Communal Brumation?

[Ctah_Lu]

its nescesary the burmation period? and.
its nescesary that the temp. be that cold?

[drache]

no, it's not necessary at all - or at least not for most garters
some garters will stop eating at that time of the year, and when that happens, it helps to cool them for a while for two reasons: a) to slow their metabolism, so they don't loose too much weight, and b) it tends to "reset" their appetite

[ConcinusMan]

Not necessary to brumate. In fact, it can be stressful so only healthy established snakes that you plan to breed should be brumated. If your snake is wild-caught and a few years old, it will have a biorhythm going (internal clock) telling it that it's time to brumate and it may stop eating for a time.

Sometimes I skipped brumating well-established adults which I didn't plan to breed but I did lower the temperature somewhat so that it was in the 60's during the day in addition to shortening the day length. They'll need less food during that time.