I'm just wondering how many degrees is necessary to stimulate some good follicular development in the females.

I'm shooting for at least 10 degrees in drop this season.

I did no night time drop this past season. Out of 18 girls bred, 11 became gravid. One girl slugged out and I got a couple of more slugs here and there. This season I am going to lower my heat tape to 85 night/day which is a 7 degree drop. My room doesn't get below 76 here in central FL. I am hoping to up my percentage of gravid females and lower the slug count. JP

That's a good question...The ol night time drop is the only thing I'm going to do a little different this year...From Nov. 1st to Jan 1st - I'm just going to turn my heat off at night...My basement gets pretty chilly - Around 68F - 70F at night - Maybe a little cooler...I'll plug the heat back up during the day but only to around 82F - 85F...After Jan 1st - It gets too cold at night so I'll set my night time temps at 70F...Tell will tell -

Im a true believer in trying new things every year. I had a bright idea after hearing that the barkers dont drop temps. I really think you have to judge your natural drop of ambients. If you get a substantial drop like BT it the basement of kentucky you may be fine. If you live in florida a complete no heat during the night may be better. I live in Northern Calif and it does get in the twenties a few days but the winters are mild . I regreted not lowering temps last season and will be droping my heat tape from 95 during the day to 12 hours at 80. I will be controlling ambients better this season by shutting down the central heat for the room and controlling it with a thermostat and radiant heater and kept at 70 . In their natural habitat they never see these temp swings and still breed but I believe they become acclamated to their surroundings . In a nutshell from prior years of tweeking the temps I believe a night drop of atleast 10-20 percent minimum from their usual temps is the better choice for follicular development by our experimentation and outcome . Im no Ralph Davis but I have played with temps and kept good records and the outcome was obvious. I try something outside the box every season just to see the results positive or negative. This year just to see if it can be done I will be trying to breed a few females in 28 qt tubs. Im sure the issue will be trying to mantain a gradient but will be using 4 in tape to decrease the overall surface area. This year I also stopped feeding large meals and found they feed more consistently than when Ifed large meals. Weeekly feedings of small-med live rats has worked well and very few have gone off feed.

I've stopped dropping the temp on the heat -- instead I've been cracking the window in the snake room at night and let the ambient drop instead - seems to be working well. But in the OC we don't get freezing temps or anything - I don't think I'd be cracking the window with 3 feet of snow under it :D

I will never drop temps. Just me though, I'd rather miss on a clutch then get ri's. Not saying anyone is wrong again this is just my opinion!

yea Jas.....your a luckey sob. i stll trop my temps a few degres in the snake barn and on the racks ....like jas says '' know your snaks and they will tell you what they want ''

I believe it is more in the way you keep them than temps! Drafts are a bitch! Watch those open top racks! I still use melamine racks and love them......

I'm just wondering how many degrees is necessary to stimulate some good follicular development in the females.

I'm shooting for at least 10 degrees in drop this season.

Not dropping the temps on the thermostat at all. Will let the ambient temps in the herp room itself dip down to between 70-75. That is pretty much it.

If you look at the weather patterns in Central Africa there is really very little temp or light change between Summer and Winter. I think barometric pressure has a lot more to do with it than temps and hours of daylight.

I drop 10 degrees.

I do not do a night time temp drop. I do get a natural night time drop due to my snake room is on an exterier wall. But that is it.

I drop from 95 to 84.

I have never dropped temps either. My snake room stays at about 85. Once winter gets here. It stays 85 during the day then at night drops to around 75. The room cools down enough that I dont have to touch the thermostats.

Not dropping the temps on the thermostat at all. Will let the ambient temps in the herp room itself dip down to between 70-75. That is pretty much it.

If you look at the weather patterns in Central Africa there is really very little temp or light change between Summer and Winter. I think barometric pressure has a lot more to do with it than temps and hours of daylight.




ding ding ding!...winnar!
I agree man..it's all about those strom fronts and the low air pressure that seems to come with the coldest part of winter anyway.

...but keeping them to hot could cause slugs n duds too.