Snake Myths

[Livia]

Flying snakes also are pretty adept at jumping too. Mine love to come flying out at my face every time I open their cages.

[PythonGuy24]

Originally Posted by Livia

Flying snakes also are pretty adept at jumping too. Mine love to come flying out at my face every time I open their cages.

LOL good one.

[fizzbob7]

it's the worst in the south (the myths about snakes)

here are a couple i didn't see covered on the first page

1) rattlesnakes will bite themselves to commit suicide when cornered, so you have to make sure there is no venom in there before you eat it (they don't commit suicide for starters, they're immune to their own venom and although their teeth could puncture something vital, it isn't likely, and they don't know when they're cornered and there is no escape, they're not that smart)

2) black racers can crawl faster than you can run (mambas are the fastest snakes and supposedly have been clocked at around 12-15mph, which is slower than the average, healthy adult can run......the average speed is closer to 8-10mph and the black racer is more apt to crawl 5-7mph....and like most snakes, they usually try and get away and sometimes stand their ground but i've personally not seen one advance on somebody)

3) snakes can use their tails as weapons and can stab them through pieces of wood (their tails are not only blount most of the time (some have a claw looking tail-tip scale), but they definitely don't harpoon anyone with them....they may shake their tales to musk/defecate on you, but that's as bad (and sometimes bad enough) as it gets........)

[Radical]

Snakes can jump.

You jump by extending and contracting muscles in your legs, the same way snakes extend and contract muscles in their bodies.

[Bschott]

Originally Posted by TekWarren

I to have seen snakes...not necessarily "jump" but hurl themselves in an intentional direction as part of a deffensive manuever.
is this another internet list??

Talking about hurling snakes...You want to see a puff adder hurling itself a few times? scary stuff

Just so happens I have a video link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGQymtHaz9c
(Who ever said that vipers hook well?...love that quote)

[badkittyamy]

Originally Posted by Genevieve

i suppose technicly the rattle snake could "hear" its rattle through vibrations

they tested this i think and found it to be false i remeber watching a show about it

[Bschott]

6. Snakes always chase you when they are scared. If a snake comes quickly in your direction, it is most likely because it is confused. Its goal is to get away from you.

While they might not always chase you, I know a certain King Brown that WILL chase you to bite and is more than willing to come at you and follow you for the bite. (thanks AL for that video!).


One myth I have heard is "Gabby's can't strike back towards their tail". Complete nonsense. In fact if the gabby is streatched out or in it's normal "C" postion, the strike ability towards the front is limited, however they certainly can whip around and strike someone standing behind them easily.

[StevenLeeAugust]

I am getting this one a lot lately,
A lot of people believe that snakes don’t have bones.

[morti]

I hear that one a lot too Steven, but I do live in Kentucky...

Around here, Black Rat Snakes are called Cowsuckers by the locals, corn snakes are "Chicken Snakes", and milk snakes are always hoop snakes.

My favorite is the good old eastern hognose. You hear them called everything from Spreading (or spread-head) Vipers, Asps, and Adders because everyone is bound and determined that it is some type of "poison" snake. I was doing a show and tell at Salato wildlife center in Frankfort, KY a couple of years ago when a man walked up to me and started telling me about this snake that he had found in his back yard. He aparantly froze it in a styro cooler full of water and was absolutely bound and determined to show it to me. He said that he had taken it to University of Kentucky and showed it to a biology professor who had no idea what it was. He went home and got it for me. It sure was a block of ice with a little hog nose sticking out. The best part was, he asked me if I wanted to keep it. "Nosir... I have no use for a frozen hognose"... "It was alive when I froze it... It'll come back to life if you let it thaw."

*shakes head and walks away*

	Hog Island Boa hogg

	Corn Snake The Corn Snake or Red Rat Snake (Elaphe guttata) is a species of Rat Snake.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Hognosed snakes are mildly venomous so they aren't really THAT inaccurate. He probably learned all about cryogenics watching "Demolition Man" lol. Hey! If it can work for Stallone and Snipes, why not a snake?

[P1Vinny]

Those are funny. I've been asked several times if my boa's have been de-fanged. All I could was laugh.

Best one is when they ask if my Boa Constrictor is posionous?