Do you cool your breeders?

[cinderbird]

I'm not the greatest record keeper in the world, but I'll give it a try.

even if its unofficial, im not looking to make you do more work

[pavlovk1025]

First year out, I started pairing without cooling and have had successful locks. However, I am going to drop the hot spot 3 degrees over the course of the next month and leave it at that until next August as I plan on doing some late season breeding.

[aarondm]

I love this post This will be my first year breeding and was wondering the same thing about cooling. Keep those experiences coming in breeders... us newbs appreciate it. Good luck to all this coming season

[WingedWolfPsion]

First year--Cooled, and had perfect results, all females layed, clutches were fertile--only a few eggs from one clutch proved infertile, and they weren't even slugs.

Second year--Cooled, and had a number of females fail to lay, one slugged out, and I got two RIs and one mouth infection in the spring.

This year--I'm thinking about not lowering the temps quite as much as I did last year, and I'm also using BioShield to try to reduce the RI/mouth rot risks. I keep everything clean and sterilize frequently, so I'm thinking that the stress of breeding plus the cooling lowered their immune systems. I'm reluctant to try not cooling at all.

I'm guessing nothing is perfect, we're going to have good years and bad years, and breeding is stressful regardless of temps, so there probably is no winning formula that works every time.

[rabernet]

I don't cool, but the room does get a little cooler in the winter, but the hot spot remains the same. I believe barometric pressures are far more important to breeding than cooling. I've had good success with not cooling.

[cinderbird]

I don't cool, but the room does get a little cooler in the winter, but the hot spot remains the same. I believe barometric pressures are far more important to breeding than cooling. I've had good success with not cooling.

thank you for your input

[rjk890]

Last year was my first year breeding.
I cooled them to 78 day / 76 night with no heat for one month.
I reduced feeding the males to every 7-10 days, and continued feeding the females every 5 days.

I got 14 fertile eggs and 1 slug(9.0 / 5.1) from the only .2 females that were really bred.

I did have one virgin female drop 12 ("scallops") unfertillized eggs two weeks into cooling.

One female was 1280g to start with, and went off feed during cooling. I placed a male in with her for 3 days to try and get her to rebound and start eating again, in order to prepare for breeding.
After 3 days with the male, and one lck, I pulled him out. I gave her 4 days of rest and offered food.
She did not eat again and was down to 1208g, so I decided to give her another year and not to breed her.

This season I have 35 females that are 1500g+ and ready to go, and 8 more that are 1250g+ and should be ready to go later in the season.
The 35 females and my males have been cooling at 78 degrees again since Mid Sept. and pairings will begin shortly.

[Bill Buchman]

I don't cool -- but I have my tape set lower than most at 87. My night temps don't ever go below 77-78 degrees. Day room temps vary 83-90 degrees depending om outside temps.

[cinderbird]

Last year was my first year breeding.
I cooled them to 78 day / 76 night with no heat for one month.
I reduced feeding the males to every 7-10 days, and continued feeding the females every 5 days.

I got 14 fertile eggs and 1 slug(9.0 / 5.1) from the only .2 females that were really bred.

I did have one virgin female drop 12 ("scallops") unfertillized eggs two weeks into cooling.

One female was 1280g to start with, and went off feed during cooling. I placed a male in with her for 3 days to try and get her to rebound and start eating again, in order to prepare for breeding.
After 3 days with the male, and one lck, I pulled him out. I gave her 4 days of rest and offered food.
She did not eat again and was down to 1208g, so I decided to give her another year and not to breed her.

This season I have 35 females that are 1500g+ and ready to go, and 8 more that are 1250g+ and should be ready to go later in the season.
The 35 females and my males have been cooling at 78 degrees again since Mid Sept. and pairings will begin shortly.

78? that sounds extremely low, and while still feeding them? did you experience any problems related to this like RIs or regurges or severe weight loss?

[rjk890]

Like I said, one girl went off feed, and dropped some weight. She was a little light to start with so I just put the heat back to her, and did not breed her any longer.

I offered my males food every 10 days, unless they refused a meal. If they refused I offered them food again in 7 days.

The females were offered food every 5 days. If they refused, they were offered food again 5 days later.

I only cooled them at those temps for one month.
That is only like 3-6 meals.

No problems so far.

I gradually reduced the ambient temps in my snake room from 88 / 86 down to 82 / 80 over two weeks prior to pulling my breeders out, for cooling. The temps were then gradually brought back up to 88 / 86 in the snake room for the non breeders.

Then the breeders spent one month at 78 /76 before being returned to the snake room.