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Snakes (General; Miscellaneous)

Bury St Edmunds 'Boa constrictor': Snake seen on pavement
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-24793957

The snake "slithered away" before police could confirm the Bury St Edmunds sighting

A 3ft (0.9m) snake, believed to be a boa constrictor, has been seen on the streets of Suffolk, police say.

The reptile was spotted by a woman in Sextons Way, Bury St Edmunds, about 09:40 GMT.

She described it to police as "brown in colour, about three foot long and two inches wide".

The officer who went to investigate said it had "slithered away before we got there". The RSPCA said it would be looking for somewhere warm.

The species, commonly found in tropical forests in South America, can grow up to three metres (9.8ft) long.

They do not have fangs or venom, but squeeze the life from their prey before swallowing the body whole.

A police spokeswoman said members of the public should not approach the snake.

Andy Robbins from the RSPCA said: "If this is a boa constrictor it's not venomous but people should err on the side of caution.

"It's likely to be an escaped pet and as temperatures are dropping it will mostly likely be trying to find warmth.

"If people are able to contain it safely, say just closing the doors if it was in a garage, they can then contact us we'll come and collect it."
 
A nest of live snakes was discovered in a Washington state sewer pipe when a contractor ran a video camera down the line.

City engineer Gary Owen told The Wenatchee World he thought there were six snakes or more. Owen thinks they were bull snakes, possibly pets someone flushed down a toilet. The snakes might have tried to exit the sewer through toilets, but Owen says they were sealed off and entombed when a new liner was put in the sewer pipe. Owen says there was no way they could have been rescued.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 72072.html
 
Over two years ago, my daughter and her partner bred a clutch of bull snakes. Only three hatchlings survived, and one (the best-marked and most lively one) of them got out of its tub and went AWOL. They searched all over the house, which is situated on a farm, to no avail, and eventually decided it must have died or been taken by a bird (it was only slightly larger than a brawny earthworm...)

Yesterday she was walking her dogs when she noticed a little curly twig on the side of the footpath which, on closer inspection, turned out to be her missing hatchling. It wasn't much bigger than when it went missing, having trouble shedding its skin, and had some scarring and other damage, but it was very much alive - and at least 150 metres from her house!!

Rambo :roll: is now back home in a nice warm tub to settle for a week, then they'll offer him a pinky mouse.

Isn't that amazing? :D
 
monops said:
Over two years ago, my daughter and her partner bred a clutch of bull snakes. Only three hatchlings survived, and one (the best-marked and most lively one) of them got out of its tub and went AWOL. They searched all over the house, which is situated on a farm, to no avail, and eventually decided it must have died or been taken by a bird (it was only slightly larger than a brawny earthworm...)

Yesterday she was walking her dogs when she noticed a little curly twig on the side of the footpath which, on closer inspection, turned out to be her missing hatchling. It wasn't much bigger than when it went missing, having trouble shedding its skin, and had some scarring and other damage, but it was very much alive - and at least 150 metres from her house!!

Rambo :roll: is now back home in a nice warm tub to settle for a week, then they'll offer him a pinky mouse.

Isn't that amazing? :D

Good news! Will it be able to catch its own mice soon?
 
How come it didn't grow a lot bigger?
Aren't they supposed to grow much more than that?
 
ramonmercado said:
Good news! Will it be able to catch its own mice soon?

Hopefully that won't be necessary - it'll be happy to accept frozen thawed food! But the fact that it's survived suggests that it's managed to find something to eat - possibly it found nests of baby mice, or something similar.

Mythopoeika said:
How come it didn't grow a lot bigger?
Aren't they supposed to grow much more than that?

Yes, they are - its parents are both around the 2-metre mark and as thick around as my wrist. But as our seasons are completely wrong for it - much colder - and our fauna adapted to them, there wouldn't be much suitably sized prey available for very long, and most of the year the snake would be torpid in the cold anyway. It's obviously found something to eat, or it would have starved to death by now, but adult snakes can go an amazingly long time between feeds - six months to a year is not that unusual, especially for larger specimens - but in a nice warm snake room with regular feeds I would expect it to be at least 30-45 cm long.
 
