Cooling Period

What is your method of cooling your snakes for breeding?

I spoke with Ralph Davis and he leaves his thermostats at 95 degrees and controls the gradient within the tub by lowering and raising his room temps. This is great if you have a room specifically for your snakes. Another method would be to lower the temp on your heat tape. If lowering the temp on the heat tape what is your daytime temp and what is your nighttime temp that your thermostat is set to?

Thanks!

I used to lower room temps but the last two seasons I haven't done anything and so far I see zero difference.
I just pair the snakes, they could care less about the temperatures as long as they have a cool end to escape the heat.
I use 41qt sterilite tubs that are cool enough on the cool end that the females can bowl wrap and lay up on their sides and cool themselves just fine without changing any temps.
My tub temps this season have been about 93-95 hot spot, 86-87 warm end ambient and 75 to 77 cool end ambient.

Never done it, Never will.. Can't say I have had any issue with any males or females breeding.

Thanks for the info Jerry, very helpful! Thanks to you as well Theodore!

I keep the room no less than 78 year round. I drop my night time temps to 84 during cooling (10-12 hours), but the cool side stays between 80-82. So pretty much, I keep ambient temps, just no hot spot at night when cooling. Last year, I dropped to 82 for a night time drop and every female laid, every egg hatched and only got two slugs from 30 eggs.

My first year breeding, I did not cool other than the room naturally dropping a few degrees and I had no problems. I am starting to think they will breed no matter what, as long as they are ready.

I live in Wisconsin and keep my tapes set at 96 degrees and I just let them do the rest. I have run into no issues breeding this way. My females and males seem to know that it is "that time of year"

This is my first season and I'm not cooling either. So far all females, minus one have been locking up.

I just haven't witnessed any locks to date..I've seen a female wagging her tail and my males will lay on top of the females but I haven't actually witnessed a lock. I will put my males in with the females for about 3-5 days take them out, offer food to all my snakes, give them a 2-3 day rest regardless of whether or not they ate and then put the males back in with the females. They are in my bedroom which isn't the best spot but where I have room for them. To control when it becomes night time for them, I use a dark sheet that I cover them with at a certain time every night to keep it dark for them regardless of me having the lights on or not, and once the sheet goes on I don't remove it until I am up for work in the morning. Should I peek in there to see? I also have hides in with my females, should I take those out when I introduce the male, or should I leave the way it is?

Hope that wasn't too much

You can watch them breed. Sometimes they show no cares in the world during this process.

You also do not need hides. I seldomly have them in there while they are breeding and they still lock, especially if they are covered with a sheet.

Light really isn't an issue, although it helps with security which is always a bonus. I sometimes will have the lights on until 3am and I have viewable front end enclosures. They seem to know when it's night time and lights don't make a difference for them.

One three day pairing a week is fine. In fact, last year, every female was introduced to a male only once a month and all girls went.

Good to know, the females are all in 32qt tubs and they don't slide in length wise..they slide in width wise so there isn't really a large *back* area of the tub they can go to hide without the hides..they generally are in there throughout the entire day and come out at night..I am in the process of building a 41qt tub rack that slides in length wise so they can choose to be in the back or front. Also is it okay to hold your snakes during the breeding season? I love to take them out and give them attention but tend to leave them alone since I am trying to breed. Thanks for the responses Jerry, Theodore, Shawn, Bo and Nick!