Issued by Rian Viljoen
Most people hear the word hibernation, and think that it means a prolonged sleep, where the animal goes into a state of ‘in’animation until spring, when the animals magically start moving and doing their things. This is a fine description for mammals that hibernate yes, but not for reptiles.
Reptiles go into a state called torpor. This is where there is a decrease in physiological activity, because of a lack of food for a period. Snakes eat large amounts of food during spring and summer to build up food stores in their bodies to last them for the 3-6 months of colder weather in South Africa. Snakes do not shut down completely at this time, and are often found during warmer days, basking near their lairs. They may wander short distances to drink water, but will not eat during the cooler periods, because the temperatures are not high enough to assist with digesting food, which would otherwise rot in their stomachs and probably lead to their deaths.
Snakes are completely dependent on their environment in order to survive. They cannot heat themselves up, and require an external heat source (sun) in order to raise their core temperatures so that they can function (move, drink and eat). During the cooler months, snakes can “switch off” their digestive systems, and slow down their metabolism so that they burn very little food during the cold months, and switch it back on, when the first rains in the warm months comes down, bringing food sources, and fresh water for them.
Egg eating snakes are a good example for showing the extremes that snakes can survive. During the spring and summer breeding months for birds, where eggs are plentiful, the egg eating snakes gorge themselves on as many eggs as they can find. As soon as the breeding season is over and the birds have stopped laying eggs, the egg eating snakes start looking for places to hide for the winter months, and when a suitable place has been found, they hunker down for the next 6 months without any food, until the next spring brings more birds and the resultant eggs.
Snakes and other reptiles in torpor are normally sluggish, and because of this state of less activity, they often seek deep burrows in the ground, or in other warm places, to prevent their body temperatures from going too low. Being able to tell the difference of 1/16th of a degree, they search for a burrow that maintains a relatively stable temperature, and they settle in for the long winter. One can often find several snakes of the same, and even different species occupying the same small spaces during winter, a sort of truce between the species for the sake of survival.
So, if you’ve ever wondered what happens to snakes during the colder months, now you know. They don’t migrate, they don’t move far, they just dig in deep, change their body’s mechanics to suite the environment, and wait it out for the next warm spell.
WATCH Anke Heldmann’s video on toxic snakes in South Africa.
Also read: Smitten by snakes: Reptiles as pets |.
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