brumation??

[acolyeuk]

can anyone tell me what it is and does my corn snake have to go through it and she has not had anything to eat for almost a month she refuses it can anyone help????

[acolyeuk]

bump.............

[pied pythons]

Brumation is the reptile equivalent of hibernation...

Some species need to be brumated in order to breed them...it helps to stimulate the breeding season as in the wild. Most people just cycle their stock to induce breeding...which involves dropping the temperature gradually over a few weeks, for a few weeks...then back up to normal again...as well as reducing the daylight hours.

When brumating breeders generally place their snake in a polybox with some water...or offer water every so often...and let them really wind down into a 'hibernated' state.

Not sure how anyone else does this...never brumated myself as never had any species which *need* brumating in order to breed...although I have bought an adult male ratsnake which had just come out of the garden shed in a polybox.

With regards to your cornsnake not feeding...how old is it and what sex? If it's a breedable male the chances are it's just on a winter fast. Again, if it's an adult...a month is nothing to worry about as long as it's not losing weight etc.

What exactly is your setup like? Temps at both ends, hides?, substrate, humidity levels, what is the heat source, what enclosure is it in etc etc...

How long have you had it too?

[Jczreptiles]

Are you 100% sure it is female, unless you have reduced the temps to make the snake think it is time to stop eating females will usualy want more food this time of year. Brumation is hibernation in reptiles.

[pied pythons]

Originally Posted by acolyeuk

bump.............

No need to bump after just 43mins... just be patient and people will reply in their own time

[Freeman]

Bump.

[acolyeuk]

she i think im about 70-30 on that and is all most 2 years old and had her for since she was 7 weeks i think the temps have been a little lower than normal since its gone cold outside.

[pied pythons]

You say you're 70% on her being female...has she been probed as female?

As previous...what are the temps at both ends, humidity levels, type of enclosure, what is the heat source etc etc...

The more info you give us the more we can help you.

[acolyeuk]

no not been probed she is in a 3ft wood viv with 2 hides and cork bark substrate is beech chip and i have a heatmat. the temps are cold end 11.5 c hot end 19.1c .

[pied pythons]

Originally Posted by acolyeuk

no not been probed she is in a 3ft wood viv with 2 hides and cork bark substrate is beech chip and i have a heatmat. the temps are cold end 11.5 c hot end 19.1c .

52.7F cold end and 66.2F ''hot'' end is almost definately the reason your snake hasn't been feeding the last month.

It won't feed if it hasn't the heat to digest it's food...I'm suprised you've been offering it a meal at those temps to be honest...it would only regurgitate again which isn't great for the snake.

The problem with heat mats is they only heat upon contact...they just don't maintain an ambient air temperature. The room the snake is in need to be fairly warm to aid the heat mat.

To be honest, the best thing you can do is get a ceramic heater for the viv & a guard to protect the snake from touching it. This will easily heat the viv year round, regardless of winter temps...and it will heat the air as well as the floor.

You may need to get another thermostat though, depending on what you're currently using to run your heat mat? Assuming you do have a thermostat??