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Posted by chrish on March 25, 2003 at 01:35:27:
In Reply to: Competition and digestive clarification.... posted by Jeff Schofield on March 24, 2003 at 18:35:33:
Large snakes are not, in general, snake eaters. There are a few that are, but many are not.
Consider other big snakes
Retics - warm blooded prey (rodents, birds, monkeys)
anacondas - generalists (fish, reptiles, mammals)
King Cobras - snake specialists
Rock Pythons - mostly mammals
There is no correlation between adult size and snake eating, so it isn't a matter of efficiency.
While Kingsnakes do eat snakes, they certainly aren't snake specialists (in my view). Depending on the locale, some populations are snake eaters, others are rodent eaters, lizard eaters, etc (there are even pops suspected to survive largely on eating turtle eggs!). Same is true of indigos, although they may even be more of a generalist.
There are snake specialists (many elapids, African File Snakes, etc). These species often feed only on snakes and they aren't necessarily big species either.
I just don't see any evidence to support the idea that snakes that feed on snakes will get larger. I think the genetic makeup of the individual and the population will be the determining factor assuming they get enough of any type of food.
