K of Kyrene

Barnes Maze – Snake Specific

Always watch the videos and pretend to code a couple times before starting: The Barnes maze is used to observe spatial cognition and memory mainly in rice. From what I can tell the Holtzmann et al. (1999) study was the first to adapt this for snakes. They used a circular arena with 8 possible entrancesContinue reading “Barnes Maze – Snake Specific”

Simple Rstudio Code for Snake behaviour

acs=read.csv(file.choose())View(acs) enriched30<-acs$X30min.test[acs$environment==”enriched”] – new data set name <- Numerical Variable [treatment variable == “specific treatment you want to subset”] >shapiro.test(enriched30) to test for normality, column or subset name in the brackets >boxplot(enriched30, standard30) makes a box plot >wilcox.test(enriched30, standard30) non parametric test for two treatments >t.test(enriched30, standard30, mu=0, alternative=”two.sided”, paired = T, conf.level = 0.99)Continue reading “Simple Rstudio Code for Snake behaviour”

Arena Habituation – Snake specific

Always watch the videos and pretend to code a couple times before starting: I normally use a square or rectangular shaped arena with a large enough area that forces the snake to explore The snakes tend to move along the walls, this is called thigmotaxis therefore try to use lighting and cameras that can captureContinue reading “Arena Habituation – Snake specific”

Rattlesnake venom loses quality in captivity but increases in quantity

Variation in Yield and Toxicity of venom from a rattlesnake – Minton Jr, 1957 Introduction:– Different studies have looked into the variations in milking frequency on yield and toxicity of venom in various species. Check paper for specifics, one study showed that milking every month caused the second milking event to produce on average lessContinue reading “Rattlesnake venom loses quality in captivity but increases in quantity”

Eggs can talk?

Only child syndrome in snakes: eggs incubated alone produce asocial individuals – Aubret et al. 2016 Abstract: Egg clustering behaviour has many advantages like anti-predatory, moisture maintenance, temp control, prevention of eggs rolling and hatching synchrony through embryo communication. In this experiment water snakes were housed either in clutches or individually to see if theContinue reading “Eggs can talk?”

Rat snakes benefit from enrichment

Environmental Enrichment Alters the Behavioral Profile of Ratsnakes (Elaphe) – Almli and Burghardt, 2006 Abstract: 16 sub adult rat snakes (Elaphe obsoleta), 8 in enriched conditions and 8 in standard for 8 months. Enrichment came in the form of additions to enclosures with elevated hide, and loose substrate to burrow in as well as liveContinue reading “Rat snakes benefit from enrichment”

Fit for the Crib? Mice Prefer Certain Nesting Material

Preferences for nesting material as environmental enrichment for laboratory mice – Van de Weerd et al. 1996 Abstract: Behavioural and psychological needs of laboratory animals generally cannot adequately be met in standard laboratory cages. Environmental enrichment, which provides a more structured environment can enhance the well-being of laboratory animals. They may perform more of theirContinue reading “Fit for the Crib? Mice Prefer Certain Nesting Material”

Friendship over Feeding – Young Snakes Need Friends

Aggregation and social interaction in garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) – Morgan & Miller, 2020 Introduction:Reptiles in general tend to rely on a method or variety of interactions called cryptic sociality, in which they use chemical cues to interact with conspecifics. However this is very hard to study given its invisible in most situations. TheContinue reading “Friendship over Feeding – Young Snakes Need Friends”

Drivers Ed for Fish

From fish out of water to new insights on navigation mechanisms in animals – Givon et al. 2022 Abstract: To understand navigation systems and whether its universal, they trained fish to navigate a terrestrial environment. They call this method a domain transfer methodology and placed a fish in a tank that was set upon aContinue reading “Drivers Ed for Fish”

Licking Large Lizards Prefer Scent Enrichment

Evaluating Environmental Enrichment Methods in Three Zoo-Housed Varanidae Lizard Species – Waterman et al. 2021 Abstract: Little is known about reptile enrichment therefore this study observed the effects of including only scent-based enrichment and food enrichment (hanging feeders). Both types of enrichment significantly increased exploration and prolonged for 330 min post provision. There were noContinue reading “Licking Large Lizards Prefer Scent Enrichment”