Meeting Abstract

P1.55  Monday, Jan. 4  Prey choice in snakes may be influenced by temperature COBB, Vincent*; MASSEY, Diane; Middle Tennessee State University; Brock University vcobb@mtsu.edu

Effectively distinguishing appropriate prey is a basic yet vital ability of all predators. For snakes, prey differentiation is primarily conducted by chemoreception when prey odors are transferred from the tongue to the vomeronasal organ. As with most ectotherms, snake physiological and behavioral functions vary with temperature and have received considerable attention; however, the effect of temperature on prey discrimination and prey preference in snakes remains relatively untested. We examined the ability of juvenile kingsnakes, Lampropeltis getula, to distinguish prey odors at 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35°C. Snakes were tested on the following odors: rodent, reptile, fish, and distilled water. Odors were presented to individuals on sterile cotton swabs and tongue flicks, strikes, and latency to strike were scored for 60 seconds. As hypothesized, nonprey odors (i.e., fish and distilled water) resulted in few tongue flicks and low tongue flick attack scores over all temperature treatments while scores for rodent and reptile odors were significantly higher. No differences were observed between rodent and reptile odors at 25, 30, and 35°C, yet at 10, 15 and 20°C snakes preferred rodent odor over reptile odor. Feeding trials conducted at 10, 15, 17, and 25°C, confirmed a preference toward rodent prey over reptile prey at lower temperatures. Overall, the thermal performance curve on tongue flicks for preferred prey odors exhibited a similar shape to the few prior studies on prey preference in reptiles. Although dietary shifts in reptiles are common for multiple reasons (i.e., ontogeny and prey availability), this may be the first study to attribute prey choice to body temperature.