Last night I feed my very sizeable collection of south eastern pit vipers. Of the 70 or so snakes that were offered food, only 2 did not eat. The two that refused are the two most defensive snakes in my collection. Both get into a defensive posture anytime anyone is in the room. Both strike anytime their tub is pulled from the rack and both fight being moved and run anytime they get the opportunity. On the surface one would think these two would be quick to attack anything placed in their tub, but that is not the case. My observations led me to believe that the more defensive my snakes are toward me, the less likely they are to feel secure enough to attack and eat prey items. The two in questions are both very large. One is a captive raised female western cottonmouth, east TX locality and the other is a one year captive male canebrake rattlesnake, northern AL locality. The cotton did not touch the mouse. I later removed it and gave it to my female FL cotton. The cane killed the rat, but did not eat. I removed it and gave it to my large female canebrake. Both of which made quick work of the extra food. I do not engage in any type of animal fighting, but I know people who do both rooster and dog fighting. Being ignorant to it, I assumed the best fighters would be the hardest for handlers to control, however, both tell me that if an animal is aggressive toward people, they are worthless fighters. I see a correlation here. If the fighters are concerned with the people around, they do not focus on the other animal. If the snake is concerned about the people around, it is less concerned about the food animal. Or, at least that is my contention with my south eastern pit vipers.
Has anyone noticed this trend in other species?
