title: Response to prey chemical cues by hatchling pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus): Effects of incubation temperature and experience.
abstract: The ability of hatchling pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) to select and follow or avoid chemical odors of prey (mice,Mus musculus) on a shavings and paper substrate was investigated in Y-maze experiments, as a function of incubation temperature and experience. Incubation temperature affected behavior in the maze, and the maze choices of naive snakes, but not of snakes that had already eaten a mouse. The data indicate that snakes that have eaten, preferentially enter the arm bearing chemical stimuli from mice, whereas those that have not eaten show no preference.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, 08855-1059, Piscataway, New Jersey.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burger