In responce to a thread from below.
The term is not all that accurate, much like being social when applied to reptiles is not all that accurate. The problem is, there is no other term that applies. So we use them in reptile or snake context.
To bond is to form a relationship with another individual and it does not have to be the opposite gender. These bonds or relationships are formed normally very early in life. In biology its very well known with birds and other animals. Its ofen called imprinting.
With reptiles, we do not know how it works, whether its cued by scent, behavior, etc or has a time limit. You know, if its more difficult as they age, which does seem to be the case.
To imprint or bond in our context is to pick, stay with(attend) coupulate with, repeadedly is a regular fashion, year after year. WHEN GIVEN THE CHOICE. Which means the individuals are free to seek other mates or groups.
We are now seeing this in nature and its being recorded as we speak.
In nature, I have recorded pairs and groups staying "together" for over 30 years. Consider, there are other individuals with them or very nearby. So they have a choice. This is being recorded with a large number of species at this time.
There is one study that is using time lapse cameras, like I use. And has recorded as an example, three different groups of Az. black rattlesnakes that are sharing the same den site. That is, three distint groups that avoid the other two groups and attract and stay with their own group. At one single site.
This is measured by physical contact. TO TOUCH. And over time. They avoid touching some individual, and coil with and touch, other individuals. On a volunteer basis. No walls, no cages and no keepers forcing them to do anything.
The connection between the individuals in these groups must have a name, so simply put, its called bonding. how it occurs is often called "imprinting".
The results are pairs and or groups that stay together for all or part of any year. That is, they attract eachother and repell others of the same species.
This has been and is being recorded in many snake species, including kingsnakes.
While we are still talking about nature, there are also bonds that form with members of other types of reptiles. As an example, we commonly find torts, gilas and diamondbacks sharing the same space. And at several times of the year, not just winter. If investigated, they only share these spaces with KNOWN individuals of other species, not any individual of other species. Therefore, some manner of bond has been created to allow this.
Recently a friend has been showing me wild snakes of different species sharing the same summer sites. Sometimes, 3 or more species at a single site.
In captivity, this bonding or imprinting also occurs. Again, normally but not exclusively with neonates. The resulting "bond" is indeed variable and has a range of behaviors. Some indeed have very strong bonds and others not so much.
For me, it was easy to understand, considering my age and when I first started producing snakes in number. To help you with that, it was long before shoeboxes, so the ability to house all individuals seperately was not available at that time. So we raised them together. A product of convience.
What we observed was individuals within a group attracted other individuals within that group. That is, they touched, coiled together, etc etc. And avoided others in that group. We also noticed the females would CHOOSE to copulate with males they bonded with, very early in their receptive cycle. EXamples are, when paired with a outside male, they tailwagged, which is waving the tail back and forth, pressing the vent down and getting out if they can. But when presented with a known male, one they raised with, they would immediately cloacal gape. Lift tail and open vent.
These were easy behaviors to test and they were very repeatable.
With other types of reptiles, like varanids, we were able to repeatedly bred these bonded animals without problem(many world firsts) and behaviors were not limited to copulation, but included arm wrapping, constant touching, nest guarding, protecting the female, and helping with nesting. And yes, I have photos of all this and more. All with animals were suppose to be solitary and killed other individuals. And are considered cannibalistic.
Varanids were and are great study subjects because they grew quicking and reproducted prolifically, up to 14 clutches a year. So gaining observations was again, easy.
The problem here is, many of you keep them in a way, that bonding cannot occur, then you want to see them bond. Well, thats not going to happen. The key is the window of time these and all animals imprint is very important. And this will be the subject of future field study. Where and how does this occur. Simply put, if you do not allow imprinting, it won't occur
The quick answer is, like with birds, it occurs in the nest. In most cases, reptiles do not leave the nest as soon as they hatch or are born. They stay together and tightly(close proxsimity)
of course, this is well known by many many field herpers, now its time to dig a bit deeper and find out HOW THIS HAPPENS. The why is pretty simple, its a great advantage to known who is going to eat you and who is not.
The next problem here is, many of you folks do not ask, or research or investigate or test, you just talk. You will not change your approach to test. My assumption is, your just not interested. The question is, why do you fight it. How about just ignoring these threads?
They made a saying for this, Only a fool does the same thing over and over and expects different results. So if you want to see different results, then its simple, do something differently.
That some of you want or have requested that the word "bond" be banned from this site, surely shows that you are not interested in the subject of this forum, THE KEEPING AND BREEDING OF KINGSNAKES IN CAPTIVITY. It seems like your only interested if keeping is DONE YOUR WAY. I do question that! Cheers and have a great day.
p.s. the picture is off a wild free ranging longterm pair.
