Blood & Guts, Information from Dead Snakes: Roger Repp's Suizo Report

Howdy Herpers,
If you're squeamish about dissection, delete this email now. This may be a little hard core for some of you, but I expect others could benefit from these images. I scanned them for that very reason. They are, of course, up for grabs, citations are with the text for each pic.














Pic 1: I encountered a DOR pregnant atrox on 12 August 2002. Thanks to the scalpel of Schuett, it didn't go to waste. This image shows 8 nearly fully formed neonates, still inside of mamma. Courtesy Schuett/Repp 
Pic 2: Neonates removed and stacked next to mamma. Courtesy Schuett/Repp












Pic 3: Young female neonate. Courtesy Schuett/Repp
The next three images are from an old Herp Review Pub. I do believe this is the first time my name appeared as an author in peer review land. And there wasn't even a parade to honor the event! 













Pic 4: Neonate Crotalus cerberus, as found near Flagstaff on 30 September 2000. Note the food bolus. There were some attempts to palpate the food bolus out of the hapless young cerb--to no avail. No doubt as a result of our attention to the matter, the snake died. While none of us were proud of that, we made the most of it. Courtesy Schuett/Nowak/Repp














Pic 5: The prey item proved to be what I THINK is called a Southwestern Fence Lizard, Sceloporus cowlesi. I believe they were called Eastern Fence Lizards at the time-- but by now, they may be something else. Who cares? The bottom line is that the prey item was heftier in mass than the snake itself. To use a line from Harry Greene--that is the equivalent of me eating a 250 pound big mac with no hands!














Pic 6: Prey item removed, and lined up in exact position as removed. Note that the head is already partially digested. Courtesy Schuett/Nowak/Repp

Ok, we're done with the likes of that. Our next report will go back to looking at herps from the outside again.
Best-est, roger

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