On some aspects of the captive behavior of Xenodon merremii (Wagler) (Ophidia: Colubridae)

Abstract

?On some aspects of the captive behavior of Xenodon merremii (Wagler) (Ophidia: Colubridae)?. The behaviour of Xenodon merremii, one of the commonest snakes of the central and northern part of Argentina, had hardly been observed until now. This paper presents a set of observations about the young and adults? ethology which provided some tentative conclusions. We analize here the feeding behaviour, where we found that the predilection of this reptile in feeding on toads of the genus Bufo has ethologie bases; we also did observations about the ?after-food-cleaning? behaviour, and about the inhibition of canibalism, probably caused hy glandular secretions. This paper also analyzes the behaviour before and during copulation, in which the female has always a passive attitude. The egg-laying and the birth are also described. The youngs provided an interesting material to study the development of territoriality and aggressiveness, and data about the feeding behaviour also.