Behavior Experiment plus pics!

[fishmommy]

Lately my BP has been exhibiting a really strong feeding response througout the week. As soon as he sees me enter the room he comes out of his hide and gets into position for a feed. If I leave the room for more than 10 or 15 minutes, he goes back to his hide.

Today he was doing that again as I went about my business cleaning his neighbors (fish) tank. I started to wonder if he recognized me in particular as the food-bringer, or whether he just saw this big warm person-thing and responded to that as a general food-bringer.
So, I performed an experiment.
I waited until he was in his hide again, and had my husband go into the room and look into the enclosure. My husband NEVER feeds the snake and has very little interaction with him.

The result? *snif* I am just another big warm blob to my beloved snake *snif*
He responded to my husband exactly as he responded to me. It was a pretty interesting little test. He doesn't differentiate between people. Now this test did not involve opening his enclosure at all, so I am not proposing that he would not be able to tell the difference between people that he could smell and taste really clearly. I am saying that visually, he doesn't know the difference between people.

Anyway, I'll stop blabbering, here are some pics.
Augie comes out looking for food:


But he feels safe since his tail is still securely tucked inside a hide!


Hey Sistah, can you spare a mouse or two?


Gimme some tongue:

[JLC]

Haha! Awesome pictures!! What a beautiful little guy you got there! (Lovely enclosure, too...quite the snakey paradise!)


And very cool observation....thanks for sharing!

[Reptilian]

Wow great looking snake and setup you got going. What morph is Augie, a pastel?

[frankykeno]

Awww but you are Augie's "big warm blob" LOL It is really hard to figure out how snake's "think" about us humans isn't it. I know from our experience with a non-eating WC adult rescue that a snake can react to a specific human differently than others but over time that seems to pass and all humans become pretty much the same. For the longest time, Saoirse (the WC in question) would only relax when held by my husband, Michael. We assumed that because he was the first human she took food from (she'd been at minimum 8 months but probably closer to a year in captivity w/o taking a feeding), that in some way Michael became acceptable to her. Anyone else handling her immediately got the curl up in a tight ball, hope not to die reaction. With Michael she would explore and tongue flick pretty much as any captive ball does. Gradually though over time Saoirse has come to accept me and other human beings though she remains a cautious adult around strangers.

[fishmommy]

Wow great looking snake and setup you got going. What morph is Augie, a pastel?

yep, he's a Lemon pastel. NERD 8/06 hatch. Now he's pushing 600g and is over 3 feet

[Reptilian]

He's such a bright yellow, very beautiful.

[fishmommy]

thanks

I fell in love with his looks
but I stayed in love with his good attitude...he's really easy going and a great feeder!

Today I broke down and disinfected his cage and all his stuff, so he's not too pleased with me at the moment
we're trying aspen for the first time, since ambient humidity is plenty good this time of year.

[bearhart]

Beautiful snake and enclosure too! How much did the enclosure cost you and how big is it?

Does this behavior stop for a while after feeding? Mine does this thing that I believe is hunting. I don't know if he does it when I'm not around but he generally starts up nearing feeding day. In the evening, and in my full view, he very slowly cruises the cage taking all different routes, stopping now and again to just stare. Other than that he phones it in for at least 3 days after feeding.

[rabernet]

Does this behavior stop for a while after feeding? Mine does this thing that I believe is hunting. I don't know if he does it when I'm not around but he generally starts up nearing feeding day. In the evening, and in my full view, he very slowly cruises the cage taking all different routes, stopping now and again to just stare. Other than that he phones it in for at least 3 days after feeding.

Ambush hunters don't generally actively hunt for their food, they wait for it to come to them. If any of my kiddos are out and actively roaming on feeding day, then 9 times out of 10 they will refuse their food when offered to them. As a result, at least with my crew - roaming indicates that something is "tweaking" or stressing them if it's not happening late at night when they normally take a "cruise".

If they are on top of their hides like Augie, or heads peeking out of their hides in the strike position, they'll be hitting in under 10 seconds.

Augie is in a classic "strike" position, and not really cruising his enclosure. He is, however, ready to strike any prey that might wander by!

He looks so awesome! I love how reduced he is and he is getting more and more yellow!

[liam]

i want tht tank...can i have ur setup i like the natural look it makes nskaes feel more at home...can i have sites from were u got stuff. time to break out the credit card ... well my parents credit card