[Zephyr]

Well, normally wild snakes around here are in brumation from Late October to November. This includes easterns and butler's. Further north there are parietalis, which I'm sure undergo a much harsher and longer winter. I think that we may actually be cheating our snakes if we keep them in brumation for under 4 months. It's unnatural for most species to experience a four month winter; especially easterns. So I believe that by replicating the natural cycle I'm doing a lot more for my snakes. Of course if I see anything going wrong I'd pull the snake out of brumation gradually, but if not I'd be sure that my stock is 100% healthy and capable of surviving almost anything. I understand that this isn't the wild, but when you make captivity too far from the real thing, it can have detrimental effects on the captives. (For example, iguanas being fed on canned foods as opposed to fresh greens.)