All good info for those of you to remember who might go exploring for orchids down here in Central America. These bad boys are common throughout the region.

Hi Curtis.

Are you sure that your orchids soft parts are eaten by ANTS ?

Ants frequent 'extra-floral nectaries' but generally do not harm the plant parts - crickets do (!), and they are well hidden and camouflaged, and they eat mostly at night ...

Manfred,

Not certain. I see ants there and see damage so I am just assuming it is the ants. Have not noticed any other pests on the plants.

Curtis

I've seen the ants here do some very minor damage to a few of the flowers on my Isochilus linearis once. It is highly infrequent, so I don't even bother with the ants. They're everywhere here. They like to set up nests amongst the roots of orchids. When I water my orchids, they will come out by the swarms - particularly during the warmer months.

Love the Ninia sebae. Beautiful snake. Too bad they don't make it in as pets. I believe it feeds mostly on lizards and frogs (which is what makes them difficult to keep and hence difficult to sell). I was actually quite surprised to find out that many snakes actually prey mostly on invertebrates, amphibian, reptilian, and avian prey items. There are actually quite a few venomous snakes that prey primarily on invertebrates, amphibian, reptilian, and avian prey. Mammalian prey items may have been a relatively very recent game for certain snakes in the evolutionary story.

EDIT: Just found out Ninia sebae is an earthworm eater.

Just to throw out an explanation as to why coral snakes seem so relatively nonaggressive in general...

The reason may be that they are primarily fairly small snakes that like to hide and burrow. Their favorite prey items are other snakes smaller than them. They also will feed on small terrestrial lizards, and perhaps even reptile eggs.