I understand the raised eyebrows. I would have been among you, thinking the same thing when hearing of symptoms, until a few weeks ago…

Randy, I'm sorry, but my recent searches are no longer finding my prior references. Days ago, I did many Yahoo searches on "Radiated Rat Snake, "Copperhead Racer" and the scientific name. I pored thru many links & references - way past Wikipedia and the usual ones.

I finally found 2-3 sources mentioning the clicking sounds, and one of feigning death. One site even mentioned that this previously unknown trait would be better documented in the future, but did not state how.

I'm aware that snakes can hiss at times, and how they can communicate. THIS IS DIFFERENT. I only experienced it once, when my male was excited and upset with me about ending Playtime and going back into his biome.

Relatively well behaved for a Radiated, at his worst he has only lightly nipped me once or twice previously, and never musks. On the recent occasion when I went to put him back into his biome, he began with a subtle hiss, but then I heard it: he CLICKED several times!

A Click is the best way to describe it. I heard it. So have others. One day, maybe you will, too.

At the Kingsnake forum years ago, a man named FR shared much insight with forum members. His years of herping near Prescott, AZ and other places gave him tremendous insight into reptile behavior. He found that they are often social creatures, some highly, and much more intelligent than previously believed.

I think that we have much to learn about Reptiles, and animals in general, and that the Clicking sound is just one more of those things. (It is even possible that several species of snakes can make sounds if they choose, but simply rarely choose to do so.)

Thanks for listening.

0.1 Lampropeltis getula californiae (Los Angeles County Coastal Banded morph)
1.0 Coelognathus radiata (captive-bred, Vietnam origin?)
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