Brumation Questions

Colubrids Western Hognose
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Hello everyone again!!

I have a couple questions about brumation as a new snake owner

Norman’s been doing okay for all I know. He ate the once and then has now gone off food again. It’s colder here in Louisiana now that it’s mid November so I’m wondering if he’s just brumating?

He’s not been as active in his tank like he normally is, and at one point I was worried he had escaped his tank, So we dug around and scared both me and my mom and Norman :sob: he was pretty deep in his substrate so I’m wondering if it’s just cold and he’s brumating now that it’s November

His heat is the same as always like around 87-88F in his basking spot and like mid 70s on the cool side. Should I be worried or just let him be?

He’s also from last weigh in like tiny. Only aboht 20ish (probs more now that he’s eaten something) grams at one year old, should that be worrying too??

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Your temp may be a little too low on the hot side. I keep my hot side around 90%……:blush:

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I had them at like 91 or so but I think I read somewhere to keep it on the low side of 90s and turned it down to like 88, but I’m thinking now that it’s colder in my room that I’ll up the heat a little more to keep them a little hotter for him if that makes sense.

My temperature gauge gets off by like 2 degrees sometimes so I turned it down to be sure that it wasn’t tooo hot

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Ok. I think even a degree or two can make a difference because from what you’ve described it sounds like he might be trying to brumate…… :thinking:

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Hey! Updating time

I still haven’t seen Norman and it’s still pretty cool/cold here so I’m assuming he’s in brumation completely. Is it recommended to just leave them alone now? I normally like rearrange his furniture to give him more enrichment once a month and like spot clean/do a 30% change of substrate so it’s all fresh but I don’t wanna disturb him if he’s in brumation?

I haven’t seen him drink any water or anything but I’ve been keeping it filled just in case he wants some. How long does brumation last?? Iirc it’s like January or February? I’m a little worried because his weight when we stopped seeing him was still pretty low (like 21g) but he’d refused eating for a month and had eaten a meal right before he stopped coming up to bask.

I don’t think he’s escaped and there’s not like an odor to suggest he’s passed (do snakes smell when they are deceased ??) so ??

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