Couple Finds 3-Foot Python In Couch

HOLBROOK, N.Y. (AP) — Officials on Long Island say a couple was startled when they discovered a 3-foot-long python in a couch.

The Suffolk County SPCA says Peter Wang and his wife were cleaning a basement apartment that had just recently been vacated when the wife removed one of the cushions from the couch and saw the snake.

Wang called the Town of Brookhaven Holtsville Ecology Center, which notified the SPCA.

The SPCA says the non-venomous Ball Python belonged to a former tenant and was going to be cared for by an upstairs tenant when it got loose. Ball Pythons are legal to own. No charges have been filed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/1 ... 03252.html
 
Vid at link.

7-foot Python Mysteriously Appears Under Hood Of Pickup Truck

This brown and yellow python was found slithering across the engine block of a pickup truck in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — When a woman's pickup stalled on a street in Santa Fe, New Mexico, local chef Jackson Ault stopped to lend a hand.

Ault and the driver both ended up with a surprise Thursday when Ault popped the hood and found a brown and yellow python slithering across the engine block.

A police lieutenant responded to a call for help. He retrieved the 20-pound snake.

The python was taken to the Santa Fe Animal Shelter, where spokesman Ben Swan says the reptile has minor injuries but otherwise is in good shape. ...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/1 ... 78786.html
 
SNAKE SHOCKER

USA: Two women who opened the boot of their rental car to retrieve their luggage were greeted by a stowaway with a difference — a snake.

The women drove the rental car from Boston to Kennebunk in Maine, where they discovered the ball python.

The snake, which can grow up to 1.5m long, was turned over to the Maine Warden Service and was being transported to the Centre for Wildlife in York.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 88863.html
 
ANOTHER SNAKE SEIZED FROM MAN ARRESTED WITH PYTHON

USA: A second snake — this one a sickly boa constrictor — has been seized from a San Diego man who had a python around his neck when he was arrested a week ago on suspicion of driving while drunk. Authorities said that 27-year-old Travis Eisner-Young was arrested in his vehicle with the ball python on September 16.

After learning Eisner-Young had at least one more snake, Animal Services officers went to his hotel room and found a boa constrictor in poor condition. Animal Services deputy director Daniel DeSousa says the boa and the python are now at a veterinary hospital that specialises in exotic animals. Officials say the python was found to be suffering from dehydration, anaemia and starvation.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 88863.html
 
McAvennie_ said:
About Eaten Alive
On EATEN ALIVE — premiering Sun Dec 7 9/8c — naturalist and wildlife filmmaker Paul Rosolie enters the belly of an anaconda in a custom-built snake-proof suit.

How exactly any kind of suit will allow him not to be crushed and asphyxiated is unclear...

Trailer here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55HMPwBX-Yc

I would imagine it would mean certain death for the snake if it did manage to swallow him.
 
Yes. This is just sensationalist nonsense for the cameras.
 
What if the snake's not hungry? Or doesn't want that big a meal?
 
Snake DNA Left in Bite ID's Serpent Assailant
A first-of-its-kind study finds it’s possible to analyze snake DNA left in a bite victim’s wound to identify the species—and thus the correct antivenom. Dina Fine Maron reports

Snakes still kill tens of thousands of people each year. Giving the antidote quickly can be the difference between life and death. But many bite victims cannot identify the species of their slithering assailants. Which leaves health care workers to make educated guesses about treatment.

Now a first-of-its-kind study finds that it’s possible to analyze snake DNA left in the victim’s wound to identify the snake—and thus the correct antivenom. The preliminary findings were presented November 4th at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in New Orleans. ...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podca ... assailant/
 
The world's oldest known snake fossils: Rolling back the clock by nearly 70 million years
Date: January 27, 2015

Source: University of Alberta

Summary: Fossilized remains of four ancient snakes have been dated between 140 and 167 million years old -- nearly 70 million years older than the previous record of ancient snake fossils -- and are changing the way we think about the origins of snakes.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150127122446.htm
 
A pet python in the Australian city of Adelaide has had surgery to remove a pair of BBQ tongs it accidentally ate, according to local media.

Owner Aaron Rouse was feeding a dead rat to his snake, named Winston, when the reptile swallowed the tongs.

Mr Rouse enlisted the help of a veterinarian at Adelaide University to perform the operation to extract them. ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-32732870
 
Boa constrictors were long thought to kill their prey by suffocation, slowly squeezing the life out one ragged breath at a time.


But a new study reveals that these big, non-venomous serpents, found in tropical Central and South America,subdue their quarry with a much quicker method: Cutting off their blood supply.

When a boa tightens its body around its prey, it throws off the finely tuned plumbing of the victim's circulatory system. Arterial pressures plummet, venous pressures soar, and blood vessels begin to close. (Read how snakes know when to stop squeezing their prey.)

"The heart literally doesn't have enough strength to push against the pressure," says study leader Scott Boback, a vertebrate ecologist at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150722-boa-constrictors-snakes-animals-science-kill/
 
An "incredibly rare" sighting of an adder swimming in the New Forest has been filmed by the South's Inside Out team.

Britain's only venomous snake was seen at the Lymington Keyhaven Nature Reserve and is occasionally known to swim. It is thought to be one of the first times it has been captured on camera.

Warden Pete Durnell said: "This is a very unusual sighting. Adders are fairly common on the reserve but it's extremely rare to see them entering the water like this and not something I have witnessed."

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-33828342

Vid at link
 
A couple who took their nearly 5-foot boa constrictor for a swim in a Pennsylvania river say the pet slipped away and they're concerned about its welfare.

The Bloomsburg Press Enterprise reported Thursday (http://bit.ly/1JfL8XN ) that Kolby and Zachary Latranyi had been swimming with the snake named Leyla last weekend in the Susquehanna River. The Latranyis say the red-tailed boa was shedding, so the swim was designed to help it remove material from its scales.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbe...-for-swim-in-river-say-it-vanished/ar-BBlJ41l
 
Keepers from a reptile park in Australia have rescued a venomous snake that had its head stuck in a tin can.

Tim Faulkner from the Australian Reptile Park released the red-bellied black snake by gently cutting it free.

The snake was uninjured, but keepers warned about the dangers of discarding rubbish.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34048938
 
“Watch out for rattlesnakes!” is an often-tossed warning from one hiker to another during spring and summertime in the West. But this year, winter may bring more dangers from venomous reptiles.

In a recent study, researchers found snakebites peak during El Niño events. This winter is expected to produce one of the most intense El Niño weather patterns in history, bringing heavy rain and aiming much of its wrath on the west coasts of North and Central America. It could bring welcome relief to drought-stricken regions.

But snakes? Really?

Snakebites affect more people than one might think: 2.5 million are bitten annually worldwide. Nearly 100,000 are killed by the bites and another 500,000 suffer serious medical complications. People in living in poorer and more rural areas have a higher likelihood of being bitten, according to the study published in the journal Science Advances.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/el-niño-could-spur-uptick-in-snakebites-this-winter/ar-AAeudg2
 
The real reason why there aren’t any snakes in Ireland (Sorry, St. Patrick)

St. Patrick didn’t banish all the snakes from Ireland; there were never any snakes in Ireland to begin with.Photo by: iStock

Legend tells it that in addition to introducing Christianity to Ireland, St. Patrick banished all the snakesfrom the Emerald Isle, chasing them into the sea from atop a cliff where he had undertaken a 40-day fast.


As beloved as this element of St. Patrick’s story may be, a brief scientific inquiry and look back through history – such as the one National Geographic conducted in 2014 – reveals what while St. Patrick did a great many things, sending snakes slithering away from Ireland was not one of them.

The truth is that there were never any snakes in Ireland to begin with.

There are no signs of snakes in Ireland’s fossil record. In fact, it’s likely that for millennia there weren’t any snakes in either Ireland or Britain, though Britain eventually gained three species of snakes: the Grass Snake, the Adder Snake and the Smooth