brain of snakes

[kazz]

Originally Posted by eminart

hat if your snake was in the warm box, digesting food on her warm spot, then began to climb out of the notch in the box, up onto the branches? ?

The vivarium of my snake is next to my table. So I watched what she did and how. She laid and sleep or having rest digesting her meal then she uncoils, hung her tail and urinated. I saw it 3 times at least.
I have to say at the beginning, right after I placed her heat pad on branches, she urinated on the heat pad. But later she started hanging her tail while urinating.
Besides, take a look at the picture. Her heat pad is on the upper branch.

The vertical orientation of her body helps get the feces moving rearward

Not really. My python girl can very easy, being on the flat ground, just up her tail and defecate or urinate.

and she defecates while her tail is still in the box.

what is "smart" about defecating in your warm hide?

No. She hung her tail out of the notch for 7-10 cm. So her cardboard box and heat pad stay dry.

[eminart]

Originally Posted by kazz

The vivarium of my snake is next to my table. So I watched what she did and how. She laid and sleep or having rest digesting her meal then she uncoils, hung her tail and urinated. I saw it 3 times at least.
I have to say at the beginning, right after I placed her heat pad on branches, she urinated on the heat pad. But later she started hanging her tail while urinating.
Besides, take a look at the picture. Her heat pad is on the upper branch.

Not really. My python girl can very easy, being on the flat ground, just up her tail and defecate or urinate.


No. She hung her tail out of the notch for 7-10 cm. So her cardboard box and heat pad stay dry.

I misunderstood your first post. But, I think it's a common instinct among most animals not to defecate/urinate in their hiding spot. Some snakes still do it, especially if the hide is large. But, I don't think the snakes actively think, "Hey, I'm going to go outside to poop, so I don't soil my hide." I think it's instinct. The snakes that had that instinct were more likely to survive because they weren't laying in fecal matter and therefore having skin problems or diseases. The smell of feces/urine can also attract predators, so doing it outside the hide also benefited snakes in that way, and helped their survival rate.

[kazz]

The snakes that had that instinct were more likely to survive because they weren't laying in fecal matter and therefore having skin problems or diseases. The smell of feces/urine can also attract predators, so doing it outside the hide also benefited snakes in that way, and helped their survival rate.

perhaps you are right, but maybe you are not )

[Andy_G]

This question is an interesting one and it depends greatly upon what one would quantify as "intelligence" and where the line were to be drawn between "intelligence" and "instinct/biological function".

Originally Posted by kazz

perhaps you are right, but maybe you are not )

Reptiles tend to avoid their own waste. That is a fact, no maybe about it. I don't personally quantify that as being a sign of intellect.