Snake core body temps?

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Bullfrog
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Joined: January 31st, 2012, 4:19 am

Snake core body temps?

Post by Bullfrog »

Is there any data out there where the core body temp of snakes has been recorded with internal data loggers? Has this been part of any good studies? Doesn't matter which species but tropical is preferred... I'm curious to see how stable their internal temps are compared to their environment.
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VanAR
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Re: Snake core body temps?

Post by VanAR »

Almost every telemetry study records body temperature, because the transmitters change the rate of signalling with temperature. Do a search for snake thermoregulation or operative temperature, and you should find something. I'm not sure how much has been done in the tropics though. In temperate regions, body temps are generally less variable than air/ground temps, but still usually increase during the day/decrease at night.
jgjulander
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Re: Snake core body temps?

Post by jgjulander »

Here is a good one on tropical pythons.
http://sydney.edu.au/science/biology/sh ... lation.pdf
Justin
Bullfrog
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Re: Snake core body temps?

Post by Bullfrog »

Thanks!
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Brian Folt
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Re: Snake core body temps?

Post by Brian Folt »

I use a thermocouple (via cloacal insertion) to measure the internal body temperature of snakes. It's fairly small, and can be easily brought into the field (but, be sure to pack it in a plastic bag in the tropics).
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Bryan Hamilton
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Re: Snake core body temps?

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

I have snakes with temperature sensitive transmitters.

Last week 2 of them were at 0.5 C which seemed pretty cold to me.
Jimi
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Re: Snake core body temps?

Post by Jimi »

Last week 2 of them were at 0.5 C which seemed pretty cold to me.
Think they died in their hibernacula? Or is that temp merely a reflection of how heinously cold it has been for a long time now, around here?

Happy hunkering,
Jimi
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Bryan Hamilton
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Re: Snake core body temps?

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

Last year a snake emerged that had dropped down to 0.5C so they can survive temperatures that cold. I guess the question is, how long?

I suspect there will be a lot of mortality in the hibernacula this winter since it has been so cold. Water pipes are freezing all over the place out here and we still have a LOT of winter to get through....
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VanAR
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Re: Snake core body temps?

Post by VanAR »

I use a thermocouple (via cloacal insertion) to measure the internal body temperature of snakes. It's fairly small, and can be easily brought into the field (but, be sure to pack it in a plastic bag in the tropics).



Another point, since Brian mentions it here- if you're doing scientific work that you hope to publish and you want to record body temperatures non-remotely, definitely use cloacal measurements. There's been a movement lately to use surface temperature (measured with IR cameras or "temp guns") as a proxy for body temperature, because you can make such measurements quickly from a distance without stressing the animal. Although these are excellent goals, the surface temp method completely ignores a vast body of thermal physics literature that, for the sake of brevity, I will simply summarize as "surface temperatures do not equal body temperatures, even for animals that weigh less than 5 grams".

Van
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Brandon La Forest
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Re: Snake core body temps?

Post by Brandon La Forest »

If a snake is in the process of thermo-regulating it is impossible to get a reliable internal body temp.

-Brandon-
Bullfrog
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Re: Snake core body temps?

Post by Bullfrog »

Really? I thought their internal temps were rather stable? In that they do a good job maintaining a narrow internal temp range and that's what thermo-regulating is achieving. I'm speaking about tropical species....not necessarily species that see 50 degree temp swings in a day.
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