Posted by:
Jeff Clark
at Tue Aug 19 09:28:13 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Jeff Clark ]
Dave,
...Many snakes are identified by various different scale counts. Often the difference between two subspcies is determined by the numer of ventral scutes (tedious to count because it is several hundred in most snake species) or different numbers or arrangements of the head scales. For example Eastern Indigos are differentiated from Texas Indigos by the location of just one subocular scale that reaches the mouth line on one subspecies and not on the other. In some snakes including several of the Rainbow Boa subspecies the subspecific identification is based upon the number of scale rows at mid body. It is oftentimes easiest to make counts on shed skins because the scales on little snakes are so small and larger snakes can be difficult to restrain long enough to make counts. Making midbody scale counts I pick what looks like the approximate middle of the length of the snake and count going around in a spiral because the scales are arranged diagonally rather than side by side. After I get that first count I move several inches forward on the snake and count again and after that count move several inches aft of the first count and count again. The highest number is usually considered the best indicator of the midbody scale count.
...Many years ago I tried comparing the number of subcaudal scale rows on males versus females of three different subspecies of Rainbow Boas to see if that could be used to determine sex instead of probing or palpating. What I found after counting subcaudals on almost 100 Rainbow Boas was that as expected males numbered higher with their longer tails but there was just enough overlap in the data between males and females to make the method useless for accurate sexual identification.
Jeff
>>Stupid question maybe, but when people talk about scale count, where is the count done from? Ie which specific part of the snake. Jeff if possible, could you post pics, showing how you do the count? Surely im not the only one wondering about this. Cheers dave
>>-----
>>Dave
>>
>>2.2 Normal BRBs
>>2.1 Anery BRB
>>4.4 66% poss het anery BRB
>>2.5 66% poss het new european line hypo
>>1.1 het hypo BRB
>>
>>In the mail from the states
>>1.1 something special BRB
>>
>>aims to work out what all my 66% hets really are, and then go from there. Sky the limit, well maybe
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RE: Scale count help.... - Jeff Clark, Tue Aug 19 09:28:13 2008