I've got a question???? Please make a logical guess

Ok, So I understand snakes know how to hunt and everything they have to do right out of the egg and though generations and generations its just engrained. but seriously how do they know??? i mean think about it. wolves when they have cubs they teach them how to hunt. so who taught the snakes how to hunt and what to eat if they are on there own as soon as they are born or hatched????

Well, I'd imagine there is a smidgen of trial and error on the snake's part. They might try to eat lizards first or birds or frogs - whatever is at hand. But they're going to develop a preference for certain kinds of prey and learn what is good and what is bad.

The other thing is, whether they know it or not they have heat receptors that are going to trigger their brain. Babies should instinctively strike when they register a small heat signature, just as humans instinctively pull away when we feel heat. (Well, maybe not all, but most. :P)

Otherwise, I'm not sure. :oops:

i dont know i think its still kinda crazy if you seriously sit there and think about it

Some animals seem pre-programed in a similar way as a bird makes a nest to lay in, they are not shown how to make the nest.... a snake does what it does based on instinct and maybe some learned processes along the way.

but i dont understand how it learns that when its in the egg and no one to teach it.

It is included in the DNA or something like that,like when you were born nobody had to show you how to breath cause you knew it.

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Originally Posted by Monty

but i dont understand how it learns that when its in the egg and no one to teach it.

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Doesn't need to learn what it already possesses the ability to do and has been doing well for millions of years. :)

its the same thing how sea turtles know to go right into the water and salmon know how to swim up stream out threw the great lakes and into the ocean

Instinct and a sheer will to survive. Humans are known to react instinctively to certain situations. Fortunately for most humans we have the intelligence to over ride a lot of what our instinct tells us to do. Lucky for snakes they don't have as much capacity to reason things through. All creatures on this earth our born with a certain amount of instinct. When you were first born did your mother have to teach you how to suck on a bottle or breast? No, this was something mother nature made sure you knew how to do as it is required for survival.

On the same note lets answer the question, would a captive hatched adult snake be as likely to survive as a wild hatched and raised snake if released bach into the wild? If you took a 10th generation captive bred/Captive hatched hatchling and released it would it have the same chances as a Wild hatched? Or at some point by each generation being given certain things does some of the natural instinct start to be left out of the genetic coding of the snake as mother nature is famous for the use it or loose it adaptations during evolutionary cycles? Granted most evolutionary cycles take thousands if not millions of years.

wow gloryhound you just put my question to shame honestly i think a captive bred snake would fair well in the wild if the owner is feeding it live if its prekilled or frozen thawed i dont think the snake would have a chance unless it seen a moving object as food but since ive transfered one of my snakes to f/t i brought home a live mouse one day and she didnt even pay attention to the live one and went right for the f/t. so i think in captivity they do lose some of the wild instinct if kept properly