Steve's Snake Observations

[gregmonsta]

100% Steve ... until we can actually communicate with animals the statement of them not being as aware/not having emotions/not having the relevant cognitive processing power is absurd in my eyes ... it's non-scientific to say otherwise all things are relative.

[Stefan-A]

Pick one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism

Obviously snakes don't have the facial muscles to make expressions, especially not ones that are intended to be interpreted by humans.

We don't need to be able to communicate with them, either. It can be tested. We can find out which part of the brain does what job and we can find out whether a species has it and whether it's working on a specific individual.

As for the awareness thing, awareness is just a matter of gathering information and the ability to process it. Both can be tested.

[gregmonsta]

I don't believe you too much Disney as a child .... lol, I know ..... but I like to believe that despite that they still have emotional states

[guidofatherof5]

I don't believe you too much Disney as a child .... lol, I know ..... but I like to believe that despite that they still have emotional states

It is a lot more fun and I believe(can't prove anything) they do have more emotions than the basic survival package.

Stefan,
I wish you could spend some time on the Ranch and get to know a few of my buddies.

[guidofatherof5]

Take a look at this picture. Very cute. It shows my adult female Rita with some of her babies born last year. Nothing too interesting, right? Let me explain. Rita is in this enclosure until I can get another one built. I lifted the hide to check on everyone to find this group. When I say I was checking on everyone I meant the T.s.parietalis babies also. In this enclosure I house Rita's babies and a group of parietalis babies born about the same time.
The mystery is , where's the parietalis babies? This is the heated part of the enclosure and usually houses all the babies in a big group, radix and parietalis. Instead I find a mother with her babies and no others. What's with that.
They were only using about half the hide and as a rule they fill it otherwise.

[jitami]

I saw a new behavior out of my two hellions this morning. They're staring me down as I type, but that's nothing new... just a little unnerving at the moment Anyway, I've fed these two together more often than not and this morning laid down a tray of tillapia and f/t guppies. I don't know if it was the smell of the guppies or if these two are just a little more spazzy than usual because it's spring time, but they displayed exaggerated acts of agitation. Both came to the dish and then a bit of tail whipping ensued... rarely have I seen that... but then what really surprised me was the full body whipping around. The movement began in the back half of their body and whipped around almost like you would see in a mating ball, but by now they were on opposite sides of the tank. Whenever they'd get near each other again, the whipping would commence. Food in mouth, flailing rear part of their bodies. So strange for these two and something I hadn't seen before. At another point, they both approached the dish at the same time and one moved toward the other, open mouthed, but not striking, just moving with purpose toward the other while keeping his mouth open. This was efficiant at backing the other snake away from the food. I stay right here and watch them and my hand to the glass or opening the screen is enough to distract them, but this was a pretty wild feeding this morning! They're not starving, either. They last ate on Saturday. They're slowly finishing off the guppies now in their normal calm manner. Odd.

Oh, and where did I get f/t guppies you're probably wondering? I got sick of my fish tank and froze the inhabitants. This is the first feeding with them and I'd say they were readily accepted! lol For those of you who have feeder guppies available this may be an option for buying in quantity if you have no qualms about freezing them yourself. I put a small tub of guppies & water in the freezer, checked on them a little later and all were dead, then moved them to ice cube trays in small groups with a little water. Defrosted in a cup of warm water this morning. Not sure how humane, but if I can freeze a squeaky little pinky, I can freeze a fish...

[guidofatherof5]

Tami,
You just described what happened to a large group I have. They have always been competitive but the last two feeding has been all out war. They were even biting each other. It wasn't a bite and release but a bit and hold on. These were head shots. The blood was flowing and I was about overwhelmed. Next feeding things will be different. I'm taking a number of feeding contained for the trouble makers.
I can see you enjoy watching your buddies. . Every once in awhile they throw a few curve balls at us. Things we've never seen.
I think mine can sense Spring is coming. Everyones out cruising more than normal and there is some pre-jiggy time activities going on.
I love Spring, not just inside but of course outside where I get to see the newcomers and some old friends.

[jitami]

Thank goodness we didn't have any bites or blood. I was watching for it, though and wouldn't have been surprised. I did distract them once when I just didn't like the intense look one was giving the other. I think these two may get Shannon's speed feeding with tongs. They both eat better in their own tank from a dish, tho... we'll have to see how the next feeding goes.

They have been more animated lately, which I'm attributing to spring. Frisky little things. I'm relatively certain they are both male and are probably reaching sexual maturity this year, too. All's calm for now

[guidofatherof5]

All's calm for now

Of course, bellies are full.

[jitami]

Yep, and both are basking together peacefully for the most part. It doesn't take much to get the twitching started, tho. I set my coffee cup down a little while ago and got some twitches from the two knuckleheads. It's gotta be a springtime thing.