Can cold-blooded animals, such as snakes, be detected with thermal/infra-red devices?

Question

Im an amature herpetology enthusiast and Im curious to know if thermal gadgets could assist me in the field at night.

Thankyou Slew, but I must also ask: since cold-blooded means the surrounding temperature decides that of the animal's, then would a snake for example stand out in thermal vision, or completely blend in? That's the root of my question...

Answer 1

Depends of if the body temperature is the same as the surrounding, for example a snake that has been sunbathing for a few hours before dark will remain warmer than its surroundings for some time, so thermal immagery devices could have limited use. I'd say a flashlight or headlamp would probably be just as much use in most cases tough.

Answer 2

Theoretically it might be of some use, because the body of a reptile, especially a fairly large one, doesn't match the temperature of its surroundings degree for degree. It takes a while for the animal's body to equilibrate with its surroundings. If a cold rattlesnake crawls out of a rock cave onto a ledge in the sunshine, where the temperature is 90 degrees F, it's body temperature doesn't instantly shoot up to 90 degrees. Rather, it starts absorbing heat, and its body gradually gets warmer over the next hour or so - maybe several hours if it is a large snake. Likewise, if a snake has been thoroughly warmed during a hot day in the desert, and the temperature then falls quickly in the evening, the snake's body temperature will begin falling too, but for a certain length of time, perhaps a couple of hours, its body temperature will still be significantly higher than that of its surroundings.

Answer 3

I can not imagine thermal gadgets being any use for finding herps. I have been field herping for 15 years and have never needed such a device, and I have never heard of anyone else using them. First of all, at night the difference in temperature of a snake and it surroundings would be minute and would most likely not register on your thermal device. If you want to find snakes at night I suggest road cruising.

Answer 4

Yes, but not as clearly as if they were warm-blooded. First, some night vision goggles are not "infrared goggles", they are just image intensifiers, and another kind has an "infrared lamp", highlighting the scene. So you should really care if you only have passive infrared vision goggles or camera. I think you should not bother reading about thermal radiation, black body spectrum, Wien's displacement law, and Stefan-Boltzmann law. The spectrum and brightness of thermal radiation depends on temperature only. You probably care about the case when a cold-blooded animal is sitting on the ground, and has the same temperature as the ground - in this case it cannot be distinguished against the ground by its emissions. But even if so, you not only see emitted infrared light (thermal radiation) in your goggles. You also see reflected infrared light, just like you see reflected visible sunlight when you look around without any goggles. All objects emit some infrared, and you will always have some ambient infrared backlighting. And all objects reflect infrared light in different ways, just like all objects reflect visible light in different ways, so your cold blooded animal should be seen in reflected light - albeit it is hard to say how clearly.

Answer 5

Field Herp Forum

Answer 6

Yes. Cold blooded does not mean their blood is actually cold. If they were, thay would be dead. Their temperature are typically do not have the same metabolism and lack the same mechanism to regulate temperature like warm blooded animals. Thats why turtles have to bask in the sun to be active.

Answer 7

yes. Cold blooded animals does not really mean that their bodies are cold. Being cold-blooded means that the animal cannot control its own body temperature unlike us. So, cold-blooded animals also has heat so they can be detected by heat sensing devices.

Answer 8

Yes. In Metal Gear Snake Eater, you can use the thermal goggle to easily spot snakes, gators hiding in the bushes/swamps. Once you find them, you can kill them and make a lunch out of them! Munch!

I don't believe that you are a herpetologist.