Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For instance a batch of baby cornsnakes..Assuming they dont travel more than an acre or two, how do they find enough pinkies?
Do they travel alot farther or eat bugs too? Also I can hide a mouse in my corns tank and they dont do a great job of finding it.

Do they have a high mortality rate?

I guess Im just amazed at the ability for snakes to find enough food in the wild..
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It would seem that baby cornsnakes (and other ratsnakes) may very well consume some bugs in the wild. Anoles seem to be on the menu also down south. I suspect that the mortality rate is high, however, as they are on the menu for lots of other critters. This would explain why our babies spend so much of their time HIDING. Duffy

Baby snakes are very adept at hiding in very small spots. If you are a field herper, how many hatchling/yearling snakes have you seen in the field??? I can count on both hands in the last 4 years how many I have found. Compare that to the amount of sub-adult/adult snakes I have found and the percentage rate would be astronomically low. Baby snakes will eat just about anything they can fit into their mouths in the wild. Soft bodied insects, baby frogs, baby lizards, baby skinks, other baby snakes, and baby rodents of appropriate size.
I dont think the mortality rate is that high, although I have not done any kind of research to support this. But the numbers of sub-adults I see every spring would have to say something for the mortality rate. But, alot of snakes tend to lay larger clutches of eggs the older they get, so that could also explain why the amount of subs found every year.
Also depending on the type of snake. The black racer is the probably the most common snake here in this part of KY, and I have seen more hatchling racers than any other snake. One thing I have yet to see is a hatchling corn snake. That would be pretty awesome!!!
Brian

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RATS
2.0 Corn snakes "Warpath" & "Thunderbird" (KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake "Havok" (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes "Reaper and Mystique" (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake "Malakai" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake "Deadpool" (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Greenish rat snake "Rogue" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Great plains rat snake "Reign Fire" (TX locale)
1.0 Grey rat snake "Punisher" (White oak phase)(Dwight Good stock)

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

>>For instance a batch of baby cornsnakes..Assuming they dont travel more than an acre or two, how do they find enough pinkies?
>>Do they travel alot farther or eat bugs too? Also I can hide a mouse in my corns tank and they dont do a great job of finding it.
>>
>>Do they have a high mortality rate?
>>
>>I guess Im just amazed at the ability for snakes to find enough food in the wild..

Couple things I note.
Any animal, to produce zero population growth and basically break even just has to have two young survive to adulthood and reproduce (one for each parent). I see a high mortality rate.
AND growth in the wild is nowhere near what it is in captivity. IE- We have a thriving Garter Snake population in our yard. Several of them have markings or tail missing or whatnot that ensure we 'know' who they are. That and they frequent certain parts of the yard. In a three years time the growth in the snakes in the wild is about what you would see in a year in a captive raised snake. They are not living like kings out there.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron