Since I will have a lot of time on my hands after my upcoming shoulder surgery I thought I would put the time to good use.
I'm going to see if I can get a conditioned reflex response(feeding response) from a group of my adult radixes. I think we condition our garter snakes unknowingly anyway.
Pavlov is not the only person who can do this sort of thing. Here's what I plan to do.

I am going to run a 2.5 inch PVC pipe from one of my big enclosures out of the snake room to a location out of my snakes direct line of sight. Inside the enclosure I am going to attach a red led light which can be turned on from the other end of the pipe. I will probably run the wires thought the pipe. The end that is in the enclosure will have a screen over it, preventing the snakes from getting in the pipe. The pipe is only the delivery system for the food smell. At the other end of the pipe I will attach a small fan that will blow air into the pipe when it is turned on. I'll be using a video camera to watch their reactions.
Phase one will begin by me placing a food item(worms,pinkies) behind the fan, turning the fan on and seeing if there is a reaction from the snake as the food smell reaches the enclosure. I believe they will come out of there hide and search for the food source. I will then walk into the room and feed that group that food. If this part is successful I will continue feeding them in this way for 6 feedings.
Phase two is to introduce the light into the conditioning. Now, when I turn on the fan I will also turn on the light. I will then feed them as usual. I plan on doing this for 6 feedings.
Phase three will be turning on the light without the food scent and seeing if there is a reaction(coming out of there hides) from the snakes. I'm hoping that the light will trigger a feeding reaction without the smell of food.

My only concerns for this experiment is in the placement of the light and or the amount of lights I should use.
Should I place a light inside the hide or just around the enclosure so as many snakes as possible will see it? Should I place light inside the hide and around the enclosure?
Any thoughts on my upcoming project.