I think it's worth remembering there's a huge variation in animal behavior: just consider humans, from humanitarians to mass murders, from simple-life vegetarians to cigar smoking, big steak-eating heavyweights, etc. The same will hold true for any animal species.



What we're trying to do in captivity is to establish conditions optimal for the majority of animals. It's not our job, i don't think, to establish conditions suitable for snakes with autoimmune deficiencies (think "the bubble boa" or snakes that for a variety of reasons might mime oddities observed in nature.



The fact that something happens in nature does not make it a good thing, i.e., are snakes sometimes found with meals well into the "cold" season: that could kill them, just as people w/o adequate sense can be stimulated into drinking enough to die of alcohol poisoning.



A ranger on Jekyll Island, GA once showed me a brown water snake that had eaten a huge catfish. It was summer, but for whatever reason--most likely the size of the meal--the snake decided to regurg the catfish. Problem was, when the snake moved back toward the mouth, the fins spread open, punctured the sides of the snake, and immobilized the catfish. If i recall correctly, the snake had been dead just a short time when he ran across it in the field.



So I'm just trying to create a perspective here. I think it's great to observe and contemplate behavior in the wild, looking for cues for ways we can better manage our captives. But I'd warn against trying to emulate conditions exactly (add some predators? a road to cross at night? feed during cold periods? etc.)



peace

terry

albino tricolors



>>I am not much of a field herper, but I still enjoy hearing from people who do research what snakes are doing during certain times of the year. I am wondering about a few things. Wether snakes are denning in groups or when small numbers are found here n there has it ever been noted that the snakes were hanging in sexed pairs? I am also wondering since there's been talk of if snakes feed during brumation...does anyone feel they have caused a snake in captivity to die from feeding too late in the season and cooling them with food in their bellies? Or has anyone in the field caught a snake in the act of feeding...especially on another snake during the coldest part of the year when you'd assume they were dormant? Lastly has anyones guess ever been that a gravid snake found earlier than average possibly bred during the coldest part of the year or retained sperm so late in fall that they carried developing eggs through the winter? These are difficult questions...and not many could give answers. I know a high percentage of keepers would say no....these things have not been observed and it would not be likely. I do know some breeders shrug off snakes dying over winter, as if it is just one of those things and it happens. I hope I am not asking things recently discussed as I have had little time for the net and see many posts having many many replies. I look forward to hearing what Frank and the other field herpers has to say about these things. Tom Stevens

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