Snakes need heat for digestion, not necessarily for feeding or capturing prey.



Consider, in the wild, it’s not always warm on the Earth’s surface. Snakes are adapted to eating under various conditions, then seeking heat to digest that food. They don’t have to have that heat 24 hrs. a day.



Let me give you an example. A couple years ago I went out to the Santa Rita Mtns. in s. AZ in the early morning, in the month of March, I believe. It was about 50*F. The sun was shining, but nothing was moving, yet, on the surface. Under some wood debris I found several cold, sleeping lizards, some of which were spiny lizards and some whiptails. Under one piece of wood I found a juvenile lyre snake. The snake was obviously very full. It likely had eaten one of the lizards it found. If the snake had remained cool like that for a day or more, it would have had problems, but the snake likely sought out a heat source in order to digest its meal. That piece of wood got a lot warmer as the day went on.



One reason I point this out is because it isn’t the first time I’ve seen these conditions. I’ve seen them in s. OH also when I lived there. Some lizard eating snakes, including kings, seek their prey during the night or wee hrs. of the morning, while it’s easy to obtain, then look for a good place to digest later on. This also could be the case with amphibian eating snakes or other types of reptile eating snakes too. I also point this out because the snakes aren’t always eating even though they may be active at 50*. If the temps don’t increase to suitable levels for digestion for days at a time the snakes will undoubtedly have to stop eating until conditions get better.



Can we relate this to a post about, “My snake won’t eat?” Possibly, depending on what the reason is the snake won’t eat. We could vary temperatures as was mentioned below. The thing is snakes are used to a variety of temps. Is it possible a drop in temps could spur activity later? I would say it’s worth a try. It’s possible some of one’s neonates are eating and others not, with the same conditions, but it doesn’t mean those conditions are optimal. You could drop the temps for weeks and that might work, but you could also drop the temps for a day or two, and that might work too.



I believe we have to keep an open mind as we are always learning…one of the great things about our hobby.



TC

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