temperature lowering question.

This questions if for those that do lower temps to induce breeding / ovulation / and all that other good stuff.

How much do you drop the temperature at night?

I normally keep my cold side at 80 and my hot side at 89. If I want to cool them at night, what temperature should I drop that hot side down to?


Thanks,

Mike

Here is a breeding calendar that answers that and much more. ;)
http://8ballpythons.com/journal/breedingcalendar.htm

Last year I followed Adam’s calendar to a T, this year I am doing it a little differently, I lower the temps on the warm side only, cool side remain the same.

Heat tape at night is 82-84 during the day it remains at 90-92.

I'm with frenchie.


Cheers,
Kat

thanks for the help guys and girls!

One more question. when you say you lower the heat tape to 82, do you mean lower it so the actual tub temp on the hot side is 82? On my RBI rack, that would mean dropping the flexwatt thermostat to like 87 degrees.

In other words, to achieve a tub floor temperature on hot side to 89 degrees, I actually have the flexwatt thermostat set at 94... so I should drop that to 87? Am I making any sense here???!!! :8:

And for how many hours should the temperature be dropped.

Mike

Since my spider female is being so disinterested in breeding, I have started to lower her cage temps. I lower it for her 12 hours of night and I'm dropping it 1.5 degrees per week on the thermostat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mcavana

thanks for the help guys and girls!

One more question. when you say you lower the heat tape to 82, do you mean lower it so the actual tub temp on the hot side is 82? On my RBI rack, that would mean dropping the flexwatt thermostat to like 87 degrees.

In other words, to achieve a tub floor temperature on hot side to 89 degrees, I actually have the flexwatt thermostat set at 94... so I should drop that to 87? Am I making any sense here???!!! :8:

And for how many hours should the temperature be dropped.

Mike

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Yes by 82 I mean 82 on the warm side right above the heat source not my T-stat setting. (T-stat setting varies depending on enclosure type, heat source etc)

I use to follow Ralph Davis's recipe but after reading Barker's book and spending a little time talking/emailing with Tracy I decided to adapt some things a bit and here is my current approach.

Last week in October through December:
Room ~80 degrees ambient
12 hours of day heat ~90 on tape
12 hours of night heat at ~82 on tape
Rotations start November 1, males' see 1 girl per week for 2-4 days at a time. Typically I only have one male to 4 females max...that way he sees every female atleast once per month.
I offer slightly smaller meals once per week to everyone. If they eat great, if not that's OK too.

Starting January 1st through ~April:
Room ~80 degrees ambient
~82 degrees on tape
Same rotations. If a girl goes into shed and the male is available he goes with her. A female in shed is one of the BEST times to have a male in with her.
Meals go even smaller and less frequent due to the lowered heat.

Around Mid-February I start palpating for folicles, typically during a shed cycle. If they are approximately marble sized then I give females one more rotation with the male while they are in shed, clean their cage, put in fresh bedding and water, and disturb them only to look for ovulation, spotclean, and freshen water, otherwise she is left alone and is not handled or fed.

If I catch a female ovulating I return her heat to ~90 degrees and wait for her prelay shed. After the shed I swap out bedding, add sphagnum moss, put in a smaller water bowl, and wait on eggs.

Hope that helps and I didn't forget anything :)