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decrease lifespan???
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by canyonerro on November 19, 2006
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i have no desire to breed my snakes, so i don't initiate brumation. i was wondering if this would lessen their lifespan due to 1) not being natural for the snakes and 2) the extra "wear and tear" a few months each year that would normally be spent resting comfortably with a slowed down metabolism.
thank you
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RE: decrease lifespan???
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by Cro on November 19, 2006
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Troy, although it is natural for some snakes to want to slow down during the winter months, many adapt fairly well to being kept at normal temperatures year round.
A good example is many of the Zoos around the country where animals are kept on display all year long.
Many of these Zoos have longivity records for many species.
You might want to turn the temperatures down some during the winter months, and adjust the photoperiod to match the shorted days of winter. And do not be surprised if the snakes eat a lot less during the winter months.
I do not think that doing this will hurt the life span of the snakes very much. What seems to hurt life spans the most is when folks "push" snakes up to breeding size with excessive feeding and excessively high temperatures.
Hope this helps.
Best Regards JohnZ
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RE: decrease lifespan???
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by kacz on November 19, 2006
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Is there any hard evidence that brumation means greater longevity? Brumation is a response to adverse environmental conditions, with internal triggers as well. The changes in metabolism may add their own stress to the animal. There are so many variables to be considered in forming a valid argument on this question. It does seem as if it should be true, but a snake is not a quart of milk. Most of the stuff that I have read is based on arguable “common sense” or very limited empirical observations. Perhaps year-around good husbandry is more responsible for longevity.
Paul M. Kaczmarczik
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RE: decrease lifespan???
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by ALA_snake33 on November 19, 2006
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As for Brumation having anything to do with the Life Span of Tempered Climate Specimens, I have seen no Proof. I would tend to think it would possibly shorten the Life Span of the Snake, especially during very Cold Years. Now I could be wrong here, but I think it could cause Cell Damage in a Snake that dose not go far enough under ground, to completely escape the Frost Line.
John: do you think these could be true, or am I just throwing Darts at a Empty Wall? I mean if you look at it, this could be the cause of some population drops in colder areas of the US “You think”?
Be Safe Ya’ll, Happy Herping : Wally
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RE: decrease lifespan???
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by Atrox788 on November 20, 2006
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I tend to lean to the oppisite of Wally. If you check longevity records for wild animals almost all of the top contenders come from extrealy cold areas. Vipera Berus, Chaple Island Black tigersnakes (my taxonomy of Notechis is off, leave me alone :p), C.horridus, A.c.mokasen etc. All have been know to live 30 yrs plus in the wild or atleast questimated. The Chaple Island Tigers are thought to have some specimens 60 yrs old +.
Its kind like compareing a humming bird to a tortise. Sure, the humming bird lives for 1-3 yrs and the tort for upwqards of 100 but if you take the amount of times that humming bird's heat beat in its life time and compare you will see a similarity. Since these snakes spend so much time in hibernation Id imaginbe the same hold true to some extent.
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RE: decrease lifespan???
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by Cro on November 20, 2006
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This is a very interesting topic, and I am not sure how much formal research has been done as we are talking about monitoring a large number of animals for many, many years.
On the one hand, an animal that is in a deep state of hibernation / brumation is for the most part "not aging" or not aging very much. There are studys that show that humans can greatly increase their life spans if they practice Caloric Restriction and live in reduced temperatures. There seems to be some kind of built in mechanism in cells that limits the number of times a cell can devide during a host animals life before it is unable to do so anymore. This causes aging and eventually death in the animal. So in an snake that is brumating, the cell division is greatly slowed down, so it will reach the maxinum number of cell divisions at a later date.
However, the harsh enviornment of areas where snakes like vipers live probably shortens the "overall lifespan" of the population due to some snakes not hibernating deep enough to avoid frost, and the scarcity of food in the places these snakes choose to live. Perhaps some individuals live a long, long time, but as a whole, I am not sure that every viper lives a long life. Look at folks like the Inuit Eskimo Indians. Due to the harsh enviornment, many adults dont make it much past their 40`s or 50`s.
But then we also have animals like Crocodiles and Elephants, both with much faster heart beats than a Galapagos Turtle, one is a cold blooded animal and the other is a warm blooded animal, and both have the ability to live 60 or 70 years, or more. And these are generally animals that live in warm climates.
I will try to research and see if any formal study has been done on snake longivity due to brumation vs nonbrumation.
It will be interesting to see what else others add to this topic.
Best Regards JohnZ
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