Snakes
There are 7000+ of these in the wild
What is a ball python morph?
This animal does not produce a normal amount of melanin and because of their coloring, they would not do well in the wild.
What is a banana ball python?
Snakes live here and are most active at this time
What is in burrows and at dawn and dusks.
This can occur in tortoises in human care due to too much protein or calcium.
What is pyramiding?
Pyramiding may also have been a result of inadequate humidity or not enough UVB during development. Pyramiding is common in human care but not usually seen in the wild. It does not harm the tortoise but we keep an eye on it to make sure they are getting all of their nutritional and habitat requirements met.
Grunting & hissing noises as well as screeching sounds are used as what?
What are defense strategies of a radiated tortoise?
This happens every 5-10 days depending on species & size
What is how often do we feed our snakes?
SIDENOTE: (snakes swallow their food whole & need more time for digestion)
Snakes face these types of threats.
What is habitat encroachment?
Rattlesnake roundups also eliminate huge numbers of reptiles in the wild. Conservation efforts to teach to teach people about the ecosystem services provided by snakes as well as snake safety aim to encourage coexistence beneficial to both humans and reptiles.
These 2 banana ball pythons live at Six Flags
Who are Chiquito and Dole
This is made of keratin.
What is a tortoise shell?
Radiated tortoises are native to this country.
What is Madagascar
Animal that can only consume meat; they do not have the necessary digestive enzymes & structures to digest plant matter
What is an obligate carnivore?
Snakes provide this kind of ecosystem service.
What is rodent control? Their activity reduces the transmission of rodent carried diseases and damage to structures and habitats that rodents would cause if their population increases too drastically. (they are a natural pest control)
We don't know much about this due to their fragile skeletons and their limited fossil record.
What is the evolution of snakes??
This is called a carapace and a plastron.
What are pieces of a tortoise shell?
This term is used to describe one specific place some species can be found in.
What is endemism?
These holes in the front of the snakes face help them to catch prey in the dark by seeing infrared
What are heat seeking pits?
There are 6,000-8,000 reported annually of these but only 6-8 fatalities.
What are snake bites?
Our healthcare system is well stocked w/antivenom & trained staff. More people die from interactions with deer, horses, dogs and bugs than from snake bites in the US.
Snakes retain ancestral leg spurs, called this.
What is vestigial structure?
Male snakes use these "legs" to aid them in mating.
These feet can tell you the difference between a tortoise and a turtle.
What are elephantine feet?
In human care, humidity must be closely monitored to prevent what?
Technically snakes can do this but it's easier for them to detect vibrations if they are low in frequency.
What is can snakes hear?
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BONUS QUESTION!!!!
DOUBLE POINTS
EXPLAIN HOW A SNAKE JAW WORKS FOR BONUS POINTS
Snakes can open both top & bottom jaw; they have an extra joint to expand even further, allowing them to consume large prey items. Their teeth are pointed back toward their throat and each piece of the lower jaw can operate independently (this allows them to "teeth walk" prey back into their throat)
Female radiated tortoises lay and deposit this many eggs.
What are 3-12 eggs.
They take 4-8 months to hatch.
Between 60 and ??? degrees are optimal for a tortoise survival
What is 95 degrees?