OK.....this is wierd:S

[Nicky]

Hey Guys,
Last week I started my first hibernation for my 2 corns ( 1 normal one Oketee) My room temp ( due to lack of room I had to hibernate them in thier and buy extra heat sources for my other herps) is usually around 62-65 F and today got up to 70 ( as its the coldest day of the year here I had to close my window which I was using to maintain these temps. Wierdly enough throughout this whole process ( started about a week ago) My female corn has been fairly active while my male has been tucked away under his hidebox shes been outside and has been fairly active. Has anyone else ever had this? Lights go out at 5 pm and on at 9 a.m but I have no idea why she's not acting like my male, is it possibly not cold enough for her??
any thoughts would be helpful
Thanks
Kayla

[marisa]

Definitly not cold enough for either of them. If you are brumating at 62-70 degrees they will lose weight in some cases. I.E. Your female being active.

Brumation is normally between 50-55 degrees.

Marisa

[gonesnakee]

2nd the not cold enough for brumation comment. If they are cooled, but not cooled enough you are possibly doing more harm than good. Its cold enough that their immune systems are slowed down, but all the nasty things (bacterias & such) that can affect them with their low imunity are still thriving leaving them vunerable to them. Being Cornsnakes I wouldn't bother if it can't be done properly. I'd say its cold enough for them to possibly get sick, but not cold enough to brumate them properly. Its one of those things where colder is better believe it or not. Corns & kings will usually breed successfully without brumation anyway. Also if they are being brumated there should be no lights whatsoever. You are attempted to mimic their natural life cycle. When they climb into a hole in the fall & come up in the spring they spend the whole time in the dark. The lights don't go off & on daily for them in the wild when they are down holes etc. I would suggest to go back to the usual temps with the reduced light cycle for the winter. Mark

[Nicky]

Ohh man, I was just following the cornsnake manual by Kathy love on burminating ( but I probably read it wrong) anyways thanks so much i'm pulling them out of hibernation right now,I feel so stupid, figures i can't do one thing right. What sort of things should I be looking for incase thier sick? I'm assuming it probably would be either respitory or maybe something in thier feces but since neither of my corns have ever had those problems I have no idea what to look for.
Kayla

[marisa]

Before even ATTEMPTING such a thing as brumation, you should have been reading TONS of books and articles on the internet! No offense, really, but brumation isn't a joke as you know, so it's important to have advice from more than one source. You CAN do something right, you just didn't get enough research in beforehand :D

I totally agree with Mark here and even if I didn't, listen to him! LOL :P Anyways, I would simply put them back to normal with a hotspot. They should be perfectly fine but you can simply watch and listen close to raspy noises, mucus, or wetness around the nose and mouth. I am sure they are fine though.

Warm 'em up, and feed them in a week or two! :)

Marisa

[gonesnakee]

You are probably OK but like Marisa says watch for possible signs of respitory problems. Chances are they are probably just fine, but a "cold" would be the most likely ailment that they would be at risk of & absolute worse case scenerio nymonia (sp? E for effort I know its not even close it starts with a P LOL) which isn't likely as they haven't been cool for too long. Good Luck & I'm sure they will be fine. Mark

[JAdkins2451]

I didnt want to start a new therd for nothing. But is brumation necessary
?

[gonesnakee]

No brumation is not nessicary at all. If you are looking to breed it is recomended though as not all species will produce successfully without it. As already stated most Colubrids will breed irreguardless. It is part of their natural life cycle & does help trigger things such as ovulation in the females & more importantly viable sperm production in the males. An example that us humans can relate to is for a guy who's "goo" ain't much good they recomend loose underwear & no hot tubs etc. Heat kills sperm basically. Also brumation is good because you don't have to feed "breeding stock" for 3-4 months & this saves lots of time, effort & cash & if they don't eat they don't... well you know what I mean. Those of us with large collections its like a vacation of sorts, much more relaxed than breeding & baby season, thats for sure. Mark

[Nicky]

Thanks alot for the positive responses:),I was mega bummed out over this all day but in the end it was my fault. I have them both back up to thier usual temps and will moniter them very closely for the next few weeks.
I guess some lessons are learned the hard way I just hope my ignorance ( lacking of knowladge?) didn't end up hurting my corns.
Thanks so much again
Kayla:)