Hoggy Brumation?

I wondered if anyone else's hoggy is doing this currently? My adult female is currently not eating, hasn't eaten for 5 weeks now and I'm told they tend to brumate and not eat for 2-3 months between October and December (though some care sheets have stated December to February) - I live in the UK and maybe it starts to get colder here earlier than in the US and hence the timing is different.

I know it's quite normal for snakes to do this but I've never had a non-eater before (not even my BP! fingers crossed ) and it worries me a bit. Should I just give up and cool her down? or will it matter if I keep up her normal temps and just keep offering her food anyway. Fortunately I have an ever-hungry monitor that loves leftovers ...

So long as her body weight is not obviously becoming less, you should have no problem.

How old and what size is she? I've got a couple of adults that are off feed and will be put in the cool room next week. Normally I put them in the room in Nov. but due to the heat we've had here I had to delay.

My juvies and yearlings are all still eating though the 2 year olds, which I only cool if they're of goodly size, have slowed in their responses to food.

If she's an adult, go ahead and cool her, it won't hurt anything.

Can you post a pic of her?

She's definitely an adult, I don't know her exact age as we bought her as an adult of undetermined age just over a year ago from our local garden centre who closed down their reptile dept and had had her for a year previous to that. She was originally kept in with a male who she attempted to eat (fortunately they just managed to pull him out in time). She's 3ft long and weighed 375g a few weeks ago (could have been before digesting a mouse though) and she now weighs 365g. She definitely isn't skinny I think. She seems to want to stay in the cool area of her viv for the last few weeks. It's currently approx 85-72 during the night but during the day increases to 80-90 (basking spot).

This is her in her viv ...


Her in the garden ...


and to give an idea of her size, here she is with my 18-year old daughter


and again as a fashion accessory LOL

She looks fine, fat and healthy. The snake I mean.

If she's off feed, let her cool for a couple of months, it should not hurt her at all.

She is one of the biggest I've seen. Should you get a boy for her, you would most likely have MANY eggs.

Good luck.

What a great looking snake!! Shes huge! I have a baby girl, about a year, she only weighs about 37g. haha i always wondered what she will look like!
However, mines not eating either, for about 5 weeks as well.
I've had trouble with her a while ago, but not recently.
Good luck and let me know what works for you

Thank you Yes, she is quite big for a hoggy I think (I haven't seen that many tbh). I thought I might get a male for her next year but am worried she'd eat him knowing her record I was offered one for her this year (just to borrow for breeding purposes) but he was sooo tiny despite apparently being an adult. What would I get if I crossed her with an albino male hoggie? I've only ever seen them in pics but they're soooo pretty.

Well it's my monitor's feeding day today, so I'm going to defrost an extra mouse in case she might eat ... if not he will be only to happy to eat another one (scaley garbage disposal on legs). She was quite active around her viv yesterday so maybe she's in hunting mode ...

If she does _not_ carry a hidden gene for albino (you would only know this if you knew her parents' geneology or had done a breeding trial with her- plus she probably would have cost a lot more) and you breed her to an albino male, you will get 100% babies that look normal but each carry one normal and one albino gene. They would be 100% "het" (heterozygous) for albino. Het for albino hogs cost more than normal hogs, because of that hidden gene.

Now if you take one of those het for albino babies and breed it to an albino, you will get 50% albino and 50% babies that are 100% positive het for albino (they would look normal.)

And if you took two het for albino babies and bred them together, you would get 25% babies that are normal with two normal genes, 50% babies that are het for albino (but no way to tell them apart from the normals without breeding trials- so _all_ the normal appearing babies would be called 66% het for albino- meaning any of them has a 66% chance of carrying one albino gene) and 25% albino babies.

If you bred two albinos, you would get 100% albino offspring.

Nanci

PS- she's gorgeous and HUGE!!!

Nanci

Wow that's a lot of info Nanci! Thank you! So any babies between my normal girl and an albino male would be 100% het. I may get her one in a year or two - I think the last time I saw an albino (female) for sale here in the UK it cost just over £1,000 ($1900). It will probably have to wait for the following year - I want to get a male for my hypo salmon female boa next year.

Well, I tried again today, and my piggy monitor got another extra mouse - keep this up and he won't fit in his hides any more

The albinos sure are expensive! In the US, you could probably find a male for about $850. Have you seen the extreme red line? Just gorgeous! My next snake is going to be a normal Western. Right now I have an Eastern and a Tri-color, L. pulcher. I love them.

Nanci