Can they see in the dark?

It just occurred to me (after waking up from my nap in the pitch blackness that is my apartment) to find out if corn snakes will do okay in the dark without any sort of lighting. As stated, my apartment gets very dark at night. I could always get Wolfgang a little night-light to help him find his water dish...

Also, this is my first post here after getting my snake! Check out my iHerp page below. He's such a cutie.

http://www.iherp.com/Public/Animals/ViewAnimal.aspx?AnimalID=118409

They rely on smell more than sight.. He doesn't need a light.

As Corns are most active in the wild during times of low or no light (dawn, dusk and overnight), they're absolutely fine in the dark. They use heat sensing for hunting as well as smell and sound.

bitsy said:

As Corns are most active in the wild during times of low or no light (dawn, dusk and overnight), they're absolutely fine in the dark. They use heat sensing for hunting as well as smell and sound.

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Heat sensing? How do they do that without any heat pits? Pit vipers and some boids use heat sensing but I don't think any colubrids do.

Corn_Oasis said:

Heat sensing? How do they do that without any heat pits? Pit vipers and some boids use heat sensing but I don't think any colubrids do.

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I thought that too until I got one of my corns. All of mine will eat mice that are room temperature, with the exception of one. If the mouse is not hot, she will slither away. I also have had a few try to bypass the mice and go for my hands, presumably because that's warmer than the mice. I guess what I am try into say is that even though they don't have any heat sensing pits.. They still are able to detect heat.

AliCat37 said:

I thought that too until I got one of my corns. All of mine will eat mice that are room temperature, with the exception of one. If the mouse is not hot, she will slither away. I also have had a few try to bypass the mice and go for my hands, presumably because that's warmer than the mice. I guess what I am try into say is that even though they don't have any heat sensing pits.. They still are able to detect heat.

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I believe they can use their Jacobson's organ to smell the different chemicals released from a warm mouse from that of a cold mouse.

In order to sense something an animal must first have a physical sensory organ to detect it. We taste and smell because of the associated sensory buds. We hear because we have ear drums. And reticulated pythons can "see" the infra-red heat of their prey because of their heat pit sensory organs. Corn snakes have no known heat sensory organs except their skin. So, they are no better at detecting heat than we are at detecting hot coffee in a cup before we take a sip.

Corn snakes in the wild track down prey using only their Jacobson's organ. And catch it using a combination of smell and sight. And their smell is so good they really don't even need their sight. When I bring mice into my snake room my corn snakes will become active and are able to smell the mice from more than 20 feet away.

They must have some kind of heat sensing related to feeding - one of the tricks for problem feeders is to super-heat the food you're offering. Doing that would make no difference if they couldn't firstly detect it and then relate it to the specific identification of food. I dont think anyone yet understands why this trick works, but heat can definitely be a factor in them locating and eating prey.

Even I can smell the difference between a super-hot pinky and a cold one. But a corn snake is many many times better at detecting the "temperature" of their prey because of the different chemical reactions of heated food. Again this is solely a function of the Jacobson's organ and is chemical detection and not infra-red detection like snakes with heat pits.

The reason corn snakes may eat a super-heated pinky is because it smells better to them....not because they can locate it better than a cold pinky. In fact, if you think about it this is the proof that what I'm saying is correct...heat sensing in snakes is used only for location and is not used to determine what is good or not good to eat. ONLY smell is used to determine what is good to eat...a heated pinky will increase the appetite of baby corns because of its different smell.

Mine all start coming out of their hides as soon as the freezer opens.. it's in the same room.

Still doesn't explain why they will pass a room temp mouse and go for my hand when feeding.

Not that I am completely disagreeing with you, but I think there may be more to the story.

AliCat37 said:

Still doesn't explain why they will pass a room temp mouse and go for my hand when feeding.

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Because a snake can't tell where a mouse ends and a hand begins. They smell food, they see movement, they strike. It's as simple as that. They will sometimes still try and grab our hands even if the mouse is warmer than room temps or your hand. This is why you shouldn't feed large snakes by hand.

That has not been my experience, that answer just doesn't work for me lol. I wonder if there are any studies about it?

Edit: I looked around on the Internet a bit, it seems that all colubrid snakes have heat sensing receptors between their scales on their noses. I'll look into it a bit more when I get off work.

AliCat37 said:

Edit: I looked around on the Internet a bit, it seems that all colubrid snakes have heat sensing receptors between their scales on their noses. I'll look into it a bit more when I get off work.

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Cool. I'd love to learn about this. Never heard that colubrids have heat sensors on their nose. Let us know what you find out.

(Chmosensory in colubrids)

Some of you might find this interesting....
http://www.academia.edu/1761541/Che...al_stimuli_in_five_species_of_colubrid_snakes