| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| elament |
Posted - 30/10/2010 : 14:37:41
Just for my own inquisitiveness I wondered how many of us have snakes that go hormonal once a year and go off their food?
If you do have snakes that do that can you please answer the following questions (again this is purely for my own research)
(a) How old are they?
(b) What sex are they?
(c) Do they do they go off their food every year?
(d) Bout when do they normally start fasting?
(e) How long is it before they normally start feeding again?
Cheers to all who participate I Just interested in the results
Cheers
Steve
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| 18 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| elament |
Posted - 06/11/2010 : 14:32:59
I dont think there is a way Judith we just got to grin and bare it tho i did manage to get Colin to eat last night but by eck did he take his time about it. He is defo on the slow down. Both of mine are now spending proportionately more time in the cold end than the warm and I am praying Xena dont go off her food as I will have real problems there as like silvesta I dont think she has the weight to loose yet. Although so far (touches wood) theres no sign of her going off her food |
| Kellog |
Posted - 05/11/2010 : 04:06:42
How do you stop a male snake from hibernating....can you?
The reason I ask is that when I got Silvesta last December he was underweight and I had to start feeding him up. By the time he went horny in April I had managed to get his weight up by 155g. He then didnt eat properly for 2 months and lost 33g (not a lot in the great scheme of things, I know).
But now, just 5 months after getting him to eat properly again I am having the same problem as Elament is having with Colin....he is uninterested in his food, will occasionally eat if I warm and split the belly of the mouse, and is spending a fair bit of time in his cool hide. His temps are all as normal in his viv, his lighting is on its normal setting of coming on at 7am and off at 10pm and he is actually by the lounge patio doors so gets the natural light in the morning as well.
I am handling him as normal....and my son was very sneaky and when I had him out removed his cold hide, so when he was put back in his viv he naturally went into the only hide there, the warm one, at which point my son replaced the cold hide!
I realise this is probably something within his seasonal time clock, but if I am getting him ready to go through another horny time in the spring is there any way I can stop him going into hibernation now? If it was Kellog I wouldnt be so concerned but with Silvesta I am just not sure he has the weight to lose....although he doesnt look at all thin at the moment.
And yes Mike, I know....'why worry'....because it is in my nature to and I want my snake to eat  !!
xxx
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| eeji |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 19:26:46
i only have one male that will go off his food when its breeding season and won't eat for around 3 months. He's 7 this year and has only fathered one clutch of eggs but it was a very bad clutch (14 layed, 3 hatched, 2 of those deformed  ) - I'm not sure if it was him or her or both but they are both retired from breeding just in case. |
| elament |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 17:10:41
Stapes I meant hormonal as in needing nookie me thinks. Mine just goes super active night and day trying to escape the viv and at the same time goes off his food. I sure dont think its hibernation as if it was he'd be hiding. Last year it kicked off in late january early feb and went on till april ish (dunno when coz i lost his records when me hard drive went down on me) |
| Sta~ple |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 17:01:29
quote:
Originally posted by mikerichards
Thing is though, if you keep their temps up, and they wanna hibernate, then they will try and slow their metabolism, but cos the temps are still high, they cant, so they burn fat much faster, leading to greater weight loss.
How do you make them want to :o or how do you know they want to?
elament, what do you mean by hormonal? Like hibernating or breeding season? Mine seem to think the time for nookie is in winter, I have no idea why! I guess as this is the best time in our house that has a nice good range of temps. I only ever see it in the girl though. Male always has his face smooched up against the glass.
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| chrish |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 14:43:48
Yer that makes sense, cheers mike. |
| mikerichards |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 14:16:50
its probably a bit easier for me to do, because they have their own room, so i just turn the heating off in there and drop their stats down.
before i have had the window open a crack too, the overall temp in the room was 12 degrees, i let the stat take care of the difference.
It depends how low you have your heating, or if there is a room where you can cope with the temps being slightly lower. i know people who use their garage to hibernate, using the heatmat to keep the warm end up at about 15 - 17 degrees.
Its just a case of thinking outside the box, or inside!!!
You can use a poly box and a small tub, bear in mind the snake is only ever gonna move to get water or to regulate temps, so they dont need anything bigger than themselves, 2 years ago i used a small rub to hibernate a 7ft black pine, it was big enough to just about fit him in, he only ever moved to drink, if i dared wake him, he got very very very grumpy!!!!
If you cant get temps down enough in the house, put ina small rub, in a poly box, in the garage, stat the mat at 17 degrees and your away.
if you dont have a garage, or power in there, then you need to think even more out the box!!!
Failing that, just try and keep them up, it might work. Thing is though, if you keep their temps up, and they wanna hibernate, then they will try and slow their metabolism, but cos the temps are still high, they cant, so they burn fat much faster, leading to greater weight loss. |
| chrish |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 14:06:16
Just out of interest....how do you go about keeping the temps low enough? I only say that because my house doesn't drop down to 17, i like the warmth too much! |
| elament |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 13:43:13
I know I shouldnt worry as last year towards the end I was quite chilled bout the whole thing and this year I have done my best to make sure he put on plenty of weight to see him thru the leaner months so I am prepared for it. Just cant help but worry bout them I guess I am a worryguts lol. But thanks for the advice Mike. |
| mikerichards |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 13:35:24
why worry? its normal!! instead of worrying and binning mice, just go with it, drop the temps, let them hibernate properly and then you got 3 months of taking it easy and not having to worry about feeding.
If you are gonna do it, do it gradually, wait till about 3 weeks since the last feed, then drop the temps gradually, about 2 degrees a week, down to about 17, then let them be. Its what i am gonna be doing. |
| elament |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 12:55:18
Great lol just what i need another three months of worrying and chucking mice in the bin
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| mikerichards |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 12:36:01
to be honest, i dont think it matters if they are male or female, in the wild, naturally it wouldnt matter, they would both hibernate the same as each other. i dont really know the ins and outs of it, but i suspect that its a naturally programmed thing, as the light cycle changes, they know the season change and its something that just kicks in, like a natural instict. |
| elament |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 11:55:05
One of mine went all hormonal last year. He didnt hibernate as such quite the opposite he went super active and just wouldnt eat. I just expecting it again this year. Last thursday he refused his second mouse so I beginning to think this could be the start of yet another episode. Neither of mine have been put into hibernation to my knowledge so I dont know why it happened last year. His viv has always been kept at constant temps. By the way I say "he" but thats never been confirmed so he could well be a she.
cheers
steve
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| mikerichards |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 11:44:14
i think most of the time its adults that have been regularly hibernated, i think babies that have never been hibernated and kept at a constant temp probably wont be likely to self hibernate. i personally dont think babies should be hibernated unless they have a really good body weight, any fussy feeders should be kept constant and fed up. |
| elament |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 11:02:21
Thanks mike I was waiting for your reply. I just want to see if there is any correlation of stats so those of us that are going to go through it know what to expect as i suspect that there will soon be a lot of "my snake isnt eating" posts.
Cheers
steve
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| mikerichards |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 10:56:11
Last year quite a few of my corns decided to put themselves down, generally about this time of year, they go off their food and stay off the warm end.
Both males and females, and usually start feeding mid to late Feb, when they have been warmed up. anything else i cant remember!!! it is fairly normal though. |
| Mort13 |
Posted - 31/10/2010 : 10:07:26
I haven't got a clue as I've not gone through it with mine yet. Hope you get some good replies though as it'll be interesting to see if there is any similariteis/patterns |
| stotty01 |
Posted - 30/10/2010 : 18:39:47
i think males do during breeding season as are on look for a mate |
