Posted by:
HerperHelmz
at Thu Nov 18 18:29:36 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by HerperHelmz ]
I obtained a little neonate regal from John in August, the snake reguarly fed on small garter snakes and brown snakes. One day, I dropped a little shorthead garter in with it, the regal followed it's scent trail and caught up to only about 3 mins after I put it in, biting the garter about an inch above the vent. The garter kept moving, so the regal started wrapping itself around it, loop by loop went over the garter's body and I watched as the regal squeezed. This is the first I have ever heard of a regal using constriction, and the little regal constricted the garter just as a kingsnake would constrict a mouse. The regal did this one other time, and the loops always started going around when the regal bite prey around the vent, and the prey kept moving.
With northern ringnecks(edwardsii), I have found that when feeding my 20 inch female, 8 times out of 10 she would fully constrict salamandrid prey. She would approach one, bite it on the neck and immediately wrap around it(you'd think that a kingsnake was eating w/ this constriction). I had a few other northerns do the same, but not with any frequency that "Giant" did it.
I have had northerns prey on snakes, mainly neonates, the venom of a 14 inch northern ringneck male will take more than 15 mins to be effective against a shorthead garter snake neonate that is only 4 inches long. The male will only take on snakes that were less than 2 weeks old, and it will gladly take down 10 snakes a week if the babies are in it's enclosure(it's happened).
Michael's Place
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Michael_Fedzen@hotmail.com
www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
 
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RE: I've observed this w/ regal constriction..... - HerperHelmz, Thu Nov 18 18:29:36 2004