Posted by:
FR
at Sat Jan 19 07:53:42 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by FR ]
Let me clarify this. You said, THEY ARE HIBERNATING BY CHOICE.
At 55F. Sir, what gives you that idea that 55F causes them to hibernate?
I have said this many times, on our field studies, we have commonly found snakes out and active at temps BELOW 55F. With boas and pythons, I have found many species and many numbers VERY ACTIVE at temps in the 50's to 60's, in fact some boas and pythons are commonly active at those temps and not at temps above those.
The problem for most herpers and having them commonly finding this is, They do not look where snakes live, they look where snakes go. They look where snakes go to raise their temps, as in AC or crossing roads. Both of which are NOT where snakes live. Once you understand and fine where snakes live SPEND THEIR NON ACTIVE TIME, you can then determine what snakes actually do.
Most snakes spend most of their lives underground, but once you find where that is, they will commonly come out in all but the most adverse conditions, ALL WINTER. But this is restricted to a very small area.
MOST SNAKE SPECIES, pick very cool temps 50's to 60's, year-a-round, when they are not digesting food, incubating embryos or eggs, shedding their skin or healing wounds. But when any of these occur, they then go to heat to finish the task. As you mentioned.
In some cases, I had such healthy snakes, that they could consume food, digest it and never need temps above 60f. Unfortunately, most could not. Consider when judging health, the individuals that are the most versitile, are the most healthy. Not the ones with the least ability. Consider, Health IS the abilities to perform successfully in the widest varity of conditions, not the narrowest. After that difinition, every other discription of health is only manmade BS.
Which leads back to you thinking 55F is hibernating. As I mentioned, finding pythons crossing the road at 55F must mean that they were hibernating in the road. Or finding colubrids out crawling at 55F means they are hibernating out crawling around.
One day on our field site, in the winter, my partner found three seperate Ridgenosed rattlesnakes, coiled in the open, in the shade, IN THE MOURNING(which means after a very cold night, low teens) at air temps in the forties. ME, you ask what was I doing, I was looking in the sunny warm spots. Hmmmmmmmmm I learned a lesson that day.
So yes, i lieu of my experience, both in captivity and in the field, I think the use of hibernation and the understanding of hibernation is indeed STUPID. Again, igorance is when a person is not aware and makes a mistake. Stupid, is after a person becomes aware and then makes the same mistake.
Where stupidity and ignorance concerned with this subject is, using terms that do not fit the animal or what the animal is doing.
And yes there is more to this, but one must have to ability to ask the right questions in order to understand the answers. Cheers
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RE: Without finishing your post, may I - FR, Sat Jan 19 07:53:42 2008