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Posted by Dean Alessandrin on September 30, 2002 at 07:48:38:
In Reply to: Fellow Drymarchon Keepers! I pose this*Question* to you.... posted by Fred Albury on September 29, 2002 at 13:35:48:
I have noticed the same kind of reaction, biting in the wrong place…biting at my hand instead of the rat dangling from it.
I’ve seen this in almost all colubrids I have kept to some extent though. The “hungier” they are, it seems the more likely this will happen.
Personally, I’ve always believed it was due to how different “hunting” in captivity is to hunting in the wild.
In the wild…they feel hunger…and decide to hunt.
They find a scent trail of a small animal, and gradually follow it. The scent trail gradually grows stronger, and the snake gets more excited they follow the direction the scent is strongest…and they are ready when the animal finally comes into view.
I captivity, the snake is laying there, possibly with no thought of feeding in his mind…then all of the sudden a rat is tossed in the cage, 2 inches from the snake. It’s “sensory overload”. There is no scent trail and all the snake knows is the smell is extremely strong EVERYWHERE around.
They begin FRANTICALLY biting in every direction hoping to nail the prey before it “gets away”
My 2 cents anyway.
For the record, the snakes in Florida that are being radio tracked are almost entirely diurnal, or crepuscular in the very hot weather. Almost all “foraging” type behavior seems to be conducted when there is daylight available, and they are inactive for the most part after dark.
Dean Alessandrini
GREAT AMERICAN SNAKE
"we come from the south eastern part of the midwest, the southern most part of the north, or the northernmost part of the south, depending on your viewpoint"
lol
