A bit of info on eyesight please?

[Stefan-A]

It probably should, the topics have certainly been crossing over.

[ConcinusMan]

I thought so. They fit well together.

[wadih]

The man has spoken. That is all. Can't argue with the logic. It is sound.

You said it.... Guess that is right. Although that was the first thing that came to my mind in testing the color detection issue. I think if it was trivial or easy to test it a lot of reaserch results would have appered on the net.
I will try to think about a diffrent method but hopefully a more experianced snake owner might come up with effective ideas that we can try.

[drache]

my completely anecdotal observation leads me to believe that their distance vision is better than their close-range vision
I see them following movement and focusing with their eyes - they may not have facial expression, but with minimal observation skills one can often figure out what they're looking at; even someone with my relatively poor eyesight can see their pupils
and when they pop their heads up, it's pretty obviously a sign of interest
what and why catches their interest is an entire different area of study, but in the case of garters it seems that food and mating isn't all there is to it

[Stefan-A]

The man has spoken.

Yeah, cut that out. I'm no authority, I have little relevant education, even less experience and I've read about the same books as everybody else here.

[ConcinusMan]

Don't be so modest. (see, this the part where I suck up to a moderator)

[drache]

Don't be so modest. (see, this the part where I suck up to a moderator)

I can tell he totally loves it too

[Stefan-A]

I can tell he totally loves it too

Incorrect.

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Well, as far as I have found (Hello Y'All! Happy Holidays!)... uh... not much. Is there any newer research on snake vision? It seems there is common consensus on the fact that many snakes have variable preceptions of dark and light. Would this be "black and white" as we know it? Sharp? Blurred? No update on cones for color? I wonder if anyone has researched Boomslang vision as they are one of the only true, naturally occurring sexually dimorphic species. Do green boomslang males spy on their brown female mates? Or is it all pheromones? I am comfortable to say that many snakes do possess a unique vision that is sensitive to motion; although not the same (a shared derived characteristic of all snakes is the loss of ciliary eye muscles), a neat "visualization" (HA!) of this type of vision could be exemplified by Wiki's description of "blindsight".

Oh, the wonder! Most of my garters are very sight oriented, especially the little ones. Of course, the tongues are always flicking at the same time - Which is something else I have been trying to picture! Does the location of a scent molecule on a certain part of a snake's tongue register a direction?
Is that the advantage of a forked tongue? Add "blindsight" and "B&W", what else do you need? Infra-red? Oh, the specialization!

[drache]

Incorrect.

I guess I don't do facetious well in print

Does the location of a scent molecule on a certain part of a snake's tongue register a direction?
Is that the advantage of a forked tongue?

that's something they deduce from scent trail experiments, and yes - apparently the forked tongue is a directionally sensitive tool
read "The Snake Scientist" by Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop - it's a cool book