not so dinermal

[GarterGeek]

Merriam-Webster Pronunciation

Thank you! Not at all like I would have pronounced it though.

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

OK, is that a real word? LOL I know it is, of course, but you just taught me a term I never knew. GOD I love learning new stuff!!

Only problem is, there's no one around here smart enough to be impressed that I even know "crepuscular" now... Maybe I can screw with people and let them think I'm insulting them LMAO

New words can be quite fun, especially the biological ones. My favorite thing to call people is a "deuterostome". We are all deuterostomes. All vertebrates, chordates, even echinoderms (starfish, urchins, sea cukes, sand dollars) are deuterostomes. It means, during the embryological stage of our development, our buttholes develop before our mouths. TRUE STORY!

[ConcinusMan]

So, I guess that instead of saying "don't let your hummingbird as... overload your alligator mouth", I could just say, don't be such a deuterostomes? Somehow it just doesn't have the same ring to it. Anyway, about the diurnal thing. The behavior being described can be induced. Any diurnal animal, especially reptiles, that are being kept too warm, and aren't getting enough of a cool down at night, will do that. Temperature is not the only thing to consider. Many keepers overlook the daylight period. A.K.A. the day length. Always make the day length AND temperature appropriate for the time of year, or at least, the time of year you want them to think it is, taking into consideration the species, and latitude at which they are normally found in the wild. Even species that are normally diurnal will sometimes become active at night/dawn/dusk, and hide during the day, if it's the peak of summer.

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Point remembered!

Here is an Oregon Garter (T. a. hydrophilus) feeding at around 10:30 at night!
This was on the Chetco River in So. Oregon; it was August; it was warm at night... That takes us past crepuscular and into night! He was hunting freshwater sculpin, by the way...

[ConcinusMan]

Being out so late at night, maybe he knows something that the local fishermen don't! (10:30 isn't THAT late, considering it's Aug)

Then again, the fishermen aren't after sculpin, now are they.