Brumation in South East Qld

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RickB

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I am a fairly new member here and want to find out how to go about brumating my Coastal carpet python for the first time. My Coastal is now heading into its second winter here in Brisbane and I keep reading they should be brumated each year for their good health. At this time the enclosure runs about 27 degrees on the hot end and 21 to 22 degrees cool end. Heat has been reduced steadily over the past month and is on about 10 hours a day now.
I have tried finding specific threads with any information on this subject. So far I found there are many threads on general Brumation of reptiles but cant seem to find it specifically for South East Qld
Can any of the experienced members point me to a thread that deals with this subject or advise me when to start the cycle and how long I can expect the brumation to be? Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Winter cooling isn't especially different in different places, other than how cold the room gets, which often varies between houses more than locations. Brisbane winters aren't especially harsh, so you shouldn't have to worry about anything much. Assuming you've stopped feeding, you can take the number of hours of heating down to about 8 (perhaps 6 or so for a week or so if you want to). I definitely wouldn't be setting the thermostat as low as 27, ever. There are methods such as the 24 hour heat with flat temperature fluctuation where you'll need to set it that low, but few people still use them now, they don't work as well and they are less natural. For the most part it's about reducing the number hours of heat per day, and the cool time getting colder, but the hot time, while reducing in hours, shouldn't get much cooler - I and most others would give them the opportunity to get to over 30 degrees every day of the year, except perhaps for just a few days, at most a week, in the middle of winter.

I don't think of brumation as having a set time period. The climate fluctuation is a 365 day process. Every day of the year has a climate, it's not like there are 8 months of identical hot summer days then 4 months of identical cold winter days. If I'm being diligent, I adjust their climate at least once per week (admittedly, some years I have been lazy). Part of the job is done for you by nature, because your overnight temperatures will be colder in winter simply because the weather is cooler so your house gets colder.

In short, in Brisbane I'd be using about 16-18 hours of heat in the middle of summer (you'll probably find your thermostat spends a lot of time off anyway) and about 8 hours during winter, with little if any change in the temperature setting. I would change this gradually during the year rather than giving them a distinct 'brumation period'.

Yep, there are other methods which will work, mine isn't the only one, and you're free to do whatever you like :)
 
Its called cooling down but its more about the change in photo period than a heat reduction.
My process is similar to sadji. I heat for around 16 hrs a day during summer and reduce that heating period to 7hrs over winter.
I have found that I actually run my enclosures a little hotter during winter but that has come around from breeding and watching the animals behaviour during the cooler seasons.
 
Winter cooling isn't especially different in different places, other than how cold the room gets, which often varies between houses more than locations. Brisbane winters aren't especially harsh, so you shouldn't have to worry about anything much. Assuming you've stopped feeding, you can take the number of hours of heating down to about 8 (perhaps 6 or so for a week or so if you want to). I definitely wouldn't be setting the thermostat as low as 27, ever. There are methods such as the 24 hour heat with flat temperature fluctuation where you'll need to set it that low, but few people still use them now, they don't work as well and they are less natural. For the most part it's about reducing the number hours of heat per day, and the cool time getting colder, but the hot time, while reducing in hours, shouldn't get much cooler - I and most others would give them the opportunity to get to over 30 degrees every day of the year, except perhaps for just a few days, at most a week, in the middle of winter.

I don't think of brumation as having a set time period. The climate fluctuation is a 365 day process. Every day of the year has a climate, it's not like there are 8 months of identical hot summer days then 4 months of identical cold winter days. If I'm being diligent, I adjust their climate at least once per week (admittedly, some years I have been lazy). Part of the job is done for you by nature, because your overnight temperatures will be colder in winter simply because the weather is cooler so your house gets colder.

In short, in Brisbane I'd be using about 16-18 hours of heat in the middle of summer (you'll probably find your thermostat spends a lot of time off anyway) and about 8 hours during winter, with little if any change in the temperature setting. I would change this gradually during the year rather than giving them a distinct 'brumation period'.

Yep, there are other methods which will work, mine isn't the only one, and you're free to do whatever you like :)
Plenty to consider here. Certainly need to think about getting the basic heat in the hot end up some more. I had heard Coastals don't like getting too hot but it seems I have gone a little too cool on temp. I am using a tile with a 15 watt heat cord to supply heat for the enclosure. This method has kept temps stable at about 27 degrees and it doesn't get any warmer than that even dialling the thermostat up doesn't change the heat reading. It seems I will need to go for the CHE and safety cage hung inside the enclosure and adjust from temps from there. During summer I had the heat on for 14 hours, so may need to rethink that one too. As said earlier this time has been brought down over several weeks to 10 hours a day now.
Appreciate your reply and thank you
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Its called cooling down but its more about the change in photo period than a heat reduction.
My process is similar to sadji. I heat for around 16 hrs a day during summer and reduce that heating period to 7hrs over winter.
I have found that I actually run my enclosures a little hotter during winter but that has come around from breeding and watching the animals behaviour during the cooler seasons.
Thanks for your input Pauls_Pythons. I will certainly bring heating times down to 7 to 8 hours a day in the coming weeks. My aim is to be at that level early in June and run that way until late August. Would this be too long a period or not?
As said to sadji above, I will improve my heating setup by going with CHE and cage for protection of my snake in the very near future.
Thanks again for you time.
 
I heat most reptiles by providing a hot spot (with most snakes over 30C as mentioned above) and having most of the enclosure or at least a decent portion at room temperature. Unless you keep your house heated the natural drop in room temperature is all that is needed IMO.
 
I heat most reptiles by providing a hot spot (with most snakes over 30C as mentioned above) and having most of the enclosure or at least a decent portion at room temperature. Unless you keep your house heated the natural drop in room temperature is all that is needed IMO.
My house if no heated so ambient temperature will be the rule of thumb I guess :)
Anybody have some thoughts to how long Brumation may last in Brisbane area?
 
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