Brumating, when, how....

[Serpico]

Greetings, all fellow lovers of garters and animals alike!

It could be my first brumating experience, here in warm (relatively) Rome, but my son insisted in wanting to breed garters, and as far as I understand, brumating them before mating is an almost mandatory action.

I have never done anything like this before, so I desperately need advices. Yes, I know, the forum is here to help, and many other posts illustrate the techniques, and the caresheet helps too.

But while I do have a broad idea on the how and when, I do need bits and pieces of infos, doubies cross my mind, and the same way I'd ask my life companion about how much that lamb roast has to stay in the oven (apart that I am a better cook than her, but it was just an example), in the same way I'd like to ask you about brumating big and small questions.

First and foremost: in Rome, october/november temps range from 13C (55F) to 20C (68F). We are expecting bad weather soon, with minimum temps dropping into the 5-10C (44-50F) range within one week. And in the next couple of months we won't go much lower than 5C (40F) at night up to 10-12C (50-54F) during the day.

Fridge is out of question, unless you want me divorced, the "warning snake at large" post illustrated the situation fairly well, snakes out of their enclosures are a no no, in this house.

Second, and very important too: the female ate one week ago, and defecated already, no problem in that, she is behaving like the good Thamnophis she is; the male ate last time about 3 weeks ago, he ate one small fish, and defecated few days later. I thought that the temperatures in my son's room, where the enclosure is located were too low, so I raised them a bit from 20C (68F) up to 24C (75F), both snakes enjoied the warmer environment, but he kept refusing each kind of fish I presented him, in any form, and shape, and state etc etc.
So, from the point of view on the WHEN STARTING the brumating, I'd say the female can start next weekend, being empty of food, and in good health; the male is another matter; surely he has no food inside him....but while the bump on his back reduced to almost zero, surely he is a bit skinny....is brumating safe for him, or does he risk never to wake up again?
And this is my first very big question.

Third, assuming the snakes are healthy, assuming they have no food left inside, how to go about it?
I have read that I need to step their temps down, so I should place them in a container outside, and expose them to the temperatures I have mentioned before, temperatures which are slowly dropping down. Am I right?
The containers (one each snake, of course), have to be equipped with paper towels or other suitable substratum, right? Do I have to put them into a cloth bag, or they can roam freely inside the container? Do they need some water too? Do they to be put in darkness, or the container can be exposed to light? Direct sunlight I believe is better to avoid, what about natural daylight?

Fourth, for how long, all this above? One month? Two? And will I have to check on them daily? Weekly? Just checking the water container, examine the snakes, what?

Here, at the moment I have no more questions...surely other ones will come to my mind later, but I am sure the experts in the forum will provide an answer to them.

Thanks in advance, for the time being, I wish you all a sunny sunday morning....

Pg

[zooplan]

If you don´t have an extra fridge for brumation like me, do you have a cool place in a cellar?
Constant temperature between 5° and 10°C is elementary for hibernation of most Garter Snakes.
Excuse me, but which specy do you want to brumate?
I let my snakes have at least one week in thier enclosures to digest after the last meal.
Then I put them into a tube (Faunabox) for further one or two days in my livingroom (= snake room).
Next step is storing the snakes in the tube in my cellar at about 15°C or one week. Then they´ll spend minimum one month in my hibernaculum fridge before warming up is vice versa to the procedure above.

[Serpico]

I have a garage where the temperature in winter ranges around 15C, quite constantly. No fridge, as I said before. If I put the faunaboxes in the balcony, shielded by direct sunlight, the temperatures are a bit lower, at night about the 5-10C (44-50F) range, no higher than 15C a day. Is that enough?

The specie is, or better should be Thamnophis Sirtalis, but apparently here in the forum there is some debate. There is another post of mine where I was told they are Ribbon snakes, not garters, so Thamnophis sauritus, I do not know if easterns or notherns...