Caudal luring in snakes

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Berkeley Boone
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Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Berkeley Boone »

I remember a thread a while back that discussed some caudal luring. I was on the computer at home last night looking for some other pictures and found these instead. They are of one of my baby cottonmouths from a few years back.
I thought you all may enjoy them. I did feed the snake at the time, hoping to 'reward' the behavior, but that was the only instance I remember seeing it happen.

Image

Image

--Berkeley
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herpseeker1978
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by herpseeker1978 »

Caudal lures are so cool! Those cottonmouths are awesome! Here is a Banded Rock Rattlesnake Crotalus lepidis klauberi
Image

Josh
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justinm
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by justinm »

Josh,

If you see a penny pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck!
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keown
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by keown »

Caudal luring is always neat to observe. Here is a link to a photograph of a Broad-banded Copperhead using caudal luring to attract birds around a natural spring in central Texas.

http://www.southwesternherp.com/photoso ... -2009.html


-Gerald
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DMong
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by DMong »

Yes, that is awesome nature at it's very best you guys!. Thanks for sharing those way cool photos of them in caudal luring action. Love that sort of stuff!!! As the ol' saying goes....."truth is stranger than fiction" any day of the week! :beer:


~Doug
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Sam Bacchini
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Sam Bacchini »

Nice shots!

This is one of the coolest videos on caudal luring I've seen in a while.

Pseudocerastes urarachnoides
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DMong
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by DMong »

gila-91 wrote:Nice shots!

This is one of the coolest videos on caudal luring I've seen in a while.

Pseudocerastes urarachnoides
Yeah, those snakes are absolutely INSANE with the caudal lures they deploy....GEEEEZ!! :lol:

The modified scales at the end of the tail that have evolved to look the way they do is just mind-blowing! :beer:


~Doug
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Serpentes
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Serpentes »

Caudal luring in Chondropython viridis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGCwNESz ... re=related

And in death adders Acanthopis antarcticus (note how the luring stops as soon as the prey is grasped):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnE2Fi3gewk
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Berkeley Boone
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Berkeley Boone »

Thanks guys, great follow up photos and links!

I've never seen a green tree python luring, but I figured they did with that nifty little darker tail tip. I used to have a death adder years ago, and that thing had a tail that actually looked just like a worm. The first time I saw it in action, it completely fooled me and I almost opened the lid up to get the 'worm' out (not with my hands of course!). Never got photos or video of that unfortunately, but thanks for the links Serpentes.

Doug, you took the words out of my mouth about that P. urarachnoides video! That was INSANE! Blows the death adder lure out of the water in my opinion! Thanks for sharing that one, Sam.

Gerald and Josh, thanks for the support photos too. It's interesting to see the variety of snakes that caudal lure. I actually just got an email from a friend of mine who said he has seen the behavior in a yellow rat snake.

--Berkeley
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DaveR
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by DaveR »

I had a group of 5 or 6 hatchling green tree pythons that I was helping a friend get started some years ago, and I remember that two of the babies accepted pinkies readily while the rest of the group were a little more challenging. Eventually...after a few weeks of learning my feeding routine, the two with the strong feeding response would start waving their tails as soon as I walked into the room.
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DMong
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by DMong »

DaveR wrote:I had a group of 5 or 6 hatchling green tree pythons that I was helping a friend get started some years ago, and I remember that two of the babies accepted pinkies readily while the rest of the group were a little more challenging. Eventually...after a few weeks of learning my feeding routine, the two with the strong feeding response would start waving their tails as soon as I walked into the room.
HAHA!!,.....that is too cool. As if to say to you....... "hey!, over here buddy!,....see!, I'm luring!,.... can't you see me over here waving you down???,....that's right, bring the pinkies on!" :lol: :lol: :lol:



~Doug
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Mattlesnake King
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Mattlesnake King »



One from my house.
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DMong
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by DMong »

Mattlesnake King wrote:
One from my house.

Yes, that's some very cool behavior to witness for sure! Thanks for sharing the video :thumb:



~Doug
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Berkeley Boone
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Berkeley Boone »

John Vanek wrote:This is the coolest thread I've seen in a while!
I agree, John. Thanks again everyone for the additional contributions!

Matt- great video and great snake! :)
--Berkeley
condyle
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by condyle »

The results of caudel luring are amazing. You get to see the result of risk vs benefit while marveling at the delapidated tails of Rubber Boas.
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Josh Holbrook
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Josh Holbrook »

Does this count? Image
SnakeDude
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by SnakeDude »

I don't know if this is a stupid question or not, but are there any non-venomous snakes that use caudal luring? if so, what species? I don't even know if there are back-fanged snakes that do it...
-Ian
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Jon Wedow
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Jon Wedow »

SnakeDude wrote:I don't know if this is a stupid question or not, but are there any non-venomous snakes that use caudal luring? if so, what species? I don't even know if there are back-fanged snakes that do it...
-Ian
Not a supid question .. I was wondering the same thing. I've seen my L.t. hondurensis do something similar. It mostly happens in their excitement before grabbing a mouse, not while waiting for food to come.

Here's a baby Bothrops asper with a caudal lure. Through this forum I learned that juvenile males carry this trait while females do not... am I remembering that correctly? Is this true?
Image

and another larger roadkill
Image

and another one
Image
Eipper
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Eipper »

Green Pythons caudal lure.

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SnakeStick
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by SnakeStick »

My Rhinella schneideri sometimes exhibits "pedal luring". It's not snake related, but I think it's pretty cool.
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Crimson King
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Crimson King »

mangrove salt marsh snakes are known for lingual luring...
:)
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herpfriend
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by herpfriend »

Here are a couple of recently born Mexican cantils with their tails up. Not the best quality due to being scanned slides.

Image
SnakeDude
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by SnakeDude »

thx...I had no clue that green pythons use the technique. pretty coo
-Ian
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Fieldnotes
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Re: Caudal luring in snakes

Post by Fieldnotes »

hahaha, nice post.. that is too cool :thumb:
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