I am going to have to disagree

[Hapa_Haole]

Hmmmm, I thought I was agreeing with a question I can no longer find.

The brain dims with usage as I have just proven.

Do bees do the protruding proboscis everytime they land on something or only when it smells tasty?

I was picturing a coloured ball like the crunch berries in Captian Crunch cereal when you mentioned puffs. They're sweet too. And quite colourful.

Haha, to be honest that's what I pictured in class when we were talking about it. I avoided describing it on the exam though for obvious reasons.

And damn...my brain has obviously dimmed some as well seeing as how I just wrote a huge explanation for a question that you didn't actually ask. The much simpler answer to the actual question you asked is no, they do not extend their proboscis when they land on anything. But they do extend it every time their antennae encounter sugary/sweet foods.

Dennis

[blackcrystal22]

Haha, to be honest that's what I pictured in class when we were talking about it. I avoided describing it on the exam though for obvious reasons.

And damn...my brain has obviously dimmed some as well seeing as how I just wrote a huge explanation for a question that you didn't actually ask. The much simpler answer to the actual question you asked is no, they do not extend their proboscis when they land on anything. But they do extend it every time their antennae encounter sugary/sweet foods.

Dennis

Wouldn't that be considered instinctual?

[wilomn]

Wouldn't that be considered instinctual?

That Captain Crunch's Crunchberries were a logical consideration?

I don't think it's instinctual, just plain old commonsensical.

I mean, who doesn't have a protruding proboscis when Crunchberries are involved?

[blackcrystal22]

That Captain Crunch's Crunchberries were a logical consideration?

I don't think it's instinctual, just plain old commonsensical.

I mean, who doesn't have a protruding proboscis when Crunchberries are involved?

Very true.

[Hapa_Haole]

Wouldn't that be considered instinctual?

Is what instinctual?

Are you talking about the extending of the proboscis when it touches food? If so then yes, that is instinctual. Classical conditioning involves pairing that instinct with some novel experience like a color or odor puff so that when the animal experiences that novel experience alone it produces the behavior. If I'm only confusing you wikipedia classical conditioning and read up on Ian Pavlov. : )

And sorry if I'm hijacking the thread...
Dennis

[PythonWallace]

I agree with Frankykeno. You finally get a good feeding response from your snake, and you get scared and write a thread to tell us that you will only feed snakes in separate tubs from now on? If your snake is used to being taken out of its enclosure and moved into a separate tub before it ever senses a food item or gets fed, it is likely to be startled when all of a sudden, there is a prey item running around its house. Maybe, had he been fed in his enclosure from the start, he would be used to it and would not over react.

But even more likely, it could just be that it has always been nervous, and therefor hesitant to eat when it gets picked up and moved into a cold, empty tub, and since it is in the comfort of it's own enclosure, where it feels secure, it was more confident and had a normal feeding response for the first time since you have owned it. I feed over 40 pythons in their enclosures, and most of them have good, aggressive feeding responses, which is what you want in a ball python.

Also, for the mods or admins, is putting users on an ignore list the only way to prevent certain posts from being visible if I visit a thread more than once, or is there a way to block individual posts?

[Lolo76]

LOL... funny story. Delilah misses ALL the time, and usually looks embarrassed by it. I think she was actually relieved when we offered F/T last week, because she finally didn't have to worry about the strike - she was like, "Yes! They did all the work for me!" She took that thawed mouse faster than she's ever taken live, which made me very happy.

As for feeding in/out of their enclosure, I've always fed mine inside of theirs without a problem. I even hand-feed Delilah sometimes (with tongs), and she's never been aggressive about it... guess it just depends on the individual snake.

[Lolo76]

Oh, and another funny story I just thought of - Mona was really hungry one night, and cruising around her tank looking for food. She kept seeing random shadows and images (from her background), and getting excited until she realized it wasn't food... then she saw something that must have REALLY looked like a rodent, because she attacked the glass wall! She bonked her nose pretty hard, and slithered back into her cave all ashamed.

[rabernet]

Also, for the mods or admins, is putting users on an ignore list the only way to prevent certain posts from being visible if I visit a thread more than once, or is there a way to block individual posts?

You can only put users on ignore, not specific posts.

Back to your regularly scheduled topic.

[Skiploder]

Is what instinctual?

Are you talking about the extending of the proboscis when it touches food? If so then yes, that is instinctual. Classical conditioning involves pairing that instinct with some novel experience like a color or odor puff so that when the animal experiences that novel experience alone it produces the behavior. If I'm only confusing you wikipedia classical conditioning and read up on Ian Pavlov. : )

And sorry if I'm hijacking the thread...
Dennis

IF cage aggression were somehow related to being conditioned via being fed in the cage () then all you'd have to do to un-condition the snake is to open the cage at random intervals without feeding it.

I've had fish be conditioned to shooting to the top of the tank whenever my hand was up there. But I'm not in the habit of handling fish so it is understandable that they'd be conditioned to expect food.

Most pet snakes, unlike fish, are handled. I would hazard a WAG and throw out that the average snake is handled at random intervals several times before it's fed.

Therefore, I seriously doubt that after only one feeding, amidst several handling sessions, and being previously fed in a separate bin - that the OP's snake all of a sudden is conditioned to expect food when his cage door is opened.

Then again - what do I know?

Right?