Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Wild-caught female corn from Brevard County, Florida.

Notice the apical pits on the milksnake's scales!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

First pic is insane!

Very nice pics! BTW, what are apical pits and why does that milksnake have them? Just curious.
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Ken Roshak
BlackSwampSerpents@toast.net

Actually, many snakes have these apical pits, they are just VERY hard to see with the "naked" eye.

They are thought to be remnants of hair follicles, or possibly fine sensory hairs from millions of years ago.

These pits might still be used to some extent by snakes today,
although not much is known about them.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

If you look VERY closely in my other closeup pic of the cornsnake, you can also see the apical pits on the tips of many of the scales!

These are something that most people are totally unaware of.

I myself wasn't even aware of them until fairly recently, and I've been heavily involved with snakes for forty years!!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Wow, and your camera caight that! Nice!

Ken

>>Actually, many snakes have these apical pits, they are just VERY hard to see with the "naked" eye.
>>
>> They are thought to be remnants of hair follicles, or possibly fine sensory hairs from millions of years ago.
>>
>> These pits might still be used to some extent by snakes today,
>>although not much is known about them.
>>
>> best regards, ~Doug
>>-----
>>"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"
-----
Ken Roshak
BlackSwampSerpents@toast.net

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

do you kill them first to get them to hold that still!!!!
by the way i want to steal that pic of the milk scales to use as a back ground for a website one day
adam jeffery
p.s. i got a new phone number so ill email it to you or call you
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"CARLOS MENCIA FOR EL PRESIDENTE"
hybrid breeders association
1.1 puebladurans
1.1 sinacorns
1.1 hypo corns
1.1 crimson corns
1.1 striped ghosts
1.1 kenyan sand boas
1.1 mbk
1.1 albino corns
1.1 childrens python
1.3 ghost corns
2.2 butter(both females motley)
1.0 snow corns
1.0 jurassic milk
1.0 house snake
0.1 anery pueblacorn
0.1 bloodred
0.1 eastern milk (eatin pinks)
0.1 striped albino corn
0.1 albino nelsons
0.1 anery motley
0.1 normal corn het hypo,anery
0.1 hypo tang hondo
0.1 rosy boa

LOL!!!,....yeah it takes alot of patience, and alot of pics to get a few good ones."DO-TA-DOO"

Latah! ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"