Brumation Opinion

[guidofatherof5]

I would like to get some thoughts on the following:
Is it as important to brumate male garter snake as it is females?
I'm just wondering if male breeding activity is more of a reaction to female pheromones as it is brumation time.
Since breeding can taking place at all times of the year, I wonder if the males are just "loaded" and ready to go all year long. Just waiting for a receptive female.
Your opinions would be great.

[Stefan-A]

My guess would be that they do run around loaded (actually I'm certain that they do), but that they might carry a high-capacity magazine just after brumation.

[zooplan]

ROFL

But to be serious:
It is more important to brumate males!
Fertility of females is more a question of BMI.
And brumation helb both to swim on the same wave.
(as we would say here)

[gregmonsta]

Cooling the males definately is important for recharging the magazine and increasing sperm viability. Same principle as not wearing restrictive tight underwear/clothing if your on a human breeding plan .

[guidofatherof5]

Cooling the males definately is important for recharging the magazine and increasing sperm viability. Same principle as not wearing restrictive tight underwear/clothing if your on a human breeding plan .

That's it. All my spandex goes in the trash.

[Stefan-A]

Same principle as not wearing restrictive tight underwear/clothing if your on a human breeding plan .

Well, that's mostly related to sperm production at higher temperature. Happens to be highest at temperatures a litte lower than the body temperature, which is probably why mammals tend to store the testes on the outside.

[gregmonsta]

And that's where it belongs!!!! .... *shudders at sudden mental image of 80's prog-rock and metal)*

[ConcinusMan]

I think it's more important for the females. My males (concinnus) have always been willing to mate with any female that smells right, no matter what time of year it is. It's just that the female is not usually receptive unless she has brumated. As for the fertility of the male, who knows. There's going to be a lot of different opinions and different results depending on what species are kept. No hard scientific data.

I do know that male T. ordinoides are just as capable of fertilizing females any time of year even if they are not brumated.

"I'm just wondering if male breeding activity is more of a reaction to female pheromones as it is brumation time"

It is just a reaction to female pheromones and perhaps lipids, and I do believe that most males are more or less fertile at any time of year but I don't have the hard data on male fertility, and unless you're talking about specifically T.s. parietalis, then the data likely doesn't exist.

Bob Mason (and one of his students are currently working on a pheromone study specific to T. ordinoides. (Finally, something besides parietalis) but they want me to take them to the den site this spring that I found in NW Oregon since they need large numbers to sample and haven't any luck the past few years. The spot I found is perfect for that. Hundreds of them emerged last year and stayed close to the dens.

You might notice that the garters that have been studied more thoroughly are the species that can be found en masse especially in the spring. That's not a coincidence.

I'll see what Bob has to say about the question but I"m sure that he would be interested in hearing from you Steve. Mason labs current studies; Notice #2 on the list: Current Research | Mason Lab

[zooplan]

Mason labs current studies; Notice #2 on the list: Current Research | Mason Lab

Fine this is still in line with my position, it´s only about attracion of females, but nothing about fertility!

[ConcinusMan]

Fertility was not the entire question. Steve said "I'm just wondering if male breeding activity is more of a reaction to female pheromones as it is brumation time"

Excuse me if I misunderstood but I took this to mean that Steve interested in pheromones as a trigger for breeding response. Since Mason Labs is working with T. radix, and pheromones, I thought that study would be relevant. Anyway, they can get a male garter snake to court an inanimate object scented with pheromones, even if the pheromones are synthetic, regardless of the time of year. I happen to agree that the male can produce a viable mating any time of year.

Since breeding can taking place at all times of the year, I wonder if the males are just "loaded" and ready to go all year long. Just waiting for a receptive female.

I have to disagree about the "any time of year" statement. It only appears to be that way in captivity because of the conditions under which they are kept. If we did a better job of simulating the seasons indoors, you wouldn't be having mating happening at any time of year because obviously, it only happens seasonally in the wild. Seasonal cues and biorhythms get all jumbled up in captivity.