Skylar Gross

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Rycyk, Athena

Area of Concentration

Biology

Abstract

Flowerpot snakes, Indotyphlops braminus, are a fossorial snake species that is found in many parts of the world. The snakes are known to prey on ants and termites. This experiment was designed to answer the question, are flowerpot snakes an effective form of pest control? Feeding behavior of flowerpot snakes was tested using termite workers in the conditions: substrate absent with lights off, substrate absent with lights on, substrate present with lights off, and substrate present with lights on to determine a maximum feeding rate. The flowerpot snakes ate an average of two termites per feeding event, ranging between 1.60 ± 0.24 and 4.33 ± 1.15 termites per feeding event which is minimal compared to the average minimum of 30 eggs laid by termites a day. Across the four conditions, the difference in feeding behavior was not statistically significant (p = 0.0554). The snakes were found to eat infrequently with a mean of 9.33 ± 2.73 days between feeding events. During testing, snakes spent a majority of their time exploring their environment, with a decrease in activity when lights were on. Snakes showed a habit for consuming only the insides of termites, alongside consuming termites whole or decapitating them. The difference in behavior seen between conditions could provide some insight into how the snakes act in captivity versus the wild. More research should be conducted to look into feeding preference between stages of termites, environments, and over a longer period of time.

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