Hormones

Here's another wild idea from thesnakeman.

I know that all living organisms produce, and regulate hormones for specific bodily functions. I'm wondering how much, if any, snakes utilize hormones found in prey items for their own metabolism, in things such as fertility. For instance,...If you fed a female snake, only female mice, rats, chicks, and so forth, would it have an effect on the snake's fertility level? Would the female hormones present in the prey items be usable by the snake? Would the same hold true for males? Would the hormone level be increased by feeding live prey items? Are some of these hormones lost during the freezing process? Has anyone ever studied the possibilities? Again this goes back to my never ending quest to figure out why wild indigos have a higher fertility level, than captives.
T.

It would be very likely the branch chain amino acids would be broken down during digestion, prior to being metabolized by the predator. This is the reason insulin must be subcutaneously injected by diabetic patients, as the development of an effective oral therapy has been elusive…

Best regards,

Jeff

Jeff,
Interesting. Thanks!
T.