Yeah, I've noticed this as well. I wonder why or what pre-dispositions animals in a given population (of the same species and sub-species) to prefer certain prey items compared to the same species/sub-species in another location. Do you think that there is a certain genetic trigger that is specific to that group? Or is it possible that whatever prey item is the most common in that area ususally ends up as their first meal and thus triggers a preference for that prey item going forward (but that wouldn't explain why hatchlings hold out for specific prey as their first meals? You would think that mother nature would gear baby snakes to eat whatever they can get thier little mouths on to ensure survival.......but I guess she knows best 8^)



I would love to see a study done on feeding preferences for neonate snakes and what is the determining factor for prey selection.....smell, size, shape, texture, temperature of the prey item etc....take one species and perhaps have a statistical pareto for item selection. It would be hard to truly quantify but interesting to think about...Obviously smell/taste is considered the #1 sensory used for selection....but I wonder how the others might come into play? Anyway it's late and I'm rambling.....

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