Chris' garters

[Stefan-A]

Sirtalis, eques & radix.

[chris-uk]

Sirtalis, eques & radix.

Care to go to the sub-species on the sirtalis?

[Stefan-A]

Infernalis.

[chris-uk]

Infernalis.

Nope it is http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/gene...tml#post252328.
But it was a 50/50, and I can't tell the infernalis from the tetrataenia head-on.

[chris-uk]

I had a strange shed over the new year. My (wife's) tetrataenia decided to go blue on New Year's Eve, and stayed blue for seven days so I was starting to get worried. Anyway, his eyes cleared a few days ago and he shed cleanly yesterday with no problems. Normally his blue phase lasts for two days, which was why I was a bit worried.
This got me thinking, the difference with this shed is that I'd turned the heat off in his viv (and the others in my dining room) before Christmas to give them a short cool period, the central heating kept the viv temps between 16 and 20C. I was thinking that the shedding process relies on the layers of skin being separated, and this is almost certainly an enzyme mediated process (guessing the blue fluid secreted between layers contains enzymes, I really should do some research) and the lower temp reduced the efficiency of the enzymes.

Does anyone know of good sources of information about the shedding process? I'm thinking about information aimed at undergraduate level.

[guidofatherof5]

Grabbed these for you Chris. Not sure if it's what you're looking for. Did a search on Google Scholar
Google Scholar

Hypophysectomy and Thyroidectomy of Snakes.
Effects of ultraviolet B on epidermal morphology, shedding, lipid peroxide, and antioxidant enzymes in Cope?s rat snake (Elaphe taeniura)
JSTOR: An Error Occurred Setting Your User Cookie

[gregmonsta]

One of my parietalis boys spent the majority of his brumation (2 months) in shed. I just peeled him today after waking him up. Last year I put a female in the blue phase in for brumation and it also took her a lot longer to complete the process.

[chris-uk]

Thanks Steve. Interesting reads, but not exactly what I'm looking for. I'll have a good look when I get a bit of free time (not much of that with Joseph running around and keeping me busy).

Changing subject slightly, here are three photos I was tossing up between for this month's photo contest... The Infernal Three have their favourite peep hole in a cork bark hide. There's usually one, two or all three of them peering out during the day.

[chris-uk]

My male radix went back in the boys viv today. Coincidentally my female radix shed this afternoon, so I thought I'd try a little experiment (the thought was planted by Steve's comment about males coming out of brumation having one-tracked mind). I put the fresh female radix shed in the boys' viv to see how Lipwig would react.
Lipwig had a quick sniff, did a couple of laps of the viv, then went back to sleep in the warm hide where he'd been before I put the shed in.
Twoflower (tetrataenia) showed more interest, he kept approaching the shed and coming and going for 15-20 minutes.
Vlad (cuitzeoensis) went nuts. He wound in amongst the shed moved it around and generally picked up his activity level massively, considering he's normally relatively shy the smell of a female made him forget he was a scaredy cat. After about half an hour he stopped and coiled up under the shed with his head next to the head of the shed. After I took the shed out he stayed active for the rest of the evening.

Interesting that it would seem that a female smells attractive to males of quite distantly related species. Also interesting that the male radix seemed to work out very quickly that it was just a shed and there was no action to be had.

[guidofatherof5]

I know it would be cruel to the male but it would be interesting to see how he reaches to the real thing in a separate container with you supervising the encounter.