Posted by:
Jeff Clark
at Fri Jun 1 20:27:34 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Jeff Clark ]
Frank,
..It very well could be that you have it right. Perhap they do not go out of hiding while opaque and do not pass a stool in their hiding place because the smell could alert a preadtor to their presence. On the other hand. Have you considered the possibility that the passage of digested food thru their gut is somewhat slowed down while they are opaque and inactive? As soon as they start moving and working to shed they also start the peristaltic muscle contractions which move feces along. This idea fits right in as a logical answer for why our snakes make a mess right after we put them back into a cleaned cage.
Jeff
>>As some of you may have noticed. I ask a lot of nerdy questions of my peers. To elaborate as to why, I
>>learn more from people such as yourselves than most textbooks can teach me. Having said that please, " don't be stingy with your love "Can not find any Herpetologists hypothesis and or theories on this matter, but I do have one of my own.Most of us have a general idea of how many days will pass before their snake's pass a " bowel movement". in direct correlation to their food intake.
>>
>>Explanation and actual question to follow :
>>
>>Said Snake eats, digests, and passes byproducts thereof, is equal to, lets say, 7 days for argument sake.
>>But, if the feeding occurs around the time the snake turns opaque . The snake will most times not pass a
>>bowel movement until after or during (most times) the act of molting. With many more than seven days
>>passing. BTW in this example, there will be no difference in prey type or size, in ambient, and or Hot spot temperatures to possibly influence the digestive process. So ordinary digestion at a certain temp takes 7 days. If the snake goes blue shortly thereafter ( eating ), the amount of time to pass will be lets say 14 days , not the typical 7 days even with the exact same environmental conditions present.
>>
>>Why is this?
>>
>>My Hypothesis:
>>
>>I believe, since snakes usually hide under some type of cover until they shed, the byproducts are "held back" so the snake does not "reveal" itself to a potential predator. ( why I believe some snakes also eat their unfertilized ovum) . After all, they are somewhat blind and or their vision is inhibited throughout most of the ecdysis process. Which explains at least one of the reasons they seek "cover" during this process, other reasons could include things relating to humidity levels which also aid completion of the process.
>>
>>A little "anthropomorphism" - Don't Crap where you eat and or sleep.
>>
>>I believe it's an innate "inherited survival trait" to help combat predation. They are most certainly not taught this "behavior" ( not exactly the right word, "survival mechanism" perhaps, hummm not sure it is a "survival mechanism" we are talking about here ) from their parents and or other snakes in their environment.
>>
>>Thoughts on this being a innate "survival mechanism" ?
>>
>>Possible other reasons relating to the physiological changes the snake goes through during the ecdysis process ?
>>
>>Other reasons why the ecdysis process may inhibit bowel movements of the "already digested" prey ?
>>
>>Concise version for bob...
>>
>>Why my snake no poop?
>>
>>PS I wrote this on a word processor email prog, hence the spaces, It took long enough to write this post, so I am not gunna fix that, it is still legible.
>>
>>-----
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Frank Roberts
>>Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research
>>
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RE: general snake question..... - Jeff Clark, Fri Jun 1 20:27:34 2007