It's usually the larger snakes, like pythons, boas, and vipers that use the "sit-and-wait" technique, but even these snakes may have to move to another area from time to time if they are not successful. Snakes have two main methods of finding food: active hunting for food or sitting in ambush, waiting for food to come to them. Snakes find their prey in a variety of ways: by sight, by using heat-sensing pits on the sides of their head (these snakes are called pit vipers) or on the lips of some boas and pythons, by sensing vibrations with their body, or "tasting" the air with their tongue to see what's nearby. They then spit the shell pieces back out. To get through that hard shell, an egg-eating snake has sharp bones in its throat that cut the egg open as it is swallowed. Snakes that live in desert habitats often spend the heat of the day in burrows dug by other wildlife.Īll snakes are strictly carnivores and have quite a varied diet: they eat mammals, such as mice, rats, and rabbits, fish, frogs, or even other snakes! There are some snakes that only eat eggs, usually those laid by birds. Those that live in places where it gets very cold in winter may hibernate in deep, underground dens, remaining dormant until spring brings warm weather again. The can be found in open oceans, vast deserts, and mountain regions at altitudes of over 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). Snakes are found living on land and in water, as well as in every habitat imaginable-on every continent except Antarctica. Snakes are sensitive to vibrations, particularly those made by their prey, but their most acute sense is smell. Most of the time they sense their prey through vibrations caused by movement. Snakes can’t see very well anyway and seem to notice objects only if they move. Sometimes Zoo visitors think a snake is staring at them through the viewing glass, but maybe the snake is really just sleeping-it’s hard to tell. Snakes don’t have eyelids, so they can’t blink or close their eyes to sleep. However, sea snakes have flattened tails that they use like paddles to propel them through the water, and some tree snakes are called flying snakes, although they don't really fly but flatten their body and spread their ribs to glide from tree to tree. Snakes with scutes on just the underside of their body tend to move slower faster snakes have scutes that extend upward to the sides of the body: the more scutes, the faster the snake. Special flattened scales on the underside of their bodies, called ventral scutes, give snakes traction. Even the way they slither can vary widely. Most people think of "slither" when asked how a snake moves, but for a group of reptiles with the same basic body structure, different snakes can move in a surprising variety of ways. By squeezing and relaxing the muscles down each side of its body, a snake is able to move forward. It’s surprising how easily a snake can get from one spot to the next. A flexible body allows snakes to stretch out to warm up quickly, to curl up to conserve body heat, or just to warm a particular part of the body. Like their reptile brethren, they use the heat of the surrounding air to regulate their body temperature. The skin between the scales is called interstitial skin. They are covered with back-folded and pliable skin sections called scales. Their long, slender bodies and lack of legs, eyelids, or ear flaps distinguish snakes from all other reptiles. Many people have a deep fear of these reptiles. SSSSensational serpents! Snakes, by and large, get a bum rap.
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