Posted by:
FR
at Fri May 24 22:02:31 2013 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by FR ]
Gerold is a very good guy, but hes not the snakes.
I try to help you because you seem to care and take very good care of your animals.
As such, it should be based on the animals and not Gerold or I, we are a start to get you going, to get you thinking and testing, not follow X instructions.
Once you see good nesting, its very hard to not support it all the time. All I ask is to try, once you see improvement, you will keep trying to improve it until theres no more improvement.
As I mentioned, one day after shed is possible, but between one and five days is normal.
I have been pushing this on the hog forum and one keeper had a hog nest successfully 12 hours after her shed. And he only moved to good nesting a tiny bit. Like five inches of substrate instead of 12 or more.
Whats funny is, the main species I worked on nesting with was pyros.
Pyros nest in. In the ground and sometimes in crevices that go into the ground. The area I took Gerold, there are three nesting areas. All three are communial nests. In some areas they do that, in other areas they don't.
How do I find nests, I work my arse off looking. Then get lucky. normally I start by finding neonate sheds. If you find four or five sheds in one spot, the nest is close by. I do not molest the nests or touch them. I do cheat a little, on occasion I place flat rocks by the exit, and find the neonates under those rocks when they emerge. They do use the same spot year after year.
Once you find a nesting area, you logically figure out the steps and look for those steps. One nesting area has a crevice where the females go. I watch them go into shed and come out and watched them go down. Not all nesting areas are good teaching areas.
I have nesting areas in at leash three different mountian ranges. In each range, they nest differently, yet exactly the same. They utilize the normal basic nesting types many colubrids use. In dirt burrows, holes with a roof, underground structure of some type and underground crevices. All common colubrid approaches.
Of course to find nesting, you have to know what the local pyros are doing, winter, summer, spring, etc. Which takes patience and not touching.
I worked a pit tag study for 18years and several observation studies. When you intrude on the animals, your hindering what you learn. While its easy to follow radio tagged individuals, you mainly follow them running from you. When I do not touch resident animals, they return to the same places year after year, day after day, you do not need to track them, you follow their routines.
Some reptiles on my property, I use particpant observation.
I have been watching ONE INDIVIDUAL pair of gilas, they have stayed in the exact same place for 34 years, to the inch. Of course i watch many many pair.
Most colubrid populations seem to average 5 to 8 years then disappear. Crots much longer and gilas live forever.
When working in this area behavior, I suggest googling up, some terms. First, ethology, as that is what we are doing, NOT BIOLOGY. also google up, naturalistic observation. That explains how there is a relationship between captivity and nature.
In the past biological science, has gone goofy and lost its mind, or at least its direction. Science forgot all about ethology and how that works. Biologists are often out of their wheel house and have no concept of behavior. Just the simple fact that many biologist think there is no behavioral effect when surgically implanting a radio and closely following the animals, WITH NO PERIOD OF HEALING. Like the next day, that is absurd in all areas of science. Sadly its why so little is known about reptile behavior. But times are changing thank goodness.
THanks and congrats of taking such good care of your animals.
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RE: First Pyro Clutch of 2013 - FR, Fri May 24 22:02:31 2013