In Response to this question:

Twin Raven 23 hours ago
What about brumation in snakes? I know it's usually a given if you are breeding but what about with the average pet snake that will never be bred? Are there significant health benefits to be had by putting your snake into brumation? If I think of the Russian ratsnake, its metabolism runs at a million miles an hour but natural it can be in brumation for 4 months or so a year. In captivity, when not brumated, it would have no "slow down" time so would this not have negative impacts on its long term health such as reduced lifespan??

Ok so before everyone runs out to buy a second hand fridge to brumate their emerald tree boa let’s just slow down!!!. This, potentially is a dangerous subject that could have people causing themselves all sorts of problems. Part of the reason we decided we could cover this subject is that people now have the better part of a year to plan an research whether brumation is something they would want to attempt.
Ok so occasionally hatchling and neonatal animals from harsh climes will benefit from brumation to aid in regulating appetite. An in built body clock guides their fasting periods anyway. Many species from either northern regions, high altitudes or both may have to brumate prior to establishing on food. The result is a superb appetite the following spring. Alternatively some people will fight with their snake to get them feeding over the cooler months. (See Dione’s Rat Snake, Dice Snake etc)
Other species do just fine up until their ‘loins’ start kicking in and then a spanner gets thrown in the works (see royal pythons)
Other species seem to not be bothered too much about slowing down, maybe as a result of how many generation deep we are into captive breeding (see Leopard Gecko) but this comes at a potential cost. A year spent storing fats in preparation for a winter that never comes, this can only really spell trouble. We don’t always react as we are conditioned to be ‘feeders’ by society. A healthy animal is a chunky animal etc. Could we be killing our pets with kindness, would longevity be positively affected by enforced brumation of species that would cycle in the wild even if our primary driver is not the reproduction of the species but merely a weight control technique?
Bearded Dragons occur from South Eastern Northern territory right down to the South Coast of South Australia. Those Southern regions are most definitely going to have a noticeable winter period. We get customers like clockwork every year saying ‘he/she’s sulking at the cold end again’. Would we be doing our Beardies more of a favour by manipulating day time high / nighttime low and photoperiod to construct a controlled winter period?
Obesity is an issue, with many groups of reptile. Tortoises for example store all year ready for a cool down for it not to come, those fats don’t get used we just store more and more of them. This has a damaging affect to quality of life and longevity.
Many snakes are overfed, in fact they are chronically overfed, particularly the giant pythons and Boa Constrictors. Because of country of origin in those cases elongated deep brumation is not possible and just a more common sense approach to feeding animals should be used. Ideally don’t be a dick head (this usually helps enormously).
Savannah Monitors or Bosc Monitors it is proposed by Daniel Bennett (per comms) should undergo a protracted aestivation process (the opposite of brumation) that would see them fall to single digit body fat numbers to aid longevity. The single biggest killer of the taxa being renal failure associated with obesity.
This is not a one size fits all subject and people should have a clear understanding of their species country of origin and whether it is appropriate or even damaging to try brumation on their animals. Some people prefer management throughout the year, others find their animals feed better and have better muscle tone because of this. Others obviously also find their animals will not reproduce without it (breeding being the single biggest driver of this technique)
Consider carefully and be safe

Chaz and Paul