Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here's a Ringneck eating an already-dead kingsnake.

This is a series of pics taken by John Gunn. I'm always impressed by the size of snake that another snake can swallow.

Doug T

Yo DT, thnx for posting that 4 me. Who'd-a guessed... a regal would scent & respond to a getulus as a food item? They & most other serpents do not appear to understand that f/t is dead, as long as it moves, so I dont think that f/t status is a central variable.
Weather or not this depicts nature in vivo...eludes me [& everyone else], but it likely gives us a glimpse @ the possibilities...

BTW as you know...that getulus did in fact succumb to the elapid like venom of a more famous if not more virulent member of the opistoglyph tribe....but that is a report for another day...

I hope one day for a professor such as our own Drs. Fry & Wolfgang... chose to peek a bit closer @ Diadophis venom. My own live feeding trials indicate truly remarkable activity.

Cheers, JG

I'll be doing the ringnecks in the second wave of the research. Have to finish off the other snakes already being studied. Can't do em all at once The others are pretty much done though. Have to finish writing a slew of papers. ;-D

Cheers
Bryan
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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australian Venom Research Unit,
University of Melbourne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Population and Evolutionary Genetics Unit,
Museum Victoria
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.venomdoc.com

Wonderful

I've got several DoR's in the freezer. When you're ready we'll have to figure out how to legally export the heads or whole carcasses to you. Im sure I can get one of the prof's @ ASU to serve as the point of origination.

Meanwhile if you havent already seen this paper ...perhaps it might serve to furthur whet your curiosity...

THE RINGNECK SNAKE (DIADOPHIS PUNCTATUS OCCIDENTALIS) - A VENOMOUS COLUBRID?
Ryan P. O'Donnell, Kevin Staniland, and Robert T. Mason, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331

Ringneck snakes (Diadophis punctatus) have been anecdotally reported to be venomous. Previous studies describe extracts from the Duvernoy’s gland as containing phosphodiesterase and phospholipase activity, which are characteristic of many viperid and elapid venoms. Here we report the first dose-response curve for lethality of ringneck snake saliva. We intraperitoneally injected ringneck snake saliva (2-35µL) into 41 neonatal Northwestern garter snakes (Thamnophis ordinoides). The dose significantly affected the time-to-death. We also established that garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis and T. ordinoides) are a food item for ringneck snakes in our study area by examining the stomach contents of individuals captured in the field in Benton County, Oregon. Garter snakes extracted from ringneck snake stomachs may have been larger than the ringneck snakes that ingested them. We suggest that ringneck snake venom may have evolved to subdue larger prey items than the snake would otherwise be capable of handling.

Journal Information:
Name: Northwestern Naturalist
Frequency: Triannually
ISSN: 1051-1733
Description: The Northwestern Naturalist is the official journal of the Society.
Electronic URL: http://www.snwvb.org
Contact: Julie Grialou
Email: jgrialou@parametrix.com
Phone: (425) 822-8880 ext.3365
FAX: (425) 889-8808

Interesting abstract. Thanks for the offer of the frozen snakes but they won't be of any use to me since the venom gland mRNA would have already been degraded. No worries though.

All the best
Bryan
-----
Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australian Venom Research Unit,
University of Melbourne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Population and Evolutionary Genetics Unit,
Museum Victoria
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.venomdoc.com