Brumation Questions

Hello all. I have some questions about brumation from any of you experts out there. So I got my first hognose back in October and have not had to deal with brumation yet. My hognose is 6 months old and my plan was to keep her temps up and feed her through the winter. But on her own she decided to stop eating and stay as cold as possible. So after she refused food for a few weeks i decided to start bringing down the temp because i thought it would be safer to slow down her metabolism since she wasn't eating. My questions are is this safe since shes so young? I have a friend who says its not good to let them brumate when they are babies. Also is it ok to check on her? I haven't seen her in weeks because she is burrowed down somewhere, but I dont want to accidentally "wake her up" or stress her out. Her water dish is going down at a pretty high rate which I hope means she's been drinking lots of water. I just worry I guess. And last what is the shortest amount of time I can let her brumate? Shes obviously not going to be breeding so im not worried about that, i just cant wait to get some more pinkies in her tummy.

Not an expert by any means, but from my few years of experience I've noticed my baby hogs go off and on food sometimes, for up to 2 months couple times but always started eating again eventually. I only brumate my snakes on the second year, but naturally they would have a winter no matter the age. I would offer food every other week til she eats. Check your heat spot and make sure it is working properly.

Thanks for the response. Her hot spot was 90f and i checked it with both the thermostat temp gauge and a 2nd temp gauge so temps were good. She just wasn't eating and also became way less active. She usually comes up to the front when i come home and watches my every move, and about a week after she stopped eating, I noticed she never came out. Also I uncovered her once because I was worried. She was in the cold end which was unusual and she was really cold to the touch. So I kind of figured the reason she stopped was some biological clock went off and she went into brumation mode. Shes been under for about 2 almost 3 weeks now. I know people often say 6 to 8 weeks but thats also for successful breeding and im wondering if its ok to start warming her back. Another thing is the natural temps outside are starting to get to 75f this week and running AC isn't an option so im worried i wont be able to maintain low temps during the day. If its ok id be more then happy to start warming her up. I just don't want it to have bad effects on her. Anyways sorry for the long post, and thanks again for the help.

I don't think 2-3 weeks is enough. Give it more time.

Ya i agree it's short. It's been about 4 now. Just wondering what's worse a short brumation or not hitting brumation temps consistently? I think for the next week I'll have good temps. To be honest I wasn't prepared to brumate cuz I planned on keeping temps up through winter and worry about brumation in a couple years. Just thought it would be better if I didn't fight her and let her do what she wanted.

Ya i agree it's short. It's been about 4 now. Just wondering what's worse a short brumation or not hitting brumation temps consistently? I think for the next week I'll have good temps. To be honest I wasn't prepared to brumate cuz I planned on keeping temps up through winter and worry about brumation in a couple years. Just thought it would be better if I didn't fight her and let her do what she wanted.

Hey Cory, just wanted a update...I'm considering getting a Hog and wanted to learn as much as I could...your thread was very interesting to me....but then it stopped am just curious as to what happened.

Well from that experience, I would not burmate a baby hognose. It took a while even after temps were up to get her eating again and she lost some weight. Also do not try to burmate if you aren't prepared and have no way to hit the right temps for 6 weeks. I think that is what caused her to loose weight was the warmer temps towards the end of trying to brumate her. Around here our winters don't get very cold and aren't consistent. When I do burmate her im going to get a non defrosting beverage refrigerator so that I can hold the right temps.