Caudal luring in snakes

[Faing]

I've only had experience with boas the last several years and have never seen tail twitching or caudal luring in the species. I had no idea they did this but my adult female hog island boa has decided to exhibit this behavior tonight. If she wasn't in such a bad mood today and due to be fed tomorrow I'd be more concerned. She will hiss and strike often enough, but this is a new one for me.

I've seen it in enough colubrids but not boas. Does anyone else have experience with this?

 

[viper69]

Woma pythons READILY do this. My Hog Island doesn't however

 

[mmfh]

Never seen my Hogg island do this either. But I feed frozen/thawed.

 

[Najakeeper]

My Acanthophis do this all the time but their entire feeding strategy depends on it so its normal :

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[Faing]

Never seen my Hogg island do this either. But I feed frozen/thawed.

So do I. Though she's got a strong feeding response regardless of F/T.

 

[pitbulllady]

Are you SURE that you're observing caudal luring in the Hog Island Boa? Boas and many python species will wriggle or twitch their tails when they are stressed or angry. It's not quite the stiff tail-shake of a Colubrid or even rattle-less pit vipers, but it means the same thing. When you mentioned her hissing and striking, that's immediately what I thought of.

pitbulllady

 

[The Snark]

Are you SURE that you're observing caudal luring in the Hog Island Boa? Boas and many python species will wriggle or twitch their tails when they are stressed or angry. It's not quite the stiff tail-shake of a Colubrid or even rattle-less pit vipers, but it means the same thing. When you mentioned her hissing and striking, that's immediately what I thought of.

pitbulllady

It's not even family specific is it? Seems a lot of predators do the tail tip twitch as a 'What it, you turkey' sort of thing. Cats and mongoose come immediately to mind.

 

[Faing]

That's what I was thinking at first, but as she's an avid hisser and I'd expect her to hiss first. Maybe it was a one time thing. I ordered rats instead of rabbits recently from RodentPro and the rats were smaller than I thought (not that they were mislabeled). I fed her 2 rats since and she's nice and happy. I'll see if on her next feeding cycle it happens again. She might have been irritated, or just hungry. Or irritated from being hungry.

If I order rats again I know to get 3XL.

 

[The Snark]

Well, autonomic reflexes and functions are staged. They don't all happen at once and trigger to certain degrees according to certain stimulus. Take some rattlers. Tail shaking happens for just about any reason followed by coiling followed by striking and only if really pissed off will it sometimes hiss. The Kaouthai cobra raises it's hood with the slightest provocation or stimulation, and will hiss very softly if the provocation goes on long enough. If it continues to be disturbed it will vibrate it's tail, often after it has put it's hood away. Baby and infant O. Hannah will vibrate the tip of the tail but I've never observed that in adults.
Seems to be species specific according to genetics.

 

[Faing]

Well, autonomic reflexes and functions are staged. They don't all happen at once and trigger to certain degrees according to certain stimulus. Take some rattlers. Tail shaking happens for just about any reason followed by coiling followed by striking and only if really pissed off will it sometimes hiss. The Kaouthai cobra raises it's hood with the slightest provocation or stimulation, and will hiss very softly if the provocation goes on long enough. If it continues to be disturbed it will vibrate it's tail, often after it has put it's hood away. Baby and infant O. Hannah will vibrate the tip of the tail but I've never observed that in adults.
Seems to be species specific according to genetics.

True, which is why I was curious if it could happen with adult boas. It seemed a bit more coordinated than the irritated tail trashing I've seen in the past. Though I wouldn't put it past her to have just been 'mildly' irritated. I love having her as one of my snakes though, regardless of the occasional defensive behaviors.

 

[viper69]

True, which is why I was curious if it could happen with adult boas. It seemed a bit more coordinated than the irritated tail trashing I've seen in the past. Though I wouldn't put it past her to have just been 'mildly' irritated. I love having her as one of my snakes though, regardless of the occasional defensive behaviors.

There's exception to all natural things, but never heard of it in boas at all.

Who'd you get your Hogg from? I'd love to see a pic? Too many breeders have been mixing Hoggs with the typical B.c.i

Even though Hoggs are the same species I'm surprised they are not a different sub species as they one of the most unique B.c.i. out there.

 

[Faing]

There's exception to all natural things, but never heard of it in boas at all.

Who'd you get your Hogg from? I'd love to see a pic? Too many breeders have been mixing Hoggs with the typical B.c.i

Even though Hoggs are the same species I'm surprised they are not a different sub species as they one of the most unique B.c.i. out there.

True. I picked her up at an expo years ago, though I can't remember the business. Granted, I probably should have taken the initiative to write the business down, but I didn't get her as a breeder so I guess I too enthralled playing with Hogg island boas and leucistic rat snakes to remember.

Cleaning day is tomorrow, I should be able to get a picture for you then.

 

[viper69]

Can't wait to see her. Mine is a female also, like you no intention of breeding her.

When I learned there was a 6ft boa with orange saddles that changed color at night and looked hyomelanistic as a result- I was sold!! Mine is 15 yrs old.
I'll have to up a pic here

 

[Faing]

Can't wait to see her. Mine is a female also, like you no intention of breeding her.

When I learned there was a 6ft boa with orange saddles that changed color at night and looked hyomelanistic as a result- I was sold!! Mine is 15 yrs old.
I'll have to up a pic here

Same here, how they change color and the fact that they're not too big was a selling point for me. They're just gorgeous. I've had her since 2008.
My camera isn't great and I'm a little too short to take a picture of her with me by myself so I got a few of her blending into the couch, as she was determined to hide in the back of the couch instead of being still for me.




I would love to see pictures of your boa as well.

 

[viper69]

Same here, how they change color and the fact that they're not too big was a selling point for me. They're just gorgeous. I've had her since 2008.
My camera isn't great and I'm a little too short to take a picture of her with me by myself so I got a few of her blending into the couch, as she was determined to hide in the back of the couch instead of being still for me.




I would love to see pictures of your boa as well.

Thanks! I'll get some up this weekend. Yours is much lighter than mine, assuming those colors are not her "hypo" phase. Also low in black. Mine had bright orange saddles but as she matured black invades the edges of her orange saddles, so the saddle coloring is mottled now :/ she's pretty shy as well, glad she's not a spaz