Checkereds Brumation temp?

[guidofatherof5]

For my radixes I usually see only a 10-15 gram loss over a 2 month brumation.
This is with an average weight between 175-220 grams.

[ConcinusMan]

Holtzman et al.,1989 [7 weeks is the shortest period of brumation and it stimulated sucessful breeding. however they state in the wild some area populations may not brumate more than a few weeks.

Or at all

[HazAnga]

that is true, but I want to try it, at least for a month or so.
and I weighed them November 8th and they were 65.4g, 91.1g, and 92.2g (females were heavier) I've turned off all heat sources and just left a couple florescent uvb bulbs on, they git the heat of the room which at the high might put them at 20 degrees Celsius during the day, but at night the whole room gits to be a low of 17.7 C. could that be cold enough for them and not need to brumate, they havn't eaten in a while.

[guidofatherof5]

Keep us posted as things progress, Nick.

[jamromhem]

I also have a checkered. I have never brumated her, but I did save her from my swimming pool. (and as such am from the area of their habitat) The winters there would usually at the coldest (night temp) be in the high 40s and the day temps in the mid 50s. so 50-55 sounds reasonable for them. and 1 1/2 - 2 months is about the length of a good winter.. So i would think a normal brumation period for them to be about 5-8 weeks.

I hope this helps some. It is from my experience in the area they naturally range and not from actually brumating mine. She has never asked to :P

[HazAnga]

lol ok thank you, that does help.

[ConcinusMan]

So it does sound like just cooler temperatures and shorter days for about 2 months should probably do the trick. I doubt that a full-out deep refrigerated, traditional brumation wouldn't be necessary to get checkered's to breed.

[HazAnga]

Well, I did git things set up and everything is running smooth, as some may know i brought the garters out of their short slightly cooler brumarion. And the past 2 weeks or more they've been mating (usually seen after lights go off. My females are eating again, but my male is not interested at all. I understand he's taking care of business, but how long can this last for. And how much longer will it be till I might be able to finally git him to successfully eat?
Another question, what's a rough estimate of a gestation period do they have? 2, 3 months? When should I be putting the ladys in a different bin for birthing?
Rough time when I put them back together was about a week and a half into December.
Sorry for the long post.

P.s. the viv setup is working good and no problems with high humidity or wet substrate.

[guidofatherof5]

He should stop courting after the female becomes gravid. As long as she's sending out pheromones he'll stay after her.
I've seen gestation as short as 65 days and as long as 100 days in my radixes. I think some of it is whether there is a warm place for her to rest. It's just my opinion but I think the warm temps speed the development along and shorten the gestation time.
Have you witnessed a lockup?

[infernalis]

. It's just my opinion but I think the warm temps speed the development along and shorten the gestation time.

I feel the same way Steve. I notice that gravid moms spend a bit more time basking than non gravid snakes.