I'm wondering if anyone has found that electronic devices (computers, video game consoles, etc.) may affect the feeding responses of some snakes? I've noticed several instances in which snakes that were kept in rooms with multiple electonic gadgets exhibited reduced (or even nonexistent) feeding behavior. I have experience with problem feeders and have always been able to work through it. These cases have me stumped. however.
- My younger brothers who still live at my parents' home became interested in snakes about a year ago after I took them to a reptile show. They purchased and and lost a ball python and two rainbow boas. The BP and one of the rainbows were known feeders on F/T mice and rats, but stopped feeding after being placed in a room with two computers and three game consoles, which were played virtually around the clock. I believe the rainbows both suffered from dehydration, and that that is the cause for their unwillingness to eat. But the ball python I'm not so sure about. Later, my brother purchased some corns and rats. Some exhibited very strong responses at first, but became problem feeders after time. I used to live in the same house and never had feeding problems with the snakes I kept...but I did not have computers or video game systems. Hmmm.
- I recently moved with my collection of 13 snakes (kings, milks, pythons). I expected an adjustment period in which my snakes might not eat as they grew accustomed to a different environment. Previously, my snakes were housed in my living room, utility room and kitchen (I know, weird). After I moved, however, all my snakes were placed in my home office, which has two computers. Immediately my gray-banded king began refusing food. I tried all the old tricks that I had used to switch him to f/t mice as a hatchling, but nothing worked. Finally, after two stressful months of watching my little GBK lose weight and pace his cage, I moved him to another room with no electronic devices and offered food. Within one hour he had eaten a peach fuzzy and a pink rat (he'd never eaten a rat before).
I know that cage placement, light, humidity, heat, etc. all affect our reptiles. But I am wondering if the electrical fields found around devices using microprocessors, or perhaps the vibrations from spinning hard drives and cooling fans, while imperceptible to us, may also be affecting our reptiles. Or is it all just coincidence?
Consider this: scientists believe that migratory birds may follow the earth's magnetic field when they fly south for the winter and north for the summer. Could our pets be agitated by electrical fields?
In the case of my brothers, I have theorized that it may be due to the level of human activity in the room rather than electronics. After all, having a room full of teens and twenty-somethings playing games and watching TV all day and night would stress me until I couldn't eat! I just don't have the means or the cooperation to perform an actual study of this.
So does anyone else have a theory on this? Has anyone done any research? I'd be very interested to know.
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