Sniffing?

[AzureN1ght]

I'm not usually up this late--so it's really my first time since Auryn's settled in that I've seen his very late night exploring.

He's been slithering around the cage, with his nose gently probing everything, and flicking his tongue. He looks like he's sniffing something...you know how hound dogs look when they're "on the trail"?

He was "sniffing" around the edges of the KRAFT paper, he poked his head briefly into the cool hide, he had his head frozen in the periscoping position for two minutes solid...and now he's back under his KRAFT paper, watching me ("Moooom...when are you going to go to bed, so I can keep exploring without you STARING at me?!").

Are BPs capable of "sniffing" in the way I'm thinking of? Or is he just exploring by touch, taste, and heat sensoring?

[recycling goddess]

i have no idea. but since they smell with their tongue... was his tongue flicking the whole time?

[AzureN1ght]

i have no idea. but since they smell with their tongue... was his tongue flicking the whole time?

It was flicking pretty rapidly most of the time, with the exception of the periscope--where he was just frozen still. Just really interesting-looking...he was going about it so delicately.

[recycling goddess]

sounds like a happy snake to me... and a happy snake-mama watching!

[frankykeno]

I've always noticed ours tongue flick more rapidly when they are exploring something so I assume they are just gathering more information about what's going on in their surroundings at that moment. I know from doing some reading that their tongues are so sensitive that one fork can pick up more scent than the other fork and tell them if a rodent they are tracking went right or left. I was reading up on snake's and hearing recently because it's assumed they are deaf as they have no external ear openings. A couple of articles said that they in fact have quite good interior ear structures but that instead of picking up sounds/vibrations in the air the way we do through our ear canals, they pick that information up through their body's contact with the ground and especially through their lower jaw bone.

The article went on to say that the lack of external open ear canals and no eyelids (rather the solid eyecap) were evolutionary adjustments to allow them to go into environments where open ear canals and blinking eyelids would be a problem for them.

Pretty amazing creatures aren't they!

[AzureN1ght]

I've always noticed ours tongue flick more rapidly when they are exploring something so I assume they are just gathering more information about what's going on in their surroundings at that moment. I know from doing some reading that their tongues are so sensitive that one fork can pick up more scent than the other fork and tell them if a rodent they are tracking went right or left. I was reading up on snake's and hearing recently because it's assumed they are deaf as they have no external ear openings. A couple of articles said that they in fact have quite good interior ear structures but that instead of picking up sounds/vibrations in the air the way we do through our ear canals, they pick that information up through their body's contact with the ground and especially through their lower jaw bone.

The article went on to say that the lack of external open ear canals and no eyelids (rather the solid eyecap) were evolutionary adjustments to allow them to go into environments where open ear canals and blinking eyelids would be a problem for them.

Pretty amazing creatures aren't they!

Thanks for that info, Jo! That's really interesting! It would also explain why he seems to gently glide his snout over things, or gently prod things while he's exploring--if they pick up sensations through the lower jaw bone

And since BPs live mainly underground in the wild, it would make perfect sense not to want to have eyelids or open ear canals--it'd be hard to clean the dirt out of those!!

They are amazing

[recycling goddess]

wow that is great information jo. i'm sharing that with my kids when they wake up!

[jhall1468]

I know from doing some reading that their tongues are so sensitive that one fork can pick up more scent than the other fork and tell them if a rodent they are tracking went right or left.

Cool huh? They also have pit organs that give them infrared vision at night. You'll notice BP's (especially juveniles) can often miss their prey when striking... try feeding them at night with a black light. They tend to have much better aim .

As for the original question... technically yes they can "sniff". Snakes actually have TWO olfactory glands. The primary gland is absorbed through the nasal opening and into the primary olfactory gland. When they flick their tongue, they absorb odor particles, which is transfered to the Jacobson's organs (in the roof of the mouth) which is than processed by a different, smaller olfactory gland.

When hunting during the day, they use the combination of olfactory glands to judge distance and direction (like Jo mentioned), and during the night they add in the infrared vision for a much more accurate (and usually more successful) hunt.