B
Bluetongue1
Guest
The average recorded hatchling size of Vermicella annulata is 17 cm. The average recorded hatchling size of our largest Blind Snake Ramphotyphlops nigrescens is 12 cm. Other Blind Snake hatchlings vary from 9 cm to 11 cm. There is very limited information available on the reproductive timing of most Blind Snakes. However, those that we do know about lay their eggs in late summer and the young hatch out in autumn, the same timing as reproduction in the Bandy Bandy. So while a hatchling Bandy Bandy’s first few meals might be quite a mouth full, it would not take long for it to readily cope with the majority of available food items it might come across.
I would say the snake in the picture was midway between 20 cm and 25 cm TL. Professor Rick Shine states that from his data and studies, it appears that Bandy Bandys eat Blind Snakes only.
If you are interested in why these snakes are so strongly banded, it is thought to be as result of the flicker fusion effect which would make it difficult for a predator to determine which direction the snake was travelling and therefore head from tail. What is flicker fusion? Eyes record a series of separate images (16 per second in humans) and the brain melds these together to produce smooth movement = flicker + fusion. This is what makes wagon wheels in old westerns appear to turn backwards as they gain speed. It is to do with the individual images capture on film and the position of the spokes with respect to the previous image. Our eye works a bit like the individual frames on a film. As the Bandy Bandy moves forward, our eyes capture separate images. If the position of the white bands in a given image capture is slightly behind the position of the white bands in the proceeding image capture, our mind interprets that as the white bands moving backwards. Reality is that they are moving forward.
Flicker fusion does not work well when caught out in the open, hence the fancy defence behave developed by this snake.
Is that on topic enough?
Blue
I would say the snake in the picture was midway between 20 cm and 25 cm TL. Professor Rick Shine states that from his data and studies, it appears that Bandy Bandys eat Blind Snakes only.
If you are interested in why these snakes are so strongly banded, it is thought to be as result of the flicker fusion effect which would make it difficult for a predator to determine which direction the snake was travelling and therefore head from tail. What is flicker fusion? Eyes record a series of separate images (16 per second in humans) and the brain melds these together to produce smooth movement = flicker + fusion. This is what makes wagon wheels in old westerns appear to turn backwards as they gain speed. It is to do with the individual images capture on film and the position of the spokes with respect to the previous image. Our eye works a bit like the individual frames on a film. As the Bandy Bandy moves forward, our eyes capture separate images. If the position of the white bands in a given image capture is slightly behind the position of the white bands in the proceeding image capture, our mind interprets that as the white bands moving backwards. Reality is that they are moving forward.
Flicker fusion does not work well when caught out in the open, hence the fancy defence behave developed by this snake.
Is that on topic enough?
Blue
![46559_10151493410391038_816337076_n[1].jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/aussiepythons/data/attachments/165/165481-a2d0b42f5b44ab65e68ab292eb4979b5.jpg "46559_10151493410391038_816337076_n[1].jpg")
