As the weather begins to really change and we begin to get cool and down right cold nights I have to start bringing all my pets inside for the year. As long as the weather is warm I try to maintain all of my turtles, tortoises and some of my lizards in outdoor enclosures. You just can't beat it for getting good quality growth and psychological health in your herps. But, now I have to go through and re-evaluate who has out grown their winter digs from last year and make sure everyone has a nice warm place for the season. What winter preps do you have to attend too?
How does the onset of fall and winter effect your herp keeping?
- Thread starter RMorrow
- Start date
usually it doesnt as all of mine r inside. but i didnt realise how cold the weather had turned and unfortunately my heating wasnt working so i lost my new chile rose T :-(
That sucks. A few years ago a snow storm knocked out power for about an hour but it also blew the breaker in one of my animal buildings so the heat did not come back on with the electricity. I ended up losing 2.3 albino ball pythons. Luckily the other critters in there did much better.
Living in FL I have it easy for the winter. It is the summer that is brutal with my electricity bill because of having to use the AC and all of the lights in the enclosures. During winter the only source of heat that I need comes from the enclosures.
Fall is in full swing up here so my box turtles are out making test burrows. I keep them outdoors all year long so they hibernate in the winter and I see them again in the spring when it warms up.
I do the same with my Russian's. I did not start getting good breeding behavior until I started letting them hibernate. It is still hit or miss, though. I had a friend in Alabama that could breed anything, but he always had trouble with his Russian's and I think it was because he did not let them get cold enough for long enough.
Luckily my only two herps prefer cooler temps. My crested gecko is kept at room temp in my room year round. Then my tegu will be going into hibernation any week now I'm assuming since her metabolism slowed and she is only awake for a good 4 hours.
I know a lot of animals from higher latitudes need a cooling period to reset certain behaviors.
For example, Terrapene carolina carolina do very poorly in captivity if kept indoors and not given a cooling period.
For example, Terrapene carolina carolina do very poorly in captivity if kept indoors and not given a cooling period.