Fun Snake Facts

Thanks Leeshie. I hope lots more members chime in with other fascinating information about how snake's bodies work. I'm fascinated how a creature so vastly different from a mammal goes about things. I know I do a better job with them if I really understand why this or that is important to how their bodies function.

My next personal project is to learn more about exactly how they mature sexually and how reproduction is the same and different than in mammals since I feel horribly clueless about this.

Bizarre side effect of researching ball pythons is I'm now a HUGE fan of african termite mounds. I had next to no clue what a huge impact these amazing creatures and their homes have on snakes, lizards, elephants, cheetahs and human beings just to name a few. Imagine that africans can pan for gold in a termite mound...now that folks is pretty dang amazing!

Oh and according to studies done over there termites, through an incredible series of flues, tunnels and movement of wet mud keep their mounds at an almost perfect 87 degrees with stable humidity, no matter how hot or cold the surrounding area is. Since only about 15% of termite mounds studied were "active" they nicely move out and leave behind lovely homes for ball pythons. Darn nice bugs!

African rats are pretty smart too with their burrows. The one study I read said that no matter the outside temps the burrows kept a steady 85 degrees.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Bizarre side effect of researching ball pythons is I'm now a HUGE fan of african termite mounds. I had next to no clue what a huge impact these amazing creatures and their homes have on snakes, lizards, elephants, cheetahs and human beings just to name a few. Imagine that africans can pan for gold in a termite mound...now that folks is pretty dang amazing!

Oh and according to studies done over there termites, through an incredible series of flues, tunnels and movement of wet mud keep their mounds at an almost perfect 87 degrees with stable humidity, no matter how hot or cold the surrounding area is. Since only about 15% of termite mounds studied were "active" they nicely move out and leave behind lovely homes for ball pythons. Darn nice bugs!

African rats are pretty smart too with their burrows. The one study I read said that no matter the outside temps the burrows kept a steady 85 degrees.

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Cool....I had no idea that African terminates were this influential. When I took ecology, I remember that ecologists had recently the coined term, ecosystem engineer, to describe species that design their own homes and in doing so create stable, predictable conditions for themselves and other species.

I knew of several examples, beavers, trees, earthworms, corals, elephants, woodpeckers, and humans. But it nice to add to the list. :)

Here's some of the facts I'll add now:

• Snakes fart! Its called Cloacal Popping! Some species are believed to use it in defense.
• Unlike in humans and other mammals, it is the female that determines the sex of the offspring. This is because snakes use the ZW system of genetic sex determination. In the ZW system, females are the heterogametic sex (ZW) while males are the homogametic sex (ZZ). Hence, it is the presence of the Z or W chromosome in the ovum that determines the sex of snakes (and I think all squamates for that matter).
• Ball Pythons have high rod packing densities in their eyes comparable to the packing densities seen in cats. Rods are used for night vision. Hence, ball pythons can detect even the faintest light in darkness.
• Many snakes, including BPs, have visual pigments in their eyes that can detect UV light. This can be used in foraging during the day and/or tracking down potential mates. The urine of rodents contains substances that reflect UV light and snakes can use UV vision to follow these tracks. Many pheromones also reflect UV light.

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Originally Posted by Mendel's Balls

[*]Many snakes, including BPs, have visual pigments in their eyes that can detect UV light. This can be used in foraging during the day and/or tracking down potential mates. The urine of rodents contains substances that reflect UV light and snakes can use UV vision to follow these tracks. Many pheromones also reflect UV light.

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Now that there is some cool information.

BTW, thanks for giving me an idea for a new title. :P

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

So basically I figure this Sarah. Whether it's one rat or a few mice that equal the volume of that one small/small rat, as long as the snake's system is kept tuned up so to speak - not overfed nor fasting - it has got to work at it's most efficient and healthy level.

As far as how many mice, all I can tell you is our biggest exclusively mouse eating snake here is Doireann (05 Normal Female). She weighs as of today 1,268 grams. She generally eats 4 or 5 adult mice on feeding night. I'll try to remember to weigh them this week and get you a total weight for what she's eating per week if that helps but they are just basically normal adult size white feeder mice.

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Thanks, Joanna, this is probably the most informative thread I have ever seen on these amazing animals. And it's really cleared up a lot of questions I had on feeding!

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Originally Posted by xdeus

BTW, thanks for giving me an idea for a new title. :P

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I had no idea what you what you were talking about until I looked to the left. :)

Here's a another fact: All snakes are carnivores. Some snakes even eat other snakes. There's even an entire genus of snakes (Ophiophagus) who derive their name from this behavior. Ophiophagy is the technical term for snake eating.

all bow to the Cloacal Popping Engineer :bow:

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

all bow to the Cloacal Popping Engineer :bow:

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:8: Too bad the pay isn't that great, but it does make for some interesting party conversations.

and i bet you smell reeeeeeeeeeeeal nice too :puke: