Novelist needs help with snake research

Jason Black · #1 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 04:57 AM

Hello there. I know this probably isn't the usual kind of topic for this forum, but here goes:

I'm a novelist, and the book I'm working on at the moment needs a snake. I'm the kind of writer who feels it's important to get the details right about stuff like this, so I'm hoping someone on this forum can help me.

Well, I KNOW someone on this forum can help me. What I'm hoping is that someone will take pity on me and do so.

Here's the setup as it will take place in the book:

I've got a character who has gotten himself in trouble with a gang leader. He's not in the gang, but he has managed to get on the gang leader's bad side in such a way that he owes the gang leader a favor. The favor? The gang leader has decided that it will help his badass image if he has a big old snake for a pet. The kind of snake you can walk around with, letting it drape itself around your shoulders and so forth.

The thing is, it's not much of a favor if all the guy wants is an ordinary boa constrictor. So, I need for him to want something more exotic. Something much more difficult to come by. Something that can serve as an additional status symbol for its owner.

This is where you all come in. Can you name for me some snake species which, ideally, fit the following criteria?

* Big enough to be impressive looking if you're wearing it around your shoulders,
* Illegal to import into the United States
* Tempermental

That last one is because, at the book's climax, I need the snake to act out in some fashion (I haven't decided exactly what yet) in order to create a distraction.

I know it's an odd request, but I know practically nothing about snakes and I really want to get this right in the book. I'll be totally grateful for any help you can provide, and will be happy to credit you in the book when it's done. Give me your contact information, and I'll even send you a copy!

Thanks in advance!

morti · #2 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 05:18 AM

Hi and welcome to Redtailboa.net.

You want an African Rock Python. They are not currently illegal to import but give our federal government a little time.

They are Very temperamental, they get quite large (well over 12') and they are more than a little impressive. It would be a hand full for your hero.

telefrag · #3 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 05:48 AM

I'd go with a scrub python

they were described as "heat seeking missles with teeth" in a book once.

LdyDrgn · #4 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 05:58 AM

I would go with a Boelens python.. they are quite impressive and very hard to come by. Morelia boeleni if you want to do some research.

Jason Black · #5 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 05:59 AM

Wow, you all are awesome! And fast! Jeez.

An African Rock Python looks like just the thing. It is listed on the CITES II appendix, meaning import is restricted. So that will work just fine for the story.

Telefrag, while the scrub python certainly looks like an impressive species too, for purposes of the book I'm going to have to go with the snake with the cooler name. So, Morti, you win the prize! I'll private-message you to get your information for the book credit. Thanks!

M2788 · #6 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 10:05 AM

While I think that the above suggestions are perfect for such a role (I have yet to meet an African Rock python that didn’t have an attitude problem, though I hear they exist

) and have nothing to add in that regard, I wanted to say thank you for doing your research on this.

I can’t tell you how many times I have read a book only to quickly become frustrated by the authors screwing up basic, easily found information on snakes, I.E. using the words ‘boa’ and ‘python’ or ‘poisonous’ and ‘venomous’ interchangeably when they have very different meanings, referring to fangs on non-venomous snakes, not realizing that snakes don’t have external ears and thus won’t react to humans speaking, or acting as if all snakes are extremely aggressive when they come in contact with people when the opposite is often a more accurate depiction. I am an avid reader and these things leave me with a strong desire to throw the book I am reading across the room. It is great to see an author taking the initiative to get the facts right, and I applaud you for that.

John_White · #7 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 01:39 PM

I think a venomoid king cobra would fit the bill nicely. A gang leader with little disregard for life in any form using a venomoid king cobra as a status symbol and for shock value.

fishmommy · #8 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 01:41 PM

Where are you located? Our forum membership spans the country and there's a chance that someone near you has an Afrock or another giant that you could meet and observe. Nothing beats direct experience!

KaiYudSai · #9 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 02:04 PM

What about an extraordinary boa constrictor....
Look if you want a snake that fits a gang member that wants a bad snake... I suggest using a reticulated python..... ALot of people buy them because they get bigger than anything else... kind of like a Napoleon syndrome thing.... These are some of the most dangerous constrictors out there... and they are quite tempermental sometimes... one gave me a bite on my arm that required hours of surgery
here is a pic of one of my old ones

Caligula13 · #10 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 02:23 PM

ha, awesome morti, as i was reading i was totally on the same page with the afro rock. werd

Stargazer · #11 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 02:42 PM

I was on the same page with morti and John White - either an afrock (African Rock Python) or for the venomoids, a king cobra. If your fiction ventures anywhere into the realm of fantasy, a king cobra would be cool because this is something you will never see around someone's neck. You could create this snake to be very docile with the owner but hood up when strangers come around.

