Just got three hatchling Western Coachwhips courtesy of Sighthunter. These new babies were set up in my standard 5 gal aquarium/cypress mulch/bark hide setup, and allowed to gel for a day, then got some live lizards introduced. One ate a Side-Blotched Lizard and one ate a Banded Gecko. Number three has not fed yet, but I expect will soon. I like things that eat Banded Geckos, as these are fairly easy to come by. I may try the new hunter-killers on live mice before long, but if they need geckos until hibernation, I can live with that.
I have no way to do a meaningful study on this, but I wonder if one snake might learn by watching the others through the glass--the first one to eat was next to the male Eastern Coachwhip, which ate a lizard the day the Westerns were settling in. That was the Western's first ever voluntary meal, and first kill. Coachwhips are highly visual, and might be as intelligent as baby birds, so I suppose it's not out of the question. Make a good PhD thesis.
I'll post pix eventually--Westerns are a bit different in appearance from Easterns.
