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RE: Canebrake Cannibal?
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by Time on April 19, 2010
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Most people don't seem to realize that snakes are opportunistic feeders.
It's not unusual for a typical non-snake eater to feed on a cage mate. I know of several boas, pythons, hognoses snakes, and more that ate a cage mate.
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RE: Canebrake Cannibal?
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by FSB on April 19, 2010
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I had never heard of any ophiophagus tendecies in C. horridus, but that's the thing about snakes... just when you think you have them figured out they go and surprise you, again. Incidentally, I have always considered the term "cannibalism" to apply only to the eating of one's own species - a rattlesnake eating a garter snake is less of an act of cannibalism than a human eating a chimp.
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RE: Canebrake Cannibal?
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by Cro on April 19, 2010
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Timber rattlesnakes might be opportunistic feeders in captivity, on rare occasions, however, it is well known that the hibernating dens the timber rattlesnakes use are also used by copperheads, black ratsnakes, black racers, and garter snakes.
If they were opportunistic feeders, there would be far more records of those other snakes turning up in the stomach contents of the tens of thousands of timber rattlesnakes that are floating around in formalin in the hundreds of university and museum collections that have murdered those snakes.
And, that has not happened. There are a few records of timber rattlesnakes eating garter snakes, just as there are a few records of garter snakes eating juvenile timber rattlesnakes. However, it is not a common thing.
If it was, then garter snakes would not commonly share the same den sites with timber rattlesnakes.
The few recorded instances are just that, few. Certainly not what the Wikipedia said about garter snakes being the preferred meal.
That is the problem with Wikipedia. Any moron can register add content to it.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Canebrake Cannibal?
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by Pug on April 20, 2010
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John,
I don't disagree with you on the issue at hand. I just want to point out that in my experience, the stomach contents of the majority of those pickles you mention remain unexplored. It seems like a waste to kill the beasts and fail to get every bit of data they can yield.
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RE: Canebrake Cannibal?
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by pictigaster1 on April 20, 2010
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Pug I agree completely if you kill it why not validate it by doing all the necropsys you can on all of them.I wonder if at times that a garter on one end was swallowed by a timber while they were both trying to eat the same Item.Or a frog was eaten after it ate a garter.On the mountain in july cicadas are a major food for pictigaster and one little secret I will share is following the sound of a screaming cicada will in fact net you a nice copperhead at times.Food is eaten in cycles.The availability is a key factor in food sources .To me this is a good topic and I am surprised it has so few posts. The majority of us are long term field herpers and this is a topic we could expand on to share experiences.
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RE: Canebrake Cannibal?
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by FSB on April 21, 2010
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While individuals or isolated populations can sometimes diverge and engage in atypical behaviors, snakes certainly don't belong on the normal horridus menu. I do remember being startled by a field photo of a young black rat preying on a copperhead, as I have often seen these species den together in sw Virginia.
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