Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This subject is interesting, fun and easy to test. All it takes is a healthy snake.
A healthy snake and the ability to control temps. First keep your test snake in conditions you feel its feeding well at. Whatever that is, once a week, once every 4 days, or like around here, everyday. It does not matter what you start with. Your snake must be feeding and passing fecal. Then lower the high temps, by two degrees, and measure the results. Do that every two weeks until the snake stops feeding. Also, go back to base temps, the ones your started with, and raise the hot spot 2 degrees every two weeks and measure the results. Remember, to make it comparable, feed the same size and amount of food, each feeding. The only warning is, be careful at temps approaching 100F, if you see quick regrug, then lower temps, you are at the upper limit. The lower limits only cause the test subject to stop feeding, the upper limits can be harmful. So be careful.

Its common knowledge that lowering the temps will cause snakes to slow down, then stop feeding. I ask you why? If heat does not effect digestion or the efficiency of digestion, why do they stop? Which leads to the opposite. If increasing temps, supports feeding, the why do you think that snakes like hogs, are not digesting food faster, when utilizing higher body temps, then a species like kings?
Whats important to understand is, academically, these species most likely have a very similar metabolistic rate, at equal temps. But in real life, functionally, its very very very different. Kings can easily feed and digest small prey items at temps in the mid sixties. hogs simply have a hard time crawling at those temps. On the other side, kings become heat stressed if kept at temps above 85F to 95F( body temps) hogs think body temps in that range is perfect, and can and do utilize even higher temps.
Please understand Gregg, I respect your opinions, and would love to hear about what supports your opinions. And its perfectly fine if we do not agree. in this case, Gaboons were too far out of context and for many reasons.
To add to the confusion, preferred temps in snakes not only vary by species, but as much or more, by size. Neonates, normally have a higher surface area to mass ratio then large adults. Large adults, normally have a higher mass to surface ration. How that becomes a problem is cooling. Perferred temps are based on the ability to cool. In most cases, in nature, reptiles commonly operate within a few degrees of lethal temps. They do because they have the ability to cool down quickly. If they cannot cool down quickly, then they limit the amount of heat used.
Also on forums like here, folks think one temp is optimal. Like pick a good temp, or within a few degrees, and call it a day. In nature, that is not how it works. Just to digest prey, one individual will use a 35 to 40F range of temps to digest a single prey item. thanks sir