about it, because one of those kings had not cleaned out and it wasn't so good for him (fine now)