Lost one brumating (hibernation)

[infernalis]

I just brought up the three snakes I had down in my cellar chilling.

One little milk snake did not survive it.

The hard part is that species is usually born very late in the year and will not even take the first meal until they have a "chill cycle"

Hopefully the other milk will eat for me once it warms up.

The Dekayi snake is still plump and round, she will probably eat for me today as well.

[Lankyrob]

Sorry to hear that mate, hope the other eat ok for you

[infernalis]

Cheers Rob.

I hope so too. The milk snakes have a back story - The original owner went to prison and I wound up with his milk snakes.

.

[NennaMeerkat]

Very sorry you lost one. Is there a way to keep them from Burmating? I mean until I came here I never heard of any snake doing that. We kept non-exotic species at our zoo in Mississippi and none of the snakes I ever worked with (basically cleaning enclosures) ever went into any sort of hibernation.

Is there some benefit to letting them hibernate?

[Ch^4]

Sorry to hear that Wayne. I wish you the best of luck with the others.

@Neena: it is natural for some snakes to brumate, and as Wayne mentioned, some snakes will refuse to feed if they are not given the opportunity to brumate.

[NennaMeerkat]

Interesting. Seems like a common thing and I have never heard of it before.

[infernalis]

These little milks seldom eat the first meal without it.


I was desperate to make them eat..

[NennaMeerkat]

Well please let us (or me) know if they eat! Sounds like a precarious time in their lives.

[infernalis]

I will.

The Dekayi snake was one the kids brought in from out back just as the weather turned. She refused all sorts of slugs and worms, so I chilled her too.

If she still does not eat, I'm putting her back in the cellar until spring and returning her to the wild.

[Reptile_Reptile]

Cheers Rob.

I hope so too. The milk snakes have a back story - The original owner went to prison and I wound up with his milk snakes.

.
intense backstory. sorry for the loss

[Marica]

Sorry about your loss, Wayne. This is why I'm a little paranoid about brumation and have never done it with any of my snake. However, none of my snakes are breeders and I have never had any feeding issues or snakes voluntarily going into brumation. Best wishes getting the others to eat.

[infernalis]

Well the little guy let his pinkie rot.....

Try again soon.

[Reptile_Reptile]

good luck i hope for the best. will you be keeping the Dekayi? or just release it in the spring even if it eats?

[infernalis]

It's been a little while since Xena died, So the Dekayi will stay if she eats.

They make awesome little pet snakes.

[shaunyboy]

my condolances wayne

its so frustrating when you do everything correctly and then lose a snake :no:

i am in my 4th week of warming my diamond back up she will be offered her first meal in 14 weeks on febuary the 2nd

i can never settle until she's had 3 or 4 feeds and back up to spring temperatures

i wish you all the best with the rest of your collection mate

cheers shaun

[infernalis]

Well please let us (or me) know if they eat! Sounds like a precarious time in their lives.

The baby milk snake perished.

However on a much brighter note, The Dekayi has turned into an eating machine, That little girl has been eating every day now for the last two weeks.

She amazes me, The kids found her out back in October, She has refused food for nearly six months, Then suddenly one night she grabbed the worm right off the tongs and has been chowing like a fool ever since.

For safety I cut the night crawler into thirds. She's not really much bigger than a jumbo night crawler herself, and I'm afraid that trying to ingest prey that big would be harmful.

In nature they prefer slugs but will commonly eat smaller worms, unfortunately in the winter the only two worms available for purchase are night crawlers and red wigglers, Red wigglers contain toxins that are harmful/fatal to snakes, so obviously I would never feed them to any of my herps.

[Jendee]

aww that sucks that you lost one :(

I obviously know nothing about colubrids..but...I never knew burmating was a necessary thing in captivity. Learn something new everyday! To bad there isn't a way around it, I couldn't imagen losing an animal that I was attached to doing something that was so necessary :(

[infernalis]

Not to sound cold, but I was not at all "attached" to the baby milks, I had them dropped in my lap.

The fellow that had them found the babies in his basement, and he was trying to keep them, When he got arrested his wife gave me the snakes, by then it was winter and releasing was not an option.

[Sapphyr]

Sorry for the loss, interesting story though. You should take some pics of them c: I've never heard of a Dekayi before, I'll be sure to look it up~

and I don't think it's cold. I mean, I wasn't exactly all that attached to my corn snake. Only had her for a week or two, and maybe it's just me, but that's not a long enough time frame for me to be attached.

[infernalis]

Sorry for the loss, interesting story though. You should take some pics of them c: I've never heard of a Dekayi before, I'll be sure to look it up~

and I don't think it's cold. I mean, I wasn't exactly all that attached to my corn snake. Only had her for a week or two, and maybe it's just me, but that's not a long enough time frame for me to be attached.


Did someone request Dekayi pics??

http://www.thamfriends.com/MPFG/images/1apenny.jpg


http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=17&pictureid=861

http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=17&pictureid=862

http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=17&pictureid=863

http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=17&pictureid=864

[marvelfreak]

Dam now that's a tiny snake.

[infernalis]

They seldome ever get more than 12 inches long.

They deliver live babies too, and lots of them, 20+ babies per litter.

Feeding them is challenging.

[Sapphyr]

Aww, they're so cute c: I guess they just 'slurp' up the snail from the shell, hm?

[Lankyrob]

Aww, they're so cute c: I guess they just 'slurp' up the snail from the shell, hm?

I was wondering if they ate the shell as well also??

[infernalis]

No they don't eat the shell, watching them pull the snail out is fascinating.

There immediate "cousins" the red belly snake eats snails too.

[Sapphyr]

Interesting... You should record them de-shelling a snail sometime :D

[percey39]

Sorry to hear mate, i hope the others soldier on for you and take their first feeds!