Feeding Mechanisms of Blindsnakes !!!

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Feeding Mechanisms of Blindsnakes !!!

Postby Ilian Velikov » Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:13 pm

Hello everyone,

I just found that site : http://gibbon.anat.sunysb.edu/kleylab/videos.html

It contains amazing videos of Blind snakes feeding (including Typhlopidae)! :o ...together with a great article on the feeding mechanisms of that snakes!
Please, check it out and tell me what you think..and let's discuss it here (may be in a separate topic )

Enjoy!

Ilian
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Re: Feeding Mechanisms of Blindsnakes !!!

Postby Peter Oefinger » Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:52 pm

Wow - the ant larvae seem to be really tasty! Interesting, that the nostrils of typhlops are directed downwards, possibly this helps identifying food in darkness.
The videos remind me of a scilly experience I had in Greece:
After having found Typhlops on a beach near Ossa, I had the idea of improvising a terrarium from the plastic-rubbish lying on the beach for fotographing this animal.
Stupid idea: Typhlops never stands still! :D
So I released it...
typhlops.jpg


typhlops2.jpg
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Re: Feeding Mechanisms of Blindsnakes !!!

Postby Ilian Velikov » Thu Jul 09, 2009 6:15 pm

:D ..You still made an interesting shot of the Typhlops underside!..Not too many photos of the ventral.I don't even remember seeing another! :D

Yes, it' good to have downwards directed nostrils when you craw over your prey in dark tunels, I guess!
Do you think that if you make a better transparent glass aquarrium and put a Typhlops and some ant pupae inside, it will eats them and you'd be able to make photos of it feeding?
Ilian Velikov
 
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Re: Feeding Mechanisms of Blindsnakes !!!

Postby Peter Oefinger » Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:48 am

I guess the daylight will stress them so much that they will try to escape and not be interested in food. Hence, pictures like in the side you have found will hardly be possible in the field...
But anyhow: it would be interesting developing better photo-techniques for reptiles like Typhlops, Blanus or Ophiomorus: All photos I know don't look very concincing ;)
Maybe a terrarium with some earth?
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Re: Feeding Mechanisms of Blindsnakes !!!

Postby Ilian Velikov » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:11 pm

Terrarium with earth is not a bad idea but it gotta be tested!..Maybe it should be very narrow one (like a flat monitor),so you can still see the burrowing Typhlops..or other underground species!...When me and my girlfriend were photographing Worm Snakes this summer we put some soil on a big stone and let the snake burrow itself and relax a little,because it was throwing itself around and didn't stay still even for a second.Than we carefully uncovered parts of it and took some quick pictures...but that's another thing and another kind of photos!..For the kind of images we're talking about (underground) we should try someting else..like the terrarium with earth! Does anyone has any other ideas?


P.S. Mario, maybe we can move that topic to another section of the forum!?
Ilian Velikov
 
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Re: Feeding Mechanisms of Blindsnakes !!!

Postby Peter Oefinger » Wed Jul 15, 2009 6:15 am

It's the same with the Blanus sp. and Ophiomorus - putting them on a stone and then taking a shot is like putting a cow on the top of a tree and the photographing it "in its natural environment"... ;)
But I like your apporach of covering it (partially) with soil.
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