Snakes and Memory

[Thnaky Laydee!]

Originally Posted by ffollett

Also on the episodes of croc hunter they talk about the crocs knowing the white food bucket meant it was time to eat.

I work with Big Cats, and we feed our tigers, lions, leopards & cheetahs using the orange wheelbarrow & orange buckets.

It too means that we can clean enclosures, using other coloured buckets, and transport stuff around in wheelbarrows without becoming prey...

... well that's the theory... I'm just waiting for our big fella to claim he had temporary colour blindness Your Honour!

[Aaron_S]

I only believe that snakes have a limited capacity for learning. They aren't entirely instinct. I've seen enough examples to indicate otherwise. Primarily instinct, but there's something else there. I think it could just be something primal within them that we trigger with hook training but otherwise I don't have any theory. I do notice top predator species tend to seem smarter (retics, croc monitors, crocodillians) Such like the example of a retic looking for weak spots in caging.

[Boots Hawks]

Awesome responses, I guess it is all personal belief. I for one believe my big girl Boa named Precious is very smart. She knows when I bring the big Rubber Maid container in the room that there is food in it. I can tell because she will move over close to the dood of her cage so I can get her our easier. The part that in remarkable to me is she will kill the rat first then if I am there she will try to climb up to me while still holding the rat. I have to hide or leave the room for her to eat. I let her climb all the way up into my lap one time with the rat, and she hung off the edge of the chair and my leg and ate it. I just don't want her getting in the habit of eating while on my lap. So I have not let her do that in a long time. My others just chomp away no matter what. But that is precious for you, spoiled I would say. I am just not sure about training them, I suppose they could be conditioned. I know they only will stick their nose on a hot light one time.

Boots H

[PDXErik]

Heh. I'm hoping that they don't have too much anymore as I have to give my rtb's antibiotic shots everyday for 14 days. It's been about a week through it and they're good enough, I just reach in there and give them a shot without taking them out. I was starting to worry that they would think that being handled meant being given a shot.