Mirror, mirror on the wall.

[guidofatherof5]

I've always wondered how my radixes would react to seeing themselves in a mirror. I finally found time to check it out. I used a small(4X4 inch) mirror. I went to one of my large female radix groups first. When I opened the enclosure they first acted like they were going to come out and see me. I placed the mirror about 6 inches away from them. Their attention immediately turned towards the mirror. They no longer were focused on me. I could see their pupils constricting as they studied the image. The pupil reaction reminded me of how they focus on food before a strike. After approximately 4 minutes most of them moved inside their hide. They didn't come out to see me and I feel they weren't comfortable with the mirror still out there.
I then moved to a group of babies. They paid little to no interest in the mirror. One baby did go up and treated like it was regular glass.
I think garter who live in glass enclosure are used to seeing some kind of reflection/image in the glass but a mirror of a complete reflection. My adults weren't able to process it and did the safe thing, HIDE.
I love to watch them in their enclosures. In my opinion they are doing a lot of thinking and analyzing. To what degree that thinking and analyzing is I don't know. I do believe they have more intelligence then they are given credit for. I feel the more stimuli they get the more they process and remember. I'll never be able to write a paper or do any scientific studies on all this but I sure am going to have fun and discover many things about these wonderful snakes. Along the way I hope to make some great radix friends as I go.

[ConcinusMan]

I never tried it with babies but adults reacted with great curiosity. They weren't freaked out at all.

[confused]

Mine sure did outsmart me..... I never did figure out how she actually got out. All I know is she spent two months staring at the top of the cage, and she obviously found something I missed :rolleyes:

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

honestly, I don't think they are able to actually see into the mirror and recognize objects like we do. Just like they don't recognize a food item purely by sight until their other senses cue them in on it, such as scent and even touch, if I touch my garters with something wet, they instantly react by turning around and grabbing at it. I think that without a scent and an ability to touch the "snake" on the other side, they are rather just investigating the mirror because it is new and strange, and reacting to this new and strange item (in your case, by hiding) as they would any other. They might be able to see the movement in it, but they won't be able to tell it is themselves, or even a snake period.If a mirror would be left in the enclosure for an extended period of time it is highly likely the snakes would completely forget about it.

It would be similar to me taking pictures of garter snakes and showing them to my adults, or even a video on my computer. They would come over and check it out, but only because it's a new item and I am messing around in the cage, and my snakes are always poking around at the fronts of the cage when I open them up to see what I am doing (hoping for food of course!) they would not be able to look at that photo and think "oh hey look, a snake! it's scary and strange, I should hide". A new, strange snake generates a lot more curiosity than that and usually causes them to follow the new snake around for a period of time doing the tongue flicking and twitching.

either way, cool thought though because I never would have thought to put a mirror up to my snakes. Basically only because I know that they would not be able to comprehend the idea of their reflection.

[ConcinusMan]

I agree with your conclusions. My snakes were just naturally curious of anything new. After a while, they ignored the mirror. My snakes never cowered from anything new. They greeted it with great curiosity, and always investigated everything. That's what I love about them. Well, that, and the way they greeted me and begged for food. So cute.

[guidofatherof5]

Shannon, I have to argue with your opinion.
A couple of my males where up using the mirror shaving this morning:D

[wadih]

hehehehe observe them closley you might see a female putting make-up or fixing her hair :D oups wait she is bold....

Enough with the jokes, I totally agree with you steve that they have seen their reflected image in the glass before. It might be due to the glass type or the light direction but this could have had happened with all of them before.
Now the image might be distorted or not as good as a mirror but it is a reflection image any way. I will try that as soon as possible and feed you back the results.

In all cases I will keep shaving cream handy for them in case they decided to use it :D

[TheBeansprout]

Hi Steve! I have had a larger mirror in the girl's living quarters for quite a while now, a year maybe? Some seem to ignore it, others seem to be able to tell. Here's a picture of Jake admiring herself (she's a she, I didn't name her...).

A couple of times, I've seen them trying to 'get past' that snake in the mirror. lol
It would be interesting to really know if they actually can see themselves though.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/jake.jpg

Great subject!

TheBeansprout

[ConcinusMan]

Shannon, I have to argue with your opinion.
A couple of my males where up using the mirror shaving this morning:D

Yeah. and I suppose the girls were doing their hair?

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Shannon, I have to argue with your opinion.
A couple of my males where up using the mirror shaving this morning:D
haha! you crack me up!!! :D