Reticulated pythons get too huge for one person to handle, let alone hang around one's neck. And also, they are too adorable to be menacing. Although, come to think of it, afrocks get pretty huge, too. I'd go with the king cobra.

What a cool thread!

Stargazer · #12 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by telefrag

I'd go with a scrub python
they were described as "heat seeking missles with teeth" in a book once.

Yeah, I wonder how KB's scrub python is doing. He must be getting close to 20 feet long by now.

Jason Black · #13 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 06:04 PM

Thanks, everyone, for the great advice.

@M2788: your reaction is EXACTLY why I'm here asking you folks all these newbie questions.

RE: cobras: In this instance, I don't want something venomous or poisonous (although I admit to being shaky on the exact difference, there...), so I think cobras are out. I want a constrictor. And the book isn't at all fantasy, so I can't really get away with making it some sort of tame-ified cobra.

One other thing that would be really helpful to know, though: what kind of stimulus might provoke an african rock python into looping its coils around your head? If, say, you were dumb and macho enough to have the thing draped around your shoulders already? Here's what I have in mind for the climactic scene of the book:

My main character is acting as a go-between for the gang leader and an arms dealer. They're in a warehouse to conclude the deal, when the rival gang busts in. All Heck breaks loose. The gang leader suspects that the main character has double-crossed him, and so grabs him like a human shield while the bullets start flying.

Here's where I need the snake to react. What should the main character do to provoke the snake into an attack response? Ideally, I'd like for the snake to do its constrictor thing on the gang leader, around his head or chest or whatever I don't really care, I just need the snake to provide an opportunity for the main character to get away. So what should he do? Yank the snake's tail? Smack it in the face? What?

Thanks so much for all your help. You all are awesome.

Sakara · #14 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 06:20 PM

well with all that action going on and if the snake is around the bad guy when he grabs the hero, all that excitement and fast moving on it's own could cause the snake to freak haha. even just a holding on squeeze from a large afrock would be enough to stun your bad guy... then if he freaks trying to yank it off, the snake could go off even more

morti · #15 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 06:22 PM

The difference between venomous and poisonous is, if an animal (or plant or whatever) is poisonous, you will have an adverse reaction of you eat it. If an animal is venomous, you will have an adverse reaction if it bites you and injects venom in you. So Poison Dart Frogs would be poisonous, while cobras would be venomous. John suggested a "Venomoid" cobra. That would be a cobra that has had it's venom glands surgically removed.

As far as an African Rock Python wanting to constrict a person, most of the time, a constriction is a feeding response. 99% of the time the snake will bite out of defense and bite and constrict out of hunger.

The excitement of the gun battle, especially the sudden movements could easily trigger an African Rock to bite. It might even bite your drug dealer in the face. If the snake then felt like it was falling (IE if your drug dealer started to fall) it would very likely constrict tightly to Hang On.

I know this is not the conscious decision on the part of your hero that makes the snake attack that it sounds like you are looking for, but the end result is the same. You have a drug dealer with an angry rock python biting his face and wrapped around his neck and chest.

morti · #16 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 06:29 PM

Oh and by the way:

Here is a couple of pics of an adult female African Rock Python that my wife and I rescued a few years ago. For size reference, this is a standard sized bathtub:

Further size reference, I am 6'. I am very thin, but you can tell she's still a big girl.

Unless you want your drug dealer constantly struggling to even lift the snake, I suggest a male African rock. They do not get quite that large.

John_White · #17 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Black

RE: cobras: In this instance, I don't want something venomous or poisonous (although I admit to being shaky on the exact difference, there...), so I think cobras are out.

To clarify, a venomoid king cobra is a snake that has had it's venom apparatus surgically removed. This renders the once venomous snake, harmless.

I hope that one day venomoid snakes will be fantasy, but as of now they are unfortunately, far too common and created in large part for all the wrong reasons.

Best of luck with your book!

Caligula13 · #18 (**permalink**) 09-01-2010, 11:59 PM

i had one of my snakes, rojo a suriname red tail boa, attack my hand after i finished a sandwich with mortadella salami

I think he smelled the tasty meat juices on my hand. Less climactic, but it would be funny for a bad guy to get bit in the face by an african rock python due to a ham sandwich

Rachel SS · #19 (**permalink**) 09-02-2010, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caligula13

i had one of my snakes, rojo a suriname red tail boa, attack my hand after i finished a sandwich with mortadella salami

I think he smelled the tasty meat juices on my hand. Less climactic, but it would be funny for a bad guy to get bit in the face by an african rock python due to a ham sandwich

he probably bit you because you annoyed him.

Caligula13 · #20 (**permalink**) 09-02-2010, 12:26 AM

my girl was holding him and he was calm. She'd been holding him for a good couple of minutes. I walked up to her and he bit the hand not closest to him, didn't look angry, just hungry. I'm thinking he's Italian

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