Questionable Info.

[presspirate]

:crazy2: So I picked up this book at the used book store last weekend Nonvenomous Snakes : Ludwig Trutnau (Hardcover, 1986) - eBay (item 341401338081 end time Feb-04-35 06:48:01 PST) (http://cgi.ebay.com/Nonvenomous-Snakes-Ludwig-Trutnau-Hardcover-1986-/341401338081?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4f7d1b00e1) As I was paging through it, I stopped at the section on sensory organs. And I found this....
"Some snake families (boas and pit vipers) also have heat sensitive organs located in pit like depressions on the head which sense the body heat of warm -blooded animals........."

My first thought as I flipped to the fly leaf to see the publishing date was, Wow talk about reverse evolution and only 30 years! Then I saw it was originally published in German and thought it must have been a translation error.

[marvelfreak]

Ok i am lost?

[Reptile_Reptile]

they do have heat pits??? what is the questionable part?

[infernalis]

Same response here??

[NennaMeerkat]

What you think they DON'T?? Come on guy that is just silly. Of course they have pits.

[infernalis]

http://www.reptard.info/aa/kane.jpg

[Damion930]

hm...i have read that boas pits are primitive and far less receptive that that of pythons and vipers and is questionable in some species weather it even serves a purpose but they got them and i am unsure of the validity of the info

[Reptile_Reptile]

^^^ either way they still have heat pits^^^^

[infernalis]

Aha.... now we are getting somewhere.....

Greg did boldface the word BOA and we all start thinking pythons...

[Jay]

pit vipers, pythons and boas that live in trees have heat seeking capabilities. These animals have special pits around the top of their mouths that sense warm-blooded prey. It works a little like infrared technology. Some of these animals can even catch birds in flight. It is amazing.

Note that not all pythons and boas have pits. Boa constrictors, for example, don't have pits.

Most common snakes you'd find living in the wild in the US do not have pits. Only rattlesnakes and copperheads would have pits.

[presspirate]

Imagine my befuddlement.....Boa's and vipers were the ONLY snakes listed as having heat pits. Leaving out, IMO the very obvious python.

[presspirate]

http://www.reptard.info/aa/kane.jpg

That there is a python....

[marvelfreak]

Imagine my befuddlement.....Boa's and vipers were the ONLY snakes listed as having heat pits. Leaving out, IMO the very obvious python.
Matter of fact all python except Woma and Blackhead have hit pit.

[Will0W783]

Some boas do have heat sensing pits- case in point, Corallus. But for the most part, the noticeable heat pits are on pythons.

[Jay]

Some boas do have heat sensing pits- case in point, Corallus. But for the most part, the noticeable heat pits are on pythons.
tree boas............

[Reptile_Reptile]

annnnnd now i feel stupid lol totally missed the bold boa

[infernalis]

annnnnd now i feel stupid lol totally missed the bold boa


You are not alone:eek:

[Damion930]

I thought u might be thinkin something like that lol

[presspirate]

Corallus (Tree boa's) Are such a small subspecies.It just struck me odd that Pythons were not mentioned at all. I have since found out,(Still researching) That boas have heat sensors in the corner of their mouth's. Has anyone else heard that?

[presspirate]

No need to feel stupid guys. There seems to be something here we can learn from.

[Reptile_Reptile]

to be truthful nope i just figured they had heat pits the same as a python i never thought they would be anywhere else

[infernalis]

No need to feel stupid guys. There seems to be something here we can learn from.


That's right... Absorb and process what you read before responding. ;)

[presspirate]

Hey Wayne, don't beat yourself up. I had to re read that passage several times before I figured out what was off about it. And I say off, not wrong, because. I was unaware that tree boas had pits. I think, what can be learned is as knowledgeable as we think we are, we don't know everything.

Merry Christmas sSnakeSs.com Community!

[Damion930]

life would be boring if we knew everything that's why I love Google I love information

[presspirate]

I totally agree. And, that is pretty much why we are all here.

[SnakeyJay]

totally agree, everyone learns somethin new here! for some of us its every day. love it!! as far as im aware my brb's have pits and and the female wont strike at cold prey. where as my corn will take whatever is offered. hot, cold, mouse, rats, hands and the odd thumb hes become partial to... hes been grumpy the last week or so lol

[Aaron_S]

Boas AND pythons both come from the family of boids ;) so technically no one is wrong.

[Ophidiophile]

I don't know the current thinking re: phylogeny, but I've seen authors describe pythons both as a separate family (pythonidae) and as a clade within boidae. That might be what the author is thinking. OTOH, it might also be an exclusion error or a mistranslation.

On a not-particularly-related note: do you guys think that it should be "pit viper," "pit-viper," or "pitviper" (i.e., two words, hyphenated, or one word)?

-Teg

[Dumeril daddy]

i thought any boa that is not a ground dweller has pits that are more sensitive but then again im a newbie lol