winter temperatures/feeding less?

[FollowTheSun]

I live in the desert so we don't get very cold weather here.

One of my friends has some advanced degrees in animal science and she also worked at a large well-run private zoo in our area, specifically the reptiles and primates. She kept several of her own snakes and other critters and had to scale back (no pun intended! ) when she had her child and had to work more hours. She is, I think, more old school, but she also really knows her stuff.

I was asking her advice about ambient temps with my BP. I have an overhead ceramic heater which I had turned off last month because we had a warm spell. It is attached to a thermostat, and I noticed it was mostly off anyway, so I unplugged it. Then the weather turned colder this week, and I noticed the ambient temp of Spot's enclosure has been in the low to mid 70's, and he has refused his feeding, which he rarely does. I was wondering if those two things were related. He still has his temp-controlled heat mat and warm hide, of course.

Anyway . . . here's the interesting part .. .

She told me that with both the pythons at the zoo and her own personal snakes, she would let the ambient temps fall naturally in the enclosures to around 70's and then back off feeding the snakes except about once a month during this time. Then when the weather heated up again they would go back to feeding them weekly or so, and raise the temps to summer tropical temps in the enclosures.

I have never heard of that here on this forum and was curious about what your thoughts were.

[Lord Sorril]

I have never heard of that here on this forum and was curious about what your thoughts were.

When I first started: a reputable breeder told me to lower the temps of my ball python collection to 75F during the winter to make them more 'fertile' come Spring...What I ended up with was my first Respiratory Infection (in my oldest) and several females going off food for more than a year.

I keep my ambient at 80F now and no extended hunger strikes or RI issues for over a decade.

[FollowTheSun]

When I first started: a reputable breeder told me to lower the temps of my ball python collection to 75F during the winter to make them more 'fertile' come Spring...What I ended up with was my first Respiratory Infection (in my oldest) and several females going off food for more than a year.

I keep my ambient at 80F now and no extended hunger strikes or RI issues for over a decade.

Yikes!!

[Craiga 01453]

when i first started: A reputable breeder told me to lower the temps of my ball python collection to 75f during the winter to make them more 'fertile' come spring...what i ended up with was my first respiratory infection (in my oldest) and several females going off food for more than a year.

I keep my ambient at 80f now and no extended hunger strikes or ri issues for over a decade.

^^^^ fantastic reply ^^^^

[67temp]

My pythons get fed the same and I don't change their temps any through out the year. My colubrids get their ambient temps dropped, prey items reduced in size and frequency.

[EL-Ziggy]

My ambient temps drop during the winter and I also cut back on feeding my animals to about once a month for my adults. The younger snakes get fed every 2 weeks. I do this from November to March.

[Godzilla78]

My ambient temps drop during the winter and I also cut back on feeding my animals to about once a month for my adults. The younger snakes get fed every 2 weeks. I do this from November to March.

That sounds like a good plan. I’ve been having some feeding issues this winter with some of the royals, and I think I am going to follow this schedule you laid out.
Thanks


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