Archive for the 'Animals' Category
By Joshua Biggar
There are many kinds of rat snakes. One, of which is the Black Rat snake. The black Rat snake is a non-venomous snake that can grow up to eight feet in length. The adults are mostly black, with white bellies, and have white or gray showing between their scales. The young, or juvenile, usually are brown or gray with dark colored splotches on their backs.
Black Rat snakes are very common in the southeast. They are also called the Common Rat Snake for they are more likely to be found than any of the other rat snakes. They live in fields, swamps, marshes, thick brush, and other woodlands where they hunt prey and hide from predators. Black Rat snakes are great climbers and are often found in trees, woodpecker holes, and birdhouses. They feed mostly on small animals such as mice, frogs, rabbits, squirrels and will also eat bird eggs, and other snakes. The Black Rat snake is a constrictor, which means they will wrap around, constrict, and suffocate their prey.
Black Rat snakes have many predators, such as foxes, raccoons, large birds, cars, and even people. People kill black rat snakes because of their fear in snakes, especially since the black rat snake can grow extremely large. Some times they are killed for being mistaken as other, venomous snakes. It has been know to curl up in striking position, and shake its tail, much like the venomous rattlesnake.
Black Rat snakes are non-aggressive, harmless snakes. Their bites are not very common and usually only happen when they are threatened, provoked, or handled improperly. Though they are not venomous, they can, however, deliver a painful bite. These snakes are very beneficial to the environment because they eat rats and mice which carry diseases, destroy crops, and ruin homes. Without snakes such as the Black Rat snake, many places would be otherwise overrun with such rodents. These snakes are truly amazing creatures that serve an important role in the balancing of the Eco System.
September 17 2007 | Animals and Random and Reptiles | No Comments »
By Tim Buchinger
Like most animals on the planet, snakes have the five normal senses. Those would be sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste. Some features of the senses are limited, while others are extended beyond the norm.
Eyes - The range of sensitivity of the eyes vary greatly from snake to snake. Most snakes see the actual movement of objects clearer than the object itself. Snakes that are active during the day normally see in this fashion. On the other end of the spectrum, some snakes, such as the blind snakes, see shades of light and dark. Snakes do not have eyelids in the traditional sense. They cover their eyes with a clear membrane, called the brille.
Ears - Snakes lack an external ear opening. Their ear bone is attached to their jaw bone. They can only hear very low sounds.
Tongue - The snakes tongue is the most interesting part of their anatomy. Everyone knows the typical action for the tongue; flicking. Snakes flick out their tongue, and either wave it in the air, or touch the ground with it. This is one of their touch sensors. It is also used to find or detect chemical scents. Molecules of any chemical are collected by the tongue, brought back into their mouth, and analyzed by the Jacobson’s organ. Using this method, a snake can more effectively find and follow its prey.
Some snakes can detect infrared heat rays. Some species of snakes have small holed, or pits, on their faces, including; pit vipers, boas, pythons. This pit allows them to distinguish minute changes in temperature in the direction they are pointed. Hunting prey is made simple by picking out warmer temperatures in front of them.
July 16 2007 | Animals and Info and Random and Reptiles | No Comments »
By Michael Gutemberg
There is no limit to the food items that you can even think of a snake might eat. Different species have different preys that they prefer to have. There are common preys that most of them like to have. According to season they might change their prey. Whatever is available in abundance would become the prey for the snakes. Depending on their growth their diet also varies. A simple search on the Internet for the phrase what do snakes eat would reveal a lot of interesting things to you. Some of the snakes prefer to have a particular prey alone. Even if there is irregular supply of prey in a particular place they could survive that condition since they are cold blooded.
Some of the snakes like the tentacles snake eat aquatic plants apart from eating fish. Do not think that a snake might catch any prey that passes it. They would evaluate the prey they are planning to catch. If the prey is too small for it to be the meal then it might not even consider hunting. Some of the prey might be bigger for them to swallow. So they might even pass it without attacking it. Rodents serve as the important prey for most of the snakes. Note that it is a mammal. Snakes use their venom and constriction to kill the mammals and this method is well suited to kill the mammals before they eat. That could be one of the reasons for them to eat mammals mostly.
The other food that they prefer to have is other snakes. It is easy to swallow other snakes since they easily fit their long body. For example the King Snake will eat snakes like rattlesnake by constricting them before eating. They also have other prey other than snakes. It is a wonder that some of the snakes that eat other snakes are harmless. One of the other snakes that also prey on snakes is the King Cobra.
There are snakes that are considered snail specialists. They eat snails tactically without eating the shell. Snakes like the Brown snake, the thirst snake, and the Southeast Asian Snail eating snakes use different methods to extract the snail from the shell so that they can eat more snails without eating the shells.
On searching the web for some more content on what do snakes eat you might wonder when you come across other weird things that snakes eat. Centipedes, Ants, termites, Crabs, Toads, crayfish, spiders, carrion, grasshoppers, and skinks are some of the weird items that the snakes eat. Some of the snakes are good in eating the eggs of fish, reptiles, and frogs. Snakes also drink water from the pools, ponds, and the dewdrops using their split tongue.
July 01 2007 | Animals and Info and Random and Reptiles | No Comments »
By Michael Gutemberg
There are till this day 45 different types of snakes in Florida. Out of these forty five species only six species are poisonous and the rest 39 species are not poisonous and hence can cause no harm to human beings. These harmless 39 species needs to be protected for the ecological balance as these snakes can keep a check on the population of rodents, insects, rabbits and other small animals. For southern copper head- the other names of these snakes are copper head, chunk head, and highland moccasin.
The scientific name of this poisonous snake in our lovely state of Florida is agkistrodon contortrix contortrix. These snakes are small ones and can reach a maximum length of 53 inches. The body of the snake will be stout and will have alternate band of dark and light brown. Due to the effect of constriction at the backbone, the dark bands get hourglass shape.
The dark bands will have light centers at the side of the body. At times pinkish tinted southern copperheads can also be seen. The pupil elliptical and will have a catlike slit. Facial pit [deep] can be seen between the eye and the nostril. For the cotton mouth this is the other poisonous snake in florida. The other names are cottonmouth moccasin, Florida cottonmouth, and water mocassin. The scientific name of this snake is agkistrodon piscivorous. The average size of the adult snake will be between 20 -48 inches. These snakes are heavy bodied and will appear dark colored. The young ones are found to posses cross bands that are reddish in color.
Speckles and dark spots can be seen in the dark cross bands. Dark, broad facial stripe will camouflage the eye. The thick head will appear distinctly broader than the neck. Catlike pupil and the pit between the eye and the nostril can be seen. The head top will be covered by scales that are like plates.
As a last warning, the eastern rattle snake is yet another venomous snake located in the rare lake and swamp areas of Florida. The scientific name is crotalus adamanteus. The other common names are rattle snake, diamond back, and rattler. The adults can grow to the length of 96 inches but the average size of the adult snake will range anywhere between 37- 73 inches. The body of the snake is large and heavy.
Presence of dark diamonds with cream color border and brown color center is the characteristic of this type of snakes. The color of the tail will be different from rest of the body. At the tails, the diamond will not be seen, instead bands will be seen. Dark stripe can be seen running diagonally to the eye in the large and thick head.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Gutemberg
June 18 2007 | Animals and Random and Reptiles and Snake tips | No Comments »
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