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Basking & The Cornsnake Manual
- Thread starter CJBianco
- Start date
SnakeLuvrs
New member
I have one that basks in his cage and i have another one that will bask if i take her outside with that same posture.
SnakeLuvrs
New member
dont know about that. havent seen any wild ones... only wild corns i have seen are ring necks... and a small skinny black one that i dont know what it was....
CJBianco
Zen Philosopher
I would guess that wild cornsnakes most often face directly into the sun [when basking].
Here's what I am thinking...
(WARNING: I am about to ramble.)
The idea of the cornsnake's wavy basking position being a method of disguising its shape from potential airborn predators never really sat right with me. In my opinion, the wavy shape is the quintessential snake shape. This would not be too effective of a disguise.
Then I thought about snake behavior. There are only four things that a wild cornsnake would be concerned about -- shelter, food, predators, and heat source (sunlight). This behavior would have little to do with shelter. I doubt that the body posture has anything to do with luring prey items, and I do not believe that it is an effective disguise either. That leaves me with the heat source option.
I would think that reptiles would be EXTREMELY conscious about the heat source (sunlight). In fact, several species will manipulate their bodies in order to increase the natural heating effects. One example that I am personally familiar with is the Russian Tortoise. This animal will often prop itself up against a rock in order to angle its carapace (top of shell) directly toward the sun. (This is sometimes referred to as "tilting".) This allows for a more uniform heating over the carapace area.
I wonder if a similar technique is employed by wild cornsnakes. By positioning itself directly into the sun's rays, the cornsnake is optimizing the coverage of sunlight over its entire back. (In other words, if the snake was facing sideways, then half of its back would be in shadow.) The sides may still catch a little sunlight in a straight body position, but by utilizing a wavy body position, the various points along the sides are now fully exposed to the direct sunlight as well. This would seem to be the ideal position for optimizing the sun's warming rays. The back is fully exposed to direct sunlight as well as many points along the sides. (And it would also be expected that the cornsnake would periodically readjust its winding body position so that the temporarily unexposed portions of the sides are now fully exposed to direct sunlight.)
This would be the most economical way for the cornsnake to optimize the natural heat source. And since other reptile species (Russian Tortoise, etc) express similar sun-catching behaviors, it would not be ludicrous to expect a cornsnake to do the same.
Who knows?
Chris
Here's what I am thinking...
(WARNING: I am about to ramble.)
The idea of the cornsnake's wavy basking position being a method of disguising its shape from potential airborn predators never really sat right with me. In my opinion, the wavy shape is the quintessential snake shape. This would not be too effective of a disguise.
Then I thought about snake behavior. There are only four things that a wild cornsnake would be concerned about -- shelter, food, predators, and heat source (sunlight). This behavior would have little to do with shelter. I doubt that the body posture has anything to do with luring prey items, and I do not believe that it is an effective disguise either. That leaves me with the heat source option.
I would think that reptiles would be EXTREMELY conscious about the heat source (sunlight). In fact, several species will manipulate their bodies in order to increase the natural heating effects. One example that I am personally familiar with is the Russian Tortoise. This animal will often prop itself up against a rock in order to angle its carapace (top of shell) directly toward the sun. (This is sometimes referred to as "tilting".) This allows for a more uniform heating over the carapace area.
I wonder if a similar technique is employed by wild cornsnakes. By positioning itself directly into the sun's rays, the cornsnake is optimizing the coverage of sunlight over its entire back. (In other words, if the snake was facing sideways, then half of its back would be in shadow.) The sides may still catch a little sunlight in a straight body position, but by utilizing a wavy body position, the various points along the sides are now fully exposed to the direct sunlight as well. This would seem to be the ideal position for optimizing the sun's warming rays. The back is fully exposed to direct sunlight as well as many points along the sides. (And it would also be expected that the cornsnake would periodically readjust its winding body position so that the temporarily unexposed portions of the sides are now fully exposed to direct sunlight.)
This would be the most economical way for the cornsnake to optimize the natural heat source. And since other reptile species (Russian Tortoise, etc) express similar sun-catching behaviors, it would not be ludicrous to expect a cornsnake to do the same.
Who knows?
Chris
Roy Munson
New member
CJBianco said:
You may be on to something with the idea that they are maximizing surface exposure. But at the same time, this behavior may also act as a disguise mechanism due to the counter-shading coloration of a wild corn. :shrugs:
Roy Munson
New member
CJBianco said:
Wa-day-ta...
The picture in question
This is merely a theory. The snake would be obviously aware of a presence, the photographer, a vehicle, etc. By "scrunching" itself into that posture, it appears to look more like a stick or branch as opposed to a smooth serpentine type posture. I'm thinking that it realized it couldn't get away fast enough and rather than draw attention to itself by slithering away, it adopted that kinky posture. :shrugs:
This is merely a theory. The snake would be obviously aware of a presence, the photographer, a vehicle, etc. By "scrunching" itself into that posture, it appears to look more like a stick or branch as opposed to a smooth serpentine type posture. I'm thinking that it realized it couldn't get away fast enough and rather than draw attention to itself by slithering away, it adopted that kinky posture. :shrugs:
CJBianco
Zen Philosopher
mbdorfer said:
That is the theory discussed in the manual. And I have to disagree. In my opinion, the snake would look LESS like a stick or branch when taking the curvy waving posture. (The sticks and branches that I've seen are usually more straight and angular.)
However, I admit [as clearly stated in the reply above] that the shadowing effect that Roy pointed out earlier would be helpful [to a degree] in disguising the general shape of the snake to arial predators. Although I'm not convinced that an arial predator would be fooled too easily. Everything on the ground would cast a shadow, so the arial predator would most likely have developed a way to differentiate snake from shadow [such as color vision].
mbdorfer said:
The idea that the experiment is affected by observation alone? I agree. And that's why we may never really know the reason. (Of course, I'd still wager that most basking cornsnakes face directly into the sunlight. Call it a hunch. LOL)
Chris
kathylove
Pragmatic & Logical
Interesting idea!
I sure can't read their little snakey minds to know for sure why they do that! But I can tell you that I have found many snakes on the roads with those little wavy kinks in them. And most of the time it has been right at dusk, or even just after dark, not during the day in the sun. I have noticed the same little waves no matter the time of day. And they are often motionless in that posture when we first drive up. It appears that they were that way before we drove up, and didn't change position after we arrived, at least not until we approached closely on foot.
If you look at the photo of the boy about to catch the snake a couple of pages before the one you mentioned, you will notice the lack of the little waves. That is because the photo was set up with one of my okeetees. I have never had a snake go into the "little waves" position if we set him up for a photo. I have only seen it on wild snakes that had not yet been disturbed by anyone.
So I don't know exactly what it means, but those are my observations.
I sure can't read their little snakey minds to know for sure why they do that! But I can tell you that I have found many snakes on the roads with those little wavy kinks in them. And most of the time it has been right at dusk, or even just after dark, not during the day in the sun. I have noticed the same little waves no matter the time of day. And they are often motionless in that posture when we first drive up. It appears that they were that way before we drove up, and didn't change position after we arrived, at least not until we approached closely on foot.
If you look at the photo of the boy about to catch the snake a couple of pages before the one you mentioned, you will notice the lack of the little waves. That is because the photo was set up with one of my okeetees. I have never had a snake go into the "little waves" position if we set him up for a photo. I have only seen it on wild snakes that had not yet been disturbed by anyone.
So I don't know exactly what it means, but those are my observations.
Slippery Ernie
New member
I like the idea of the snake evening-out it's exposure to the sun. Sounds about right to me.
Maybe "scrunching" a little bit like that enables them to start moving faster. If the snake is all stretched out and a predator comes along, the snake has to get its stomach muscles going and get moving. But if he's scrunched, he could almost leap forward and take off.
Maybe "scrunching" a little bit like that enables them to start moving faster. If the snake is all stretched out and a predator comes along, the snake has to get its stomach muscles going and get moving. But if he's scrunched, he could almost leap forward and take off.
Roy Munson
New member
If the scrunching only happens in the evening, it may allow the snake to reduce its surface area, reducing heat loss.
kathylove
Pragmatic & Logical
"Maybe "scrunching" a little bit like that enables them to start moving faster..."
Sounds possible, but wouldn't the loose loops that captive snakes often prefer give them at least as good of a head start over a predator? Although if they really could get moving more quickly, it would explain why wild snakes might "scrunch" and captives "loop". But it doesn't explain why wild snakes that have been handled and set up for a photo refuse to "scrunch" and only "loop".
"If the scrunching only happens in the evening, it may allow the snake to reduce its surface area, reducing heat loss."
I have seen them scrunch in the daytime (late afternoon) too. But since they are not normally on the road in the MIDDLE of the day, I may not seen it then. So it is possible there could be some merit in that. I will have to ask Bill on that one, since he is the real hunter, not me. He has seen jillions of wild corns over the past few decades.
I guess somebody would have to do some measurements of scrunched and non-scrunched snakes and do some formulas to figure out if the scrunched snakes would benefit in heat retention by using that posture. Sounds like a good project for Chuck.
Interesting topic - any other theories?
Sounds possible, but wouldn't the loose loops that captive snakes often prefer give them at least as good of a head start over a predator? Although if they really could get moving more quickly, it would explain why wild snakes might "scrunch" and captives "loop". But it doesn't explain why wild snakes that have been handled and set up for a photo refuse to "scrunch" and only "loop".
"If the scrunching only happens in the evening, it may allow the snake to reduce its surface area, reducing heat loss."
I have seen them scrunch in the daytime (late afternoon) too. But since they are not normally on the road in the MIDDLE of the day, I may not seen it then. So it is possible there could be some merit in that. I will have to ask Bill on that one, since he is the real hunter, not me. He has seen jillions of wild corns over the past few decades.
I guess somebody would have to do some measurements of scrunched and non-scrunched snakes and do some formulas to figure out if the scrunched snakes would benefit in heat retention by using that posture. Sounds like a good project for Chuck.
Interesting topic - any other theories?