Do snakes release pheromones(sp?) while eating?

Koviack · #1 (**permalink**) 11-25-2003, 03:51 PM

Last night I fed my RTB (doesn't have a name yet cause we not sure if its male or female :P) a f/t hopper mouse (petshop was out of rat pinks) in a box. I put the mouse in the box and he/she immediately struck it in the middle and was having a hard time getting it down. I closed the box up and went to the store while he/she was eating, when I came home he/she had got the mouse down and was wanting back into his cage, so I picked him/her up, put him/her in his cage and he/she immediately went for his hidey hole. I put the box he/she had just eaten in on top of another box next to my bookshelf which is near my bed. At this point my door was left open so my black lab, Terra came into my room, jumped up onto my bed and went to lie down at the end. She saw the box and sniffed the air a little and immediately jumped up and ran out of the room (at this point i'm thinking wtf?) I call her back and her heart is racing and she's shaking..She's never seen him eat in the box, and she doesn't have a problem with the snake.. She's scared of this box though.. So do snakes release a pheromone to scare off animals while they eat?

Bry · #2 (**permalink**) 11-25-2003, 06:30 PM

Hmm, never heard of that. But even if they do, it would make sense for them to use that as a defense method while eating. It's been said before that a snake's only form of protection is their mouth. It's hard to protect yourself when your mouth is full of rat.

Bry

JuliusSqueezer · #3 (**permalink**) 11-25-2003, 06:42 PM

The dog likely smelled a combination of mouse, blood, snake musk....It was a foreign animal smell and probably made him nervous. Pheromones are secreted by some animals, most widely used among insects but many others as well mostly to attract a mate.