AvidPets.com
|
|
|
Snakes, Perfect Lovelinessss...
Snakes often need several days to become comfortable with
strangers. Always support the body and allow the head freedom to
move about. Because there are so many of them available on the
market today, you have a wide variety of colors and sizes to chose
from.
|
 |
Ball Python! |
All snakes are carnivorous, eating small animals including lizards
and other snakes, rodents and other small mammals, birds, eggs or
insects. Some snakes have a venomous bite, which they use to kill
their prey before eating it. Other snakes kill their prey by
constriction. Still others swallow their prey whole and alive. Most
snakes are very easy to feed in captivity, apart from a minority of
species.
Snakes do not chew their food and have a very flexible lower jaw,
the two halves of which are not rigidly attached, and numerous other
joints in their skull, allowing them to open their mouths wide
enough to swallow their prey whole, even if it is larger in diameter
than the snake itself. It is a common misconception that snakes
actually dislocate their lower jaw to consume large prey.
After eating, snakes become torpid while the process of digestion
takes place. Digestion is an intensive activity, especially after
the consumption of very large prey. In species that feed only
sporadically, the entire intestine enters a reduced state between
meals to conserve energy, and the digestive system is 'up-regulated'
to full capacity within 48 hours of prey consumption. So much
metabolic energy is involved in digestion that in Crotalus durissus,
the Mexican rattlesnake, an increase of body temperature to as much
as 14 degrees Celsius above the surrounding environment has been
observed. Because of this, a snake disturbed after having eaten
recently will often regurgitate its prey in order to be able to
escape the perceived threat. However, when undisturbed, the
digestive process is highly efficient, dissolving and absorbing
everything but hair and claws, which are excreted along with uric
acid waste. Snakes have been known to occasionally die from trying
to swallow an animal that is too big. Snake digestive fluids are
unable to digest most plant matter, which passes through the
digestive system mostly untouched.
Snakes do not normally prey on people, but there are instances of
small children being eaten by large constrictors in the jungle.
While some particularly aggressive species exist, most will not
attack humans unless startled or injured, preferring instead to
avoid contact. The majority of snakes are either non-venomous or
possess venom that is not harmful to humans.
As a general rule, snakes eat rodents. There are exceptions to this,
such as the natal green snake, which eats insects. Snakes generally
specialize in a few food types (for example, royal pythons will
generally eat mice and gerbils in the wild). However, they do not
need to hunt every day. A big meal will keep some snakes content for
a long time. Anacondas and pythons can live for a year after eating
large prey. |
|
|
Advice for all pet
lovers! |
|
