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Can cornsnakes sense earthquakes?

KevinK

KevinK

New member
or am I going crazy? Yesterday at at about 10:45 am both of my snakes were out of their hides and moving pretty quickly. It almost seemed like they were panicking.

I checked temp and humidity, and made sure the cats weren't in the room, but I couldn't find any reason for such odd behavior.

Later, the 5pm news reported 2 earthquakes south of me during the time that the snakes were running a marathon ouround their viv's. I remembered hearing that some animals can sense natural disasters. Could this explain their wierdness? Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

--Kevin
 
wow thats pretty kool
maybe you should start a kind of diary
noting the time of the behavoiur and if a EQ occured etc.
that way to could work out if this is the case
 
Corns are known to be EXTREMELY sensitive to vibrations and especially since they do not have "ears"....

It's not surprising but DEFINITELY keep a log and take note of time, temp, humidity, last ate, time of EQ, etc!!

SO AWESOME!
 
Thanks!

I guess it's probably a coincidence or just wishful thinking.

I'll keep a log of unusual activity and check the news for natural phenomena that could account for the behavior.

Thanks again,
Kevin
 
YES THEY CAN, i cant remember wher i read it, but they do sense earthquakes before anything else does, and they get the headstart away from it.
 
I would be very surprised if they couldn't sense earthquakes.
The sensing of vibrations is a finely honed skill in snakes.

I use my snakes as a weather storm predictor. Living in Kansas City is living in Tornado Alley. Last year parts of the city were badly damaged by tornados.

When a storm begins and looks to be a bad one I go down and check out what the snakes are up to. They are in the basement in artificial lighting.

If the snakes are all up and out and on the move I know its going to be a bad storm. The day they tornadoes hit they were all majorly active, every single one, which is not usually the case at all. If the snakes are still lying low/sleeping, I know not to worry!

Skye
 
Wow! That is so cool! I didn't know snakes could do that. Do all snakes have the same ability or is it just some snakes?
 
i was just going to say they can also sense tornados and hurricanes, basiclly, any REALLY bad weather or event approaching, thy will know about it and get away from it as soon as possible,
its possible to tell which way the tornado etc. is coming from, depending which side of the tank the snake its at, if its at the back, then the tornado etc. could be coming from the front.
and yes all snakes sense it.
 
also, snakes can ONLY sense vibrations when their bottom jaw is in contact with the floor, just thought i'd put that in.
 
That's really freaky but so cool! I live right in the middle of tornado alley so I'll keep an eye out and monitor teh snake's activity. Tornado season is almost here too.
 
I don't know if this is related or not, but my snake always gets really active when he's in his carry container. I am a college student, and I like to bring him home on breaks. During the carrides, he is usually pretty active.
 
Snakes are a very good indicator of stormy activity. For instance, if you see your snake flying around or stucking in a tree trunk, it is a good indication that a tornado is close by. :D
 
Sam,

Purely tongue and cheek. I meant literally "flying", as in being blown through the air by tornado winds like a multi-colored lawn dart. :)

All kidding aside, I haven't noticed anything unusual.
 
stuart said:
also, snakes can ONLY sense vibrations when their bottom jaw is in contact with the floor, just thought i'd put that in.
Click to expand...

Actually, that's an old belief that, despite being disproven some 30 years ago, still persists. To a limited degree, snakes are able to hear airborne sounds.

The skin and muscle on a snake's head loosely covers the quadrate bone. The quadrate responds to airborne sound in a manner somewhat similar to the bones in our inner ear.

While I wouldn't characterize a snake's sense of hearing as "good," they can indeed hear airborne sounds.
 
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