winter preparations?

[Linnea]

Its very cold here in winter from late october to february, will Litchie brumate?

my room temps can go down to 14 C at night during november/december/january so i will see how to solve that to keep temps at a little higher, 18C sound good?
of course the basking spot will have its usual 32-35 C

do i need to give him more food now, or just normal food portions?

do they weight less after brumation?

[reaperreptiles]

you really dont have to worry about brumating unless your planning on breeding, and even then, according to James, brumating is still not necessary. Sometimes they will still go into brumation regardless of your husbandry by sensing the changing in the seasons.

[Linnea]

ok

[Coomassie]

You may find that your skink will sleep more anyway. Coomassie did that last year. I offered food but he ate a lot less. I didn't turn my temps down but I'm sure because my apt was colder, his tank was a little cooler. His basking spot stayed about the same but the cool end of the tank was a few degrees cooler.

[James Wilson]

Many BTS and other reptiles will brumate on their own, even if you are trying to keep them "up" and you do not lower their temps. Often they become a little less active, and they go off food. Sometimes this behavior is hard to spot because it is not unusual for bts to go on self imposed diets for reasons that can be discussed in another thread. However, if you do notice the behavior, then you may want to give your skink a reduced photo period, and a slight drop in temps. After a few weeks, if the skink is a male, he will most likely start droping seminal plugs every day. Not long after that, he may get very restless. This is classic behavior of a male that is ready and more than willing to breed. Here are some more thoughts on the subject from my previous writings:

Most people agree that Blue-tongued Skinks reproductive cycles are directly connected to the seasonal changes they experience in the wild. As a result, many "experts" are under the impression that Blue-tongued skinks need to be subjected to some kind of cooling period in order for them to breed. This cooling period has always been what is believed to stimulate courtship behaviour, and many keepers try to duplicate the temperatures that the particular species or subspecies would experience in the wild. All of this may be true at times, but I am finding out that "cooling" is not as necessary as it was once thought to be (see the bottom paragraph update note bleow), and that there are other seasonal changes (photo period, berametric preasure, and rain) that I feel have as large an impact on the Blue-tongued skink's reproductive behavior (if not larger). However, if you are going to cool your skinks, here are some guidelines that I have used in the past.

Before cooling your Blue-tongued Skinks, it is important to make sure that their digestive tracts are cleared of any undigested food that could putrefy in the skink's stomach. This can be accomplished simply by taking your skinks off of food 1-2 weeks prior to cooling. I usually start cooling my skinks in the beginning of November. In addition to cooling, I also shorten the photo-period to between 6-8 hours depending on the species. During the cooling period the skinks should not be offered food of any kind. However, water should be available at all times. These winter conditions should be continued for 2-3 months, and should cause the skinks to enter into a state of inactivity. It is important to monitor your skinks closely throughout the entire process, making sure that they display no signs of respiratory disease or any other abnormalities. Only healthy sexually mature skinks with plenty of fat reserves should be a considered for cooling and or breeding.

Blue-tongues from the colder southern regions such as the Eastern, Blotched, and Western Blue-tongued Skinks can be cooled to 65-75 degrees in the day and 60-65 degrees at night. Tropical species such as the Irian Jaya, Tanimbar, and Indonesian Blue-tongued Skinks should be given only the slightest reduction in temps if any at all. If you do cool the tropical species, I would recommend 75-80 degrees in the day and 70-75 degrees at night. I cool my sub-tropical Northern blue-tongues down to 75-80 in the day, and 65 to 70 at night. There are reports of breeding some of the tropical and sub-tropical species that have not been cooled or had their captive environments altered in any way. It is thought that the natural changes in the photo-period, temperature, and berametric pressure outside of the skinks enclosure may be all that is needed to stimulate these tropical species to breed (see the bottom paragraph update note bleow).

UPDATE: I have personally bred subtropical Northern Blue-tongued Skinks, Temperate Whitewater Rosy Boas, and Tropical Common Boa Constrictors without any cooling at all. I am personally do not agree with cooling tropical species at all. My Common Boa Constrictors (Boa constrictor imperator) produced 32 babies with no slugs while being kept at a constant 82 degrees throughout the entire year. I firmly believe that tropical reptile species breed inspite of cooling, not because of it. This is also true for sub-tropical species such as the Northern Blue-Tongue Skink (Tiliqua scincoides intermedia) which do not experience temps in the wild that are near as low as what many keepers subject them to in their breeding efforts. This has even proven true for some temperate species such as the Whitewater Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata) which experience scorching hot summers and freezing winters in their natural range, yet I have still had young males, that I had no plans on breeding or cooling, cycle themselves and breed with no changes to their temps. So there you have it. Three different species from three different climate zones in three different parts of the world, all breeding with no cooling period at all.