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Posted by Dr. Phil on April 05, 2002 at 20:50:40:
In Reply to: Have I got a BIG spoon to stir this pot.... posted by Doug T on April 04, 2002 at 23:21:47:
Reading of the way you keep your animals on the extra cool side for most of their breeding season, I can't help but wonder how much time they spend basking while the lights are on. You use spots for both illumination and localized heat source for the snakes, or just fluorescents for lighting only?
Also, I too know very well that the species also uses natural refuges other than tortoise burrows in their wild haunts, as a quick look at the respective ranges of the two species makes it clear that they are not a perfect match, the indigos often occuring where the trotoises don't. In these habitats they certainly must make use of various other abandonned mammalian den sites and other underground cavities. It just happens that the most abundant and also deepest ones in most of their range is excavated by the tortoises, so it just makes sense that they would use those more often. After all, couperis are far from being the only Drymarchon that are fond of setting up residence in holes in the ground. I understand the erebennus has this habit as well, and they don't have any tortoises around their habitat that dig deep holes all over the map. They mostly use abandonned mammal burrows in Texas. There is even a saying in the rural parts of the Lone Star State that the reason they are called indigos is that "when they see a hole, in-dey-go".
So the tortoise holes are optional of course, but probably the best "real estate" around for the South-Eastern indigos, hence the reason they are so often associated with them.
I'm also sure that around breeding time in the wild, the males in particular must be roaming their home ranges all the time in search of receptive females, so therefore must spend a lot of time above ground exposed to wide fluctuations in temperature. I've once seem an article in National Geographic where poachers would look for them in the tangled root systems of large banyans trees in Florida. But I continue to think that females must be somewhat more sedentary at this time of year than males, and so tend to stay "indoors" a lot more than the males do, just waiting for mister right to come right in the front door for a visit.
Another aspect of their breeding habits in the wild I have strong feelings about is that each female probably has a habitual laying site that they return to year after year to lay their eggs at the same place, like an abandoned tortoise (think I have a fixation or what?) burrow or other underground retreat. A great many other species of snakes do exactly this, and many also use communal nesting where ideal laying spots are at a premium.
One of the reasons no one has ever found a nest might be that they just shoot down to the bottom of an old favorite burrow, dump their load and then just pile up some sand from the sloped tunnel floor on top of the batch to hide them from predators. They could repeat the task year after year and have enough burrow length to last them a lifetime of laying, piling up one batch on top of the last from one year to the next. This could also explain why no egg remnants have ever been found either as they would of course stay burried under the sand at the bottom.
Boy, I can't wait for the KSC research team to find the first nest sites so I can stop racking my brain over this!.....
As for every one having success using widely different approches, I tend to look at it from an entirely different angle, as i have stated before. It makes just plain sense to reason that all the successful breeders all share a common denominator, but also that each one happens to tack on other parameters that they judge to be either essential or very useful, but that are in fact neither but merely tolerated by the snakes without significant ill effect on the whole breeding process. Let us recap here:
>Barometric pressure; at least one breeder does well in the (relatively) dry season in his area, and at least another has no discernable variation year round.
>photoperiod: everybody has matings somewhere between November and early March. And all eggs are laid during the first 4 months of the year with few exceptions. It's safe to say this is a constant.
>Significant night time cooling and cooling in general: Two breeders always get matings well above the high 60s, so that seems optional. (I would bet at least a fifty that your guys would eventually do it if you waited a few more weeks into the new year Doug!At least! Maybe you and Fred should trade a female one year to see...)
So the one thing that looks like a potential common denominator is that no one seems to expose their animals to temps over the high 70s for any lenght of time. The only blurry detail that would need to be made more precise here though is the body temps the snakes reach while they are basking, for those breeders out there that use heating spots. Any ideas guys?
Dr. Phil
