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Posted by dan felice on October 10, 2002 at 13:19:57:
In Reply to: Let's put our thinking caps on. posted by A.C. on October 10, 2002 at 00:42:16:
:Here is a question by one of my college prof's that got me thinking. This was in response to my detailing of the trials and tribulations ass. with indigo breeding. Here are some questions for those with answers. Great brain candy!
:1. What is the biological advantage of a male indigo ripping apart his female mate to the point where she is dead or near death? How does this help the spp?
:2.Are there any valid reports of this occurrence in the wild?
:3. Have we, captive breeders, bred these snakes like pitbulls with the meanest snakes siring our females to produce a meaner and meaner generation of males?
:We can certainly see sexual dimorphism. Basically in layman's terms, males are bigger in x species because x females only mate with the biggest strongest males. This makes the next generation of males evern larger and so on. We see this in humans (can be linked to ancient ancestry), couperi, birds like boat tailed grackles, and many more.
:Do I know these answers? No. However, I would love to see what everyone thinks on the issue.
ac, i believe that theory to be totally overblown. i've kept 1.2 unicolors together in the same [8' x 2'] cage for going on 3 years now. the male is massive compared to the females, they breed and produce every year and they don't have so much as a scratch on them. if anything.....i'd have to say the male is sort of henpecked. i've seen the girls steal food right out from under his nose and all he does is look at me as if to say,'throw me another one'. same deal w/ my yt's. except for a brief separation this summer, they have been housed and fed together w/ no problems whatsoever. i always watch them closely until all the food is gone however just to be safe. i should note that i always make sure the largest get fed first and so on down the line. the only 'violence' i've ever witnessed is when the males chase the females around in the fall....the actual matings are only evidenced by the hide moving around a little. nothing more dramatic than that. i have seen adult males fight in breeding season and it's not pretty and should be discouraged but as far as MY males harming their mates...when pigs fly. not gonna happen.
