General Breeding Questions

[Greg'sGarters]

Since this is a flame, I am assuming that we are talking about an eastern, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis. And please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that in the majority of the Eastern's range, it gets down to brumating temperatures. So is it NECESSARY? No but it sure does help.

[d_virginiana]

Since this is a flame, I am assuming that we are talking about an eastern, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis. And please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that in the majority of the Eastern's range, it gets down to brumating temperatures. So is it NECESSARY? No but it sure does help.

Yes, all of my babies are Easterns. My point was that if not brumating caused a 20X reduction in litter survival/size then Florida would not have the nice healthy garter population that it does. I'm not saying brumation is not conducive to mating; it certainly is. It's just that I have not heard anything about it causing drastically increased production of ova and sperm, nor have I heard of a 20X increase in litter productivity anywhere else.
If there is evidence for those things I would be interested to read it/hear the experiences. Because saying those things is very different from just saying that brumation increases the likelihood of successful mating.

[Greg'sGarters]

Yes, all of my babies are Easterns. My point was that if not brumating caused a 20X reduction in litter survival/size then Florida would not have the nice healthy garter population that it does. I'm not saying brumation is not conducive to mating; it certainly is. It's just that I have not heard anything about it causing drastically increased production of ova and sperm, nor have I heard of a 20X increase in litter productivity anywhere else.
If there is evidence for those things I would be interested to read it/hear the experiences. Because saying those things is very different from just saying that brumation increases the likelihood of successful mating.

That was a mistake, I meant that you would just have a greater chance if you did indeed brumate.