Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a question. I volunteer with a museum and occasionally I take the king and Pacific gopher snakes for walks, letting them crawl around on the lawn. Which in their snakey way they seem to appreciate.

The Pacific gopher snakes often exhibit a strange behavior. They'll scoot forward a half inch or so, then stop and shift their head from side to side, before moving another half inch forward and shifting their head side to side. And so on. They appear relatively calm, flicking their tongue out and responding to interaction (I'm not talking affection, just being aware of us), and it's more than one snake doing it, so it's not an individual thing.

Has anyone else seen that or know what it means? Many thanks.
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0.2 dog mutts (half ownership, only mine when they misbehave, Lucy & Amy)
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0.1 Normal phase California Kingsnake (Sophia)
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'Has anyone else seen that or know what it means?"

i've seen similar behavior in a number of predatory snakes and lizards. when both visual fields (left and right eyes) have little-to-no overlap, then depth perception is next to impossible. by moving the head from side-to-side you get a similar effect to binocular vision. basically, instead of instantaneous spatial displacement for your points of reference, you create a spatial separation over time. the brain compares the two points of reference and you get a read on depth and distance.

or in simpler terms, a cool predatory behavior.

matt

Hey Matt--You are one of the few people on these forums who seems to have both interest in and knowledge about behavior; which is what I find most fascinating about reptiles...I just wanted to thank you for your posts...I know a lot of us really appreciate them

SR

thank you shelley,

i'm one of those people who dabble in two different worlds linked by reptiles. i've been a "hobbyist" since i was in the 7th grade and teach and do research in an academic setting to support my hobby. i'm very interested in bridging the gap between the herpetoculturists and academics because i think each has something incredible to offer the other. unfortunately, human misbehavior always seems to get in the way. even on the PARC list there is more arrogance than communication.

there are a few good fora (forums?), like this one and the indigo forum that have good people who are truly interested in sharing information about these fascinating animals.

matt

Thanks! There's a few people who've been wondering about that, (including me of course) and I'll pass the explanation on.
-----
0.1 chickens (Condor)
0.2 dog mutts (half ownership, only mine when they misbehave, Lucy & Amy)
0.1 Halflinger horse (Crissy)
0.1 Normal phase California Kingsnake (Sophia)
1.1 parents
Still searching for 1.0 WC human