Nurture defeating Nature?

[PhoenixRevival]

I've been feeding my new corn for a little over a month now and not once have i seen him strike or constrict, he just slithers right up to the pinky opens his mouth and starts to get the thing down... Now considering the future of his eating will be frozen, i'm glad he has no trouble eating them so young but i have to wonder, is this just a quirk in my snake's behavior, or could it be that he's just lost the instinct to strike and constrict?:eats02:

 

[Sanebedlam]

Young ones don't tend to strike. My hatching just started striking in the last week and my yearling and adult both strike but don't constrict. Thats just how it goes.

 

[susang]

Since I have adults and hatchlings, I would say it's pretty much a mixed bag. I like agressive feeders, but in a hatchling this usually means a bit of an attitude. Most of mine strike and constrict, but not all, with the hatchlings I would say most as I have never seen one of them eat, he's very secretive. I don't hink it's a big deal, susang

 

[MegF.]

Even live pinkies rarely illicit a strike. They are just so small that I think the snake doesn't find it a threat. Every one of my snakes strike and constrict anything larger than a pinky though. Even my hatchlings have been striking and constricting since they were just a couple of months old. All feed on frozen/thawed. I'm sure yours will start eating more aggressively as the prey size increases. I also feed with tongs, so you can sort of make the prey seem alive by teasing the snakes with the mouse. My adults are also only fed every two weeks, so by the time that small rat gets dangled...they ain't kidding around

 

[ButtersCorns4life]

I guess my corns don't fall under no constricting or striking...

He's a little older than you said but still I thought this was a cool pic.

 

[PhoenixRevival]

Very nice pic... especially because the "Glad" in the pic speaks more of the snakes mood than it does of a plastic container :rofl:

 

[Double het]

or could it be that he's just lost the instinct to strike and constrict?:eats02:

Snakes *never* lose their instinct. If you would put the snake back in his natural enviroment right out of your viv (Ofcource you should NEVER do that it will have no problems whatsoever and behave like any other wild corn.

Tiny prey just ain't worth constricting. The won't contrict tiny prey in the wild either. He'll probably start constricting larger prey or perhaps not. What i do tent to notice they get more aggresive the hungrier they are. I have a snake that never constricts when eating each week, constricts a bit in 2 and is outright aggressive in 3 weeks.

 

[v_various]

well, one of my snakes won't constrict no matter what, but I can get better (more entertaining) results when I use salad tongs to feed my other two. I dangle the mouse, and make them work for it. Heck, they get more of a work out hunting my salad-tong f/t's than they would with a live mouse.

 

[Kokopelli]

Snakes *never* lose their instinct..

Even the best zoologists in the world would hesitate before making such a statement.
It cannot be tested, not really.
Some will manage, others won't. Living in captivity sure as heck affects snakes. They do not fear people, they are reluctant to be picked up but they get used to it- something which will definitely work against them in the wild.
They are less aggressive, no question about it.

There will be examples that would go both ways, I don't like statements that are made with no real hard evidence in the form of a research to back it up.

 

[MegF.]

I'm not sure aggression is a trait even wild snakes have. I've caught countless wild snakes and have only been bitten less than a handful of times. Most of the time because it was provoked. I grabbed too hard, was trying to get the snake out of somewhere it wanted to be etc. I have domestic cornsnakes that are more aggressive than the wildcaught rat snake or gopher snakes I've handled. There are a whole lot of stories about cornsnakes that escaped from various households only to be found up to a year later, often in the garden, doing just fine. Snakes are wild...they don't lose a fear of people. Some are less skittish than others, but that's true of wild species as well.

 

[Kokopelli]

There's no real way to prove either opinion. I simply think that it is more apt to clarify that it is an opinion rather than make all sorts of statements which are not and cannot be backed up by a proof that will be incontrovertible

 

[lampy]

Its a pretty random thing i think, the 2 young that I have sometimes strike and constrict but mainly seem to spend the time bitin away till they figure out were the head is. Of the 2 adults Lucius very rarely bothers now tho occaisionally will. Draco the female almost always does, tho the rat i gave her last night wasnt and got eaten in a very lazy fashion!

 

[Double het]

Over here in holland we actually have a tiny corn snake population. Can't remember where exactly but someone put out a bunch of cornsnakes out in a small city. Please would find sheds and even caught 1. People say they survived for years. Though no evidence of breeding. But surviving non-the-less. It was on the news begin this summer i believe.

 

[Roy Munson]

Over here in holland we actually have a tiny corn snake population. Can't remember where exactly but someone put out a bunch of cornsnakes out in a small city. Please would find sheds and even caught 1. People say they survived for years. Though no evidence of breeding. But surviving non-the-less. It was on the news begin this summer i believe.

It would be pretty cool to be able to say that you had a W/C caught in Holland! (Not that I condone introducing species like that.)

 

[Jessicat]

:laugh01::laugh01::uhoh:

 

[Kokopelli]

First off if there's no proof of reproduction I'd say it's not really a successful release.
Second the implication of releasing cornsnakes on the local ecology can be severe. The local species can suffer greatly and be driven to extinction due to introduction of possibly more successful predators into their surroundings.

A single experiment which is not very well recorded or supervised doesn't prove much if anything.

 

[Double het]

Because summers are getting hotter, and winters getting milder, snakes manage to survive here. But it's not the correct climate for eggs to survive. And i definately agree it's not ok to release a pet snake in the wild and even worse where the snake isn't native. But it does show captive snakes still have what it takes to survive in the wild.

We also have populations of turtles and even a large and thriving colony of budgies in Amsterdam. All ex-pets who escaped or tossed out. I once found a baby turtle in the middle of town. Can't really imagine a turtle racing off outside the window

 

[v_various]

Second the implication of releasing cornsnakes on the local ecology can be severe. The local species can suffer greatly and be driven to extinction due to introduction of possibly more successful predators into their surroundings.

agreed, we have a red ear slider problem in vancouver. They survive just fine, and boot out less aggressive native species. Also doesn't help that they are so cute and tiny in the pet store -_- I think the local rescue had 14, last time I checked

 

[TandJ]

Try Florida with their thriving population of Burm's, and of course in the water ways, Pacu's and Oscars do well.. Of course there is the African incident where they releashed Nile Perch into Lake Victoria, and it pretty much eliminated the local Cichlid population... Opp's.. I am quite certain there is a population of corns some wheres in So Cal as well..

Regards.. Tim of T and J

 

[PhoenixRevival]

Not quite 'snake' talk, but if i heard correctly their ladybug population is getting decimated by a chinese ladybug thats very similar... with the exception that they breed 100x faster and are taking residence in peoples homes during the winter en mass... oh and they bite...

Ladybug ever bit me... i'd be scared for life lol