Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering if anyone else has a snake that wags it's tail when they get excited. Mine just started doing it a couple months ago. It's mainly when he's stalking a mouse in his outside enclosure. But, a few times when he's noticed me coming up to his cage to get him out for a while he's wagged it a bit too. I think it's the cutest thing ever and seriously need to have my vid camera in my hand one of these times....just so people don't think I'm making it up. He only wags about 3 inches of his tail, but he does it pretty fast...like a dog would. He's a little over a year old and he's a ball python.

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It may be cute but it can be a threat display. Some snakes wag their tails to lure prey but that's only in the case of juveniles [for the most part] who have a brightly-colored tail - usually yellow or red. It's called caudal luring when it's used to attract prey. In most other snakes it's a threat display - this is the case with most if not all of the species of ratsnakes. When the snake wags it's tail in dry brush or debris it maginfies the sound effect making potential predators more wary. Of course a group of venomous snakes in North America took tail wagging to the next level and evolved a rattle to make noise whether there was dry leaves and brush or not. In pythons and boas however it's usually not a threat display but more of a nervous energy sort of thing. I've got many boids that will wiggle their tails when presented with prey - I suspect it's mainly just part of their whole body quivering with the energy that builds up just before a strike.
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Matt Campbell
25 years herp keeping experience
Full-time zookeeper
Personal collection - 21 snakes (9 genera), 20 lizards (4 genera), 6 chelonians (2 genera)

thanks for the insight! appriciate it......i can't help it...i still think it's cute teehehehe

Yeah, Drys do a bit of both.

Their tails are very sensitive to touch and always seem to need to be wrapped around something, for safety (especially when young). My young eastern indigo used to do the rattle thing when she was scared of me. She's lost any real fear of me, but still rattles and flaps her tail about when excited - usually when it's feeding time.

Keep in mind, it's not just a threat display, but an indicator the animal is stressed, which is not good, or cute..

Jeff
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Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947

Shouldn't have been so quick about that, as there are numerous species that "wag" their tails to attract prey, referred to as caudal luring.
While a variety of pythons are known to exhibit such behavior, especially Morelia viridis and Liasis spp., though I have seen no documentation indicating the behavior is regularly exhibited among Python regius.

Jeff
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Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947