Social behaviour in snakes

[Stefan-A]

I wonder if a similar thing could be observed in wild Garters, if anybody was bothering to look closely enough.
I wonder, could we....?

It's not impossible, but they are some of the best studied species of snake. How would you set up an experiment like that?

[adamanteus]

They are very well studied, but have 'they' ever looked for this kind of thing? It could be right under your nose, but if you're not looking for it...
I don't know. We'd need a 'field man' with a good local population.... feeding information back to us.. for years!

[infernalis]

They are very well studied, but have 'they' ever looked for this kind of thing? It could be right under your nose, but if you're not looking for it...
I don't know. We'd need a 'field man' with a good local population.... feeding information back to us.. for years!

Guys how about an old farm boy who has been molesting the daylights out of his local population since if I remember correctly 1972? may I volunteer?

What is mind boggling is all the while, I never took any academic look nor approach, I'm looking through different eyes now.

The first time my kids came whining that the frog eggs were drying out, daddy to the rescue takes a large irrigation pump out back and fills er back up. so the kids are happy, mom and dad feel good, we did a deed.

The side effect is plentiful food source for the local garter population, so of course they hang out a lot around here, only encouraging this family of lunatics to keep on doing it.

We have a protected waterway running through the property, Protected as in drinkable quality, I drink from it all the time, flowing spring water.

Next time I have the bulldozer, I really want to dig a nice pond and declare it off limits. The newts, frogs and other amphibians will congregate.

Oh and I almost forgot, Before I die, it is a long time goal of mine to construct a hibernaculum with IR cameras wired to a PC so we could peek in anytime we wanted to without interference. (In the wild)

[Stefan-A]

Next time I have the bulldozer, I really want to dig a nice pond and declare it off limits. The newts, frogs and other amphibians will congregate.

Oh and I almost forgot, Before I die, it is a long time goal of mine to construct a hibernaculum with IR cameras wired to a PC so we could peek in anytime we wanted to without interference. (In the wild)

Heeey, those are my dreams.

[Garter_Gertie]

"Sisters, sisters
There were never such devoted sisters,
Never had to have a chaperone, No sir,
I'm here to keep my eye on her
Caring, sharing
Every little thing that we are wearing
When a certain gentleman arrived from Rome
She wore the dress, and I stayed home
All kinds of weather, we stick together
The same in the rain and sun
Two different faces, but in tight places
We think and we act as one
Those who have seen us *
Know that not a thing could come between us
Many men have tried to split us up, but no one can
Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister
And Lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man"

They just make me think of that song.

[Garter_Gertie]

I like reading Rhea. She thinks well.

Gosh! You logic folks! Blow my mind! I just don't get how you do ti.

[Zephyr]

Ooh! I've got it!
We could setup a system; a few sets of boards placed at numeric intervals between each other perpendicular to the horizon. We could level the ground where the boards are placed and put a layer of top soil underneath each so the soil conditions would be relatively the same. An area of a certain radius would be weeded as much as possible around the boards. The only thing left to do is check the boards and measured intervals to see if snakes have decided to chill there. The placement of snakes could be measured via a grid that divides each of the boards into a certain number of parts. Any one who knows where garters hang could do this and we could make sure everything is of standard length, measurement and whatnot.

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

At this point I would like to mention, that if we are to ponder setting up a scientific experiment to observe social behaviors OR specific instinctual and evolutionarily fine-tuned preferences, we will need to take a lot more variables into consideration.

I agree with the aforementioned set of boards set accordingly within a proposed grid. We need to consider soil types, textures, depths, for they may be unknown catalysts that create a "turn-off" as in "I don't want to coil up over in this corner of the woodpile!" Are we to place thermometers and barometers throughout the arena of research? Do we know the individual species' daily cycle of basking, cooling; do we know where any one individual will be at in its shed cycle? For that matter, how well does any one of us really understand what drives snake behavior in the wild? We keep captives. Many of us do not get the opportunity to get into the field.

What drives snake behavior? Hunger? Yes! Sex? Yes! Retreat from danger and the elements? Yes! If we get more specific (what does the individual snake "want"?) - OH, TO PONDER! How can I be Mr. Snake without all the human mumbo jumbo wishful thinking???? Okay, here goes...
...I mean like if a snake could self realize in our manner...

Once upon a time in a meadow mouse's hole..

Just ate 3 pinkies alive...lump in my throat....need a drink....that mother mouse bit me....too cold outside....gonna get indigestion....stuffs gonna rot....where's a warm rock?...darn I'm slow...Hey! a warm moment...make a slither for that pile of boards...under this board too cool...under that board too hot (catching too much sun)...this board is just right (cool and damp on the bottom, warm above)...HEY! What are you guys doing here?... are you gonna eat me? flick, flick... You don't smell dangerous... flick, flick! You're not a female... hmmm.... Guess I'll stick around for a while...

I'm sorry...can't do it. How could I even begin to imagine? Humans really are silly at times. HA! How can I be Mr. Snake.... Ridiculous