Just wondering

[StaticKaos]

My Cornsnake is about a foot an a half long and eats pinkies and i feed him to dasy for the first time and he ate in in like 4 seconds flat do i need to move up on food or feed him 2 pinkies every time i feed him??
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[StaticKaos]

o and one more thing why does he shake his tail like a rattlesnake?.....it scared the crap out of me lol

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[Shadrach]

Sound's like to me he's ready to move up to fuzzy mice if he's a foot and 1/2! Also the rattling of the tail is a defensive thing most snake's are able to do this espically Corn's, King's, Rat's it's a way to make you double think in the wild or to show you they are ticked off and you better back off! Also they do this as a bluff to make you think they are a big bad rattle snake!
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[wsacbass]

That's pretty funny my gopher snakes do that too. After 3 years with my western hognoses they still make me flinch then they puff up and strike at me never any connection though. Just a lot of attitude.
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[Snake18]

I have a kingsnake and he also does this. He only does it during feeding time though. When he is not eating he is as nice as can be. He has never struck, hissed, or anything while not feeding.
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[StaticKaos]

well that was my lil brother using my account.. yes we got us a new herp.. its a corn snake, a aneth somethin i believe..red an black, very very nice patterns, complete circles all the way down the spine from head to toe...


other corn owners: how thick will this thing get? its so skinny now im scared he'll escape with the tiniest chance
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	Corn Snake The Corn Snake or Red Rat Snake (Elaphe guttata) is a species of Rat Snake.

[Bry]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> complete circles all the way down the spine from head to toe... </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

toe??

Bry
[addsig]

Depends if it's a male or a female. I have a 3.5' male who is about as big around as a 50 cent piece, but I've handled others that are bigger than a silver dollar (female) and about 5'
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[JuliusSqueezer]

I don't believe colubrids rattle to mimic rattlesnakes...this is why: Colubrids from other parts of the world do this too. Colubrids are older evoloutionarily (is this a word?) and so likely developed this behaviour long before there were any rattlesnakes. I think what happened is that rattlesnakes just evolved and developed rattles to enhance this behaviour a bit further. I also don't think any snake has the ability to reason and problem solve by watching other species. Almost everything is instinctive to them and I have never wittnessed one snake even remotely paying attention to what another snake is doing with the exception of some species getting defensive when kingsnakes are near. Apparently some snakes have learned the smell or whatever it is they taste in the air and know to avoid kingsnakes. Rattling seems to be more intense with snakes from the plains and other open grasslands. This would make sense due to the fact that there are or were at one time an abundance of non predator larged hooved grazing animals that the snakes cared not to be trampled by. Perhaps a little tail wag in the dry grass could allert a buffalo as to please step over and not on. Pitouphis snakes can rattle almost as loud as a rattlesnake even when there is no leaves or dry grass to rattle against. they whip the tail so fast it breaks the sound barrier and makes a series of small sonic cracks. When man came along....this worked agaisnt them as bullsnakes are keelscaled and marked a lot like many of the midwestern rattlesnakes and so were often mistaken for rattlers and killed.....they shoulda just laid still [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] and still should. Even tame, well established snakes often prefer to be left alone when they are eating. They know that while swallowing, they are vulnerable to predation in that they can't bite with their mouth full and they can't crawl away at any great speed. So...alot will rattle while eating because this is what little defense they have left.
[addsig]

I agree...rattlesnakes are more evolved than colubrids..they &quot;grew&quot; venom and a rattle...now some are slowly evolving equal levels of hemo and neuro toxin in their venom...I don't think I'd care to meet a rattler's descendant in 10,000 years...
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