OK, so I asked a question in a previous thread about how long a female corn continues to produce "come & get me" pheromones after she's been inseminated at least once. No one really gave me a definite answer, so I went to trusty old Google. I found a fascinating news article about research done on Manitoba red-sided garter snakes. You can find the whole story at this address (warning -- the news story was put on that other forum), but I've excerpted some really interesting stuff below.
http://forum.kingsnake.ca/general/messages/26293.html
"...Mason is holding a jar containing a clear liquid. Snake Love Potion No. 9.
The jar actually contains a suite of molecules called methyl ketones -- garter snake sex pheromones -- dissolved in an organic solvent. Snake pheromones are physically similar to margarine fats and, like margarine fats, some methyl ketones are saturated and some are unsaturated. In 1989, Mason found that it's the unsaturated pheromones produced by females that work magic on males."
"A male garter snake courts anything that smells, to his flicking tongue, like a female -- a newly emerged male stinky with female pheromones (called a "she-male"), a dead female ("male snakes don't let a little thing like death stop them," says Shine), even a paper towel dipped in female pheromone. A paper towel is so obviously not a snake, and the crease in the paper towel that a male will attempt to breed is so obviously not a female's gaping cloaca, that the only explanation is a complete pheromonal override of all snake sense.
"We don't even have to make a (snake) model," says Mason. "The males try to mate with the paper towel -- males identify the paper towel as a female."
In their pheromone research, Mason and his colleagues not only identified the methyl ketones, they were able to synthesize them in a laboratory. The synthetic pheromones also attracted males to paper towels.
On a snake, the pheromones don't soak the skin like sweat; they are embedded in the skin in a layer of skin fats (lipids).
"We don't think of ourselves as greasy," says Mason. "But all critters on land, including insects and vertebrates, have a micro-molecular layer of skin lipids that retards water loss. It's not like we're covered with Crisco, although Crisco would work just as well."
When a female garter snake finally chooses to be bred by one of her male groupies, she gapes her cloaca, the opening that serves both reproductive and elimination functions. One male inserts one of his two hemipenes (according to Shine, usually the right one), his sperm and, after he's finished in 15 minutes or so, a gelatinous chastity plug that resembles a daub of silicone glue."
"Mating gives a female relief from harassment. After mating she becomes unattractive by producing an unsexy copulatory pheromone. Males leave her alone until the chastity plug breaks down and falls out, in 24 to 36 hours. Male garter snake skin contains saturated methyl ketones as well as a compound called squalene. She-male garter snakes, a temporary phase in the life of male garter snakes, produce a combination of saturated and unsaturated methyl ketones, and no squalene. Although there's no actual mating, other males court she-males and wrap them up in mating balls."
Liz's comment -- Although the second and third sentences of that last paragraph address my question, I'm not satisfied, especially since I don't know if corns and garters are alike in that respect. I'll continue to post what I find in further research later in this thread.
http://forum.kingsnake.ca/general/messages/26293.html
"...Mason is holding a jar containing a clear liquid. Snake Love Potion No. 9.
The jar actually contains a suite of molecules called methyl ketones -- garter snake sex pheromones -- dissolved in an organic solvent. Snake pheromones are physically similar to margarine fats and, like margarine fats, some methyl ketones are saturated and some are unsaturated. In 1989, Mason found that it's the unsaturated pheromones produced by females that work magic on males."
"A male garter snake courts anything that smells, to his flicking tongue, like a female -- a newly emerged male stinky with female pheromones (called a "she-male"), a dead female ("male snakes don't let a little thing like death stop them," says Shine), even a paper towel dipped in female pheromone. A paper towel is so obviously not a snake, and the crease in the paper towel that a male will attempt to breed is so obviously not a female's gaping cloaca, that the only explanation is a complete pheromonal override of all snake sense.
"We don't even have to make a (snake) model," says Mason. "The males try to mate with the paper towel -- males identify the paper towel as a female."
In their pheromone research, Mason and his colleagues not only identified the methyl ketones, they were able to synthesize them in a laboratory. The synthetic pheromones also attracted males to paper towels.
On a snake, the pheromones don't soak the skin like sweat; they are embedded in the skin in a layer of skin fats (lipids).
"We don't think of ourselves as greasy," says Mason. "But all critters on land, including insects and vertebrates, have a micro-molecular layer of skin lipids that retards water loss. It's not like we're covered with Crisco, although Crisco would work just as well."
When a female garter snake finally chooses to be bred by one of her male groupies, she gapes her cloaca, the opening that serves both reproductive and elimination functions. One male inserts one of his two hemipenes (according to Shine, usually the right one), his sperm and, after he's finished in 15 minutes or so, a gelatinous chastity plug that resembles a daub of silicone glue."
"Mating gives a female relief from harassment. After mating she becomes unattractive by producing an unsexy copulatory pheromone. Males leave her alone until the chastity plug breaks down and falls out, in 24 to 36 hours. Male garter snake skin contains saturated methyl ketones as well as a compound called squalene. She-male garter snakes, a temporary phase in the life of male garter snakes, produce a combination of saturated and unsaturated methyl ketones, and no squalene. Although there's no actual mating, other males court she-males and wrap them up in mating balls."
Liz's comment -- Although the second and third sentences of that last paragraph address my question, I'm not satisfied, especially since I don't know if corns and garters are alike in that respect. I'll continue to post what I find in further research later in this thread.
) signal for a few days until it wears off, and then the girl smells good again. He said that colubrids don't do that though.