2009/9/16 Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>:
On Thu, Sep 17th, 2009 at 8:48 AM, Augusto Haro <augustoharo@gmail.com
> wrote:
Thanks for the data on snakes. May it be that these snakes lower
their
metabolism after the abundance season?
I suspect they'd almost certainly have to lower their metabolism,
since they'd be waiting for at
least eight months for their next major meal. That doesn't stop
them gorging themselves on
hatchlings when they're available though.
Well, if they barely hunt after the bird breeding season, perhaps the
time they are fat they have little locomotion to perform (few prey to
which move for), so their obesity may not hinder their locomotion...
I doubt they'd simply let the food hang around in their
stomaches undigested for that long though, so they'd pretty much
have to store fat on themselves
for the lean times.
Neither do I think they simply let the food stay in their stomaches. I
was told once that it is not good to feed snakes close to the winter
(at least those species which are inactive at that epoch), because in
winter they do not digest what they swallow. Apparently because food
items rotten within their guts, because of microorganismal
proliferation, and the scarcely active animal dies because of
infection.