- Joined
- Dec 1, 2003
- Messages
- 345
"Female garter snakes exhibit a strong positive association between increased body size and increased clutch or litter size. Therefore, males tend to choose the largest, sexually mature female to mate with (Seigel and Collins, 1993). For this reason, while being courted, females increase their apparent size by hyperventilating (Garstka and Crews, 1981)."
"You may perhaps see a very slight movement of the eyes, or an ever so imperceptible increase in the breathing rate." -Lenny Flank, in ref. to venomous snakes using the ambush strategy.
http://compphys.bio.uci.edu/hicks/4.pdf
Prioritization of oxygen delivery during elevated metabolic states by James W. Hicks, Albert F. Bennett. In interesting read.
Just a few I found in a quick google search. It's one of those known things that increased breathing rate, results in an increase in blood pressure and heart rate which usually happens when a snake gets excited, for whatever reason. Not just a threat display. To make things clear, by huffing and puffing I mean, "inflating/deflating without audible hissing. If you were referring to the hissing, then yes, it's a known threat display. Or if you were referring to the just the size increase by inhaling and and extending their muscles to look big, then yes, increasing of size is used as a defense mechanism. Examples of that are the B. arietans (and most crotalids) and H. nasicus.
Try taking a closer look next time you feed your snakes and see if it starts hyperventilating, 9 times out of 10 you will see it, unless your snake's too lazy to expand any effort in capturing it's prey.
"You may perhaps see a very slight movement of the eyes, or an ever so imperceptible increase in the breathing rate." -Lenny Flank, in ref. to venomous snakes using the ambush strategy.
http://compphys.bio.uci.edu/hicks/4.pdf
Prioritization of oxygen delivery during elevated metabolic states by James W. Hicks, Albert F. Bennett. In interesting read.
Just a few I found in a quick google search. It's one of those known things that increased breathing rate, results in an increase in blood pressure and heart rate which usually happens when a snake gets excited, for whatever reason. Not just a threat display. To make things clear, by huffing and puffing I mean, "inflating/deflating without audible hissing. If you were referring to the hissing, then yes, it's a known threat display. Or if you were referring to the just the size increase by inhaling and and extending their muscles to look big, then yes, increasing of size is used as a defense mechanism. Examples of that are the B. arietans (and most crotalids) and H. nasicus.
Try taking a closer look next time you feed your snakes and see if it starts hyperventilating, 9 times out of 10 you will see it, unless your snake's too lazy to expand any effort in capturing it's prey.
