Second thoughts on brumation...

[Zephyr]

Well... I just remembered earlier this year...
That when my male eastern wanted IT, he just sorta did IT with my female albino checkered. She wasn't cooled or anything.
So I'm thinking I may keep the females out to bulk them up over the winter, and only brumate the males. This would make me a little less uneasy about the whole thing, but the question is; would it work? Would cooling the males down and letting them go after the females be enough?

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

in my opinion... nope. The females need that time too... its what stimulates them to become receptive. they may without the brumation... but a lot of times... they dont. and without the brumation to time it all for them.. each female can go into season at a different time and you will be left guessing when. Your litter sizes will probably also be smaller... just because a freak thing happened once... does not mean that all your females will become receptive without that down time. That down time is good for them... they normally do the bulking before the winter... then they sleep.. and they wake up in the spring... mate... and produce BIG bouncing litters... so if that's the way that it happens in the wild... we should try and duplicate that so for optimal reproductive health on both the male's and female's parts. If a female is too thin to brumate... don't cool her... and don't breed her this year... wait a year.

A male can go after a female and breed with her, but if she hasn't been properly cooled and seasoned... and she is never actually receptive... there will be no babies! No eggs for the sperm to fetilize... no babies.

possibly that is why your checkered had such a small litter?

jsut some food for though

[bsol]

makes sense! The receptive female seems equivelant to the make sex drive post brumation.

[Zephyr]

A male can go after a female and breed with her, but if she hasn't been properly cooled and seasoned... and she is never actually receptive... there will be no babies! No eggs for the sperm to fetilize... no babies.

possibly that is why your checkered had such a small litter?

jsut some food for though

As far as her litter size goes; she's incredibly small. She's a two year old measuring in at only a little over 22": For that body size I'd say she had a large litter.
Also, I do recall reading on numerous sites (and book references as well) that cooling isn't entirely necessary for reproduction.

The only thing negative I can think of about not cooling would be... Well, I guess the males would "rape" an unreceptive female, not too sure on how the psyche of that would effect her. lol

[ssssnakeluvr]

Also, I do recall reading on numerous sites (and book references as well) that cooling isn't entirely necessary for reproduction.

in nature, they all get cooled, whether its brumating under 2 feet of snow, or the cooler winter temps of southern florida (dropping to the 70's instead of 90's)for a couple months...they all cool. you have a better chance of having a litter if they have been cooled.

[Garter_Gertie]

Well... I just remembered earlier this year...
That when my male eastern wanted IT, he just sorta did IT with my female albino checkered. She wasn't cooled or anything.
So I'm thinking I may keep the females out to bulk them up over the winter, and only brumate the males. This would make me a little less uneasy about the whole thing, but the question is; would it work? Would cooling the males down and letting them go after the females be enough?

I doubt if you would be able to "bulk" up your females. Regardless of you brumating or not, even with temps up just due to the shortening of the days snakes slow down.

If you can get them to continue to eat, their eating will be much further and far between than during spring and summer.

Also, a snake knows - it's instinctive. They don't want to eat even if not brumated because all their instincts are telling them it's going to kill them by rotting in their stomachs. This is the accepted rule, but I do know that some people have snakes that eat like pigs year 'round. (shrugs shoulders) I just know in my experience with snakes the one I'm most familiar with doesn't eat from about Oct 1 +/-, may eat once in Feb, but won't really get going until early April. And he's not brumated - thought it is cooler in his room but his heat pad and light are still on.

So, as hard as you might, I don't think you could bulk up your females.

[infernalis]

May I interject?? if one were to keep the lights on a constant summer cycle, the snakes don't know any different.

We kept our snakes up last winter, they had the same light cycle as summer, and ate all winter long as if nothing were any different.

[Garter_Gertie]

As I said, "...people have snakes that eat like pigs year 'round."

We do the light-thing. However, he has access to normal daylight hours through the window that's right beside him. Also, the light we use is for warmth, not to give daylight.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

May I interject?? if one were to keep the lights on a constant summer cycle, the snakes don't know any different.

We kept our snakes up last winter, they had the same light cycle as summer, and ate all winter long as if nothing were any different.

works for me... any snakes I dont want to brumate... I just keep their tanks in summer like conditions... and they eat great!

[ssssnakeluvr]

same here....ones that aren't hibernating for breeding eat just fine all winter