Tongue flicking garter snakes

Patterns of Tongue-Flicking by Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) during Presentation of Chemicals under Varying Conditions... 

Garter snakes identify their species by tongue flicking at non-volatile, integumentary lipids which they also use in courtship and following conspecific trails. The levels of these lipids fluctuate with hormonal state, skin-shed state, and season (Mason, 1992). 

Male garter snakes do not pursue already mated females. These females carry a gelatinous mating plug in their cloaca for about 2 days. Copulatory fluids around her cloaca contain a copulatory pheromone that inhihits males advances. Males detect this copulatory pheromone on a female s trail hy tongue flicking from a distance (O Donnell etat. 2004). 

Garter snakes, Thamnophis sp. Racer, Coluber constrictor, and king snake Swabs or air Increased tongue flicking Weldon, 1982... 

Garter snakes respond to prey extracts with tongue flicking and attempts to bite (Gove and Burkhardt 1975). Test extracts of different prey animals such as earthworms, slugs, crickets, or leeches. Dip cotton balls or Q-tips into extracts and present to captive snakes. Experimenter should be behind screen to minimize snake s responses to light or movement. 

Garter snakes can be trained to correctly follow trails of earthworm extract in a four-choice maze. Snakes are most accurate following high concentration trails and increase their tongue-flick rate as a function of earthworm extract concentration (Kubie and Halpem, 1978). Vomeronasal nerve lesions, but not olfactory nerve lesions, result in a loss of accurate trail following and a loss of increased tongue-flicking in response to trail odor concentrations (Kubie and Halpem, 1979). 

Our early studies demonstrated that garter snakes reliably spend more time and tongue-flick more frequently at a dish containing EWW than a dish containing dH20 (Reformato et al., 1983). Garter snakes respond differentially to washes of worms that form part of their normal diet (Lumbricus),... 

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