So what I'm gathering from this is that it's some sort of heat stroke type of phenomenon... but I'm still confused as to why the snake eats itself. Does the spike in temps really cause that drastic an increase in metabolic activity, triggering extreme hunger? And if so, is it really having such a big impact that combined with heat-impaired cognition the animal would actually mistake its own tail for a prey item?
This is all very fascinating to me. Another question would be what degree of overheating these animals would have to experience to get to this point. 10 degrees past safe basking temps? More? I've never had issues with a heating appliance as all of mine are controlled by thermostat so I honestly don't know what the signs of heat distress/exhaustion in snakes even are, or how they progress.
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