Considering my first "hot."

[The Snake Guru]

I found this a while ago..... It's by Marshall D McCue About Crotalus Atrox venom.....
It makes very interesting reading...
Venom and Digestion

I have seen other studies, but this one sums it up.....

All I got was a server error?

My statement merely suggests that although venom could play a nominal role in digestion, non-venomous snakes have no problem digesting same prey items. As such, it is hard to accept venomous snakes would have difficulty in digestion because they NEED the venom component. I highly doubt venomous snakes have weaker digestive systems than non-venomous snakes but perhaps more studies are necessary.

That's rather reckless drawing a "therory" such as that, especially since the two groups of snakes you are comparing are so completely differnt.


~B~

 

[snakewispera snr]

All I got was a server error?





~B~

I don't know why it keeps doing that.....
OK here it is copied and pasted....

Save Article to My Profile

Download Citation
Abstract | References | Full Text: PDF (Size: 180K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking

[SIZE=+1] Research Article[/SIZE]
Prey envenomation does not improve digestive performance in western diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox)
Marshall D. McCue[SIZE=-1] *[/SIZE]Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
email: Marshall D. McCue ([email protected])[SIZE=-1]*[/SIZE]Correspondence to Marshall D. McCue, Department of Biological Sciences, 601 Science Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701
Funded by:

NSF-GRF and Walton Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship
AbstractAlthough the toxic properties of snake venoms have been recognized throughout history, very little is known about the adaptive significance of these powerful mixtures. This study examined the popular hypothesis that prey envenomation enhances digestion by influencing the energetic costs of digestion and assimilation, gut passage time, and apparent assimilation efficiency (ASSIM) in western diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox), a species whose venom is recognized for its comparatively high proteolytic activities. A complete randomized block design allowed repeated measures of specific dynamic action and gut passage time to be measured in eight snakes ingesting four feeding treatments (i.e., artificially envenomated live mice, artificially envenomated prekilled mice, saline injected live mice, and saline injected prekilled mice). A second experiment measured ASSIM in eight snakes ingesting a series of six artificially envenomated or six saline injected mice meals over an 8-week period. Contrary to expectations, the results of both these experiments revealed that envenomation had no significant influence on any of the measured digestive performance variables. Gut passage time averaged 6 days and ASSIM averaged 79.1%. Twenty-one hours following ingestion, postprandial metabolic rates exhibited factorial increases that averaged 3.9-fold greater than resting metabolic rate. Specific dynamic action lasted on average 88 hr and accounted for 26% of the total ingested energy. The results of this study reinforce the need to systematically examine the potential adaptive advantages that venoms confer on the snakes that produce them. J. Exp. Zool. 307A:568-577, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Received: 10 April 2007; Revised: 16 May 2007; Accepted: 2 July 2007Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

 

[El Jefe]

That's rather reckless drawing a "therory" such as that, especially since the two groups of snakes you are comparing are so completely differnt.

You might want to reconsider your use of the word "theory" as in science very few statements make it to that standard and mine is no exception---more like a working hypothesis and an untested one at that. Also, you may want to look at some of the evolutionary history on venomous snakes and you might be surprised to find that some are not so "completely different" as one might believe. For example, cornsnakes, kingsnakes, and boomslangs are in the family Colubridae and a boomslang has no problem delivering enough venom to kill a human.

 

[The Nothing]

Once the venomous vs venomoid banter ends here (if it ever will), I'll chime in with my few cents... anything else would just get buried.

 

[The Snake Guru]

You might want to reconsider your use of the word "theory" as in science very few statements make it to that standard and mine is no exception---more like a working hypothesis and an untested one at that. Also, you may want to look at some of the evolutionary history on venomous snakes and you might be surprised to find that some are not so "completely different" as one might believe. For example, cornsnakes, kingsnakes, and boomslangs are in the family Colubridae and a boomslang has no problem delivering enough venom to kill a human.

I'm talking specific evolutionary adaptations, which make venomous snakes unique from non-venomous species and there for hardly comparable.
At anyrate, this exactly why I waited for so long to even post because it always comes back too "He said, she said".

And

Very interesting article snakewispera snr, I appreciate you copying that and posting it up.

Pleasure all, this already has gotten way off topic for my tastes.

~B~