Simulating hibernation

[katach]

I've tried to find a thread about this, maybe I just didn't see it.

We have 4 females and 1 male garter. I would like to see if we could breed them. Do we need to simulate hibernation (when the time comes) to do this?? If so, could someone help me on how to do this.
We have a 10gal. tank and a heating pad under half of it. We also have a heat lamp we turn on a few times a day. Our snakes are in our living room as we don't have a whole lot of extra space. Plus we like to watch them :)

[kibakiba]

You need to make sure that you male and females are the same species. Meaning, northwestern to northwestern and puget to puget.

They usually brumate(hibernate) in the winter at around 40-50 degrees for up to 3 months. (I believe.) Honestly, I wouldn't brumate mine unless they started going into that mode, like rejecting food. Mama and Snakey bred without being brumated at all.

[Mommy2many]

Steve? Stefan? I know you guys know where the threads are.

[guidofatherof5]

I found this one.
Not sure if it's what you're looking for.
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/breeding/3569-brumating-qs-headstart.html

[katach]

I was planning on breeding Blade and Maria (or as I call him Mario). They are both NW as far as I've been advised. Blade is a red-striped NW. Maria is fairly young so I'm thinking that brumating would help kick in his natural instincts. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm new at this.
One thing I didn't see, and please forgive the ignorance, do they need to be fed at all during that time? Do they need darkness or just cooler temps?

Thanks everyone!!

[kibakiba]

No, don't feed them. the food will rot in their stomachs. Also, you need to make sure that you don't feed them before they get cooled down for that reason also. You'll know if he's ready to be ready to be cooled down, food wise, when all you see is the urates when he poops. That's the white stuff if you didn't know :).

[katach]

Ok. Thanks. Yeah I Google snake pee. Willow used to pee on me every time I held her. lol

[Mommy2many]

Thanks Steve, for finding that thread;)