Early experience shapes the development of behavioral repertoires of hatchling snakes

Snakes are obligate predatory organisms that consume prey whole, and despite their precocious nature, snakes must develop effective feeding skills, especially when encountering large prey. I conducted two experiments that document the development of behavioral repertoires for na < ve hatchling trinket snakes, Coleognathus helena. In the first experiment, I examined how experience with prey of different relative prey mass encountered at regular feeding intervals affects hatchling feeding response. I also examined whether hatchling feeding performance improved over time. Improvement was evaluated on the frequency of the most effective behavioral states such as complex prey restraint behaviors and anterior-first ingestion. In the second experiment I tested whether feeding experience with prey of a particular size influences the way hatchlings respond to a novel prey size. All hatchlings improved their predatory behavior when prey size and number of trials were controlled. Hatchlings feeding on larger prey, however, showed greater overall improvement in their feeding behavior and were quick to integrate complex prey restraint behaviors such as constriction into their feeding repertoire. Despite the fact that early experience with one prey size seemed to shape their restraint repertoire during their first four feeding events, hatchlings remained flexible and responded to prey of a novel size with size-specific prey restraint behaviors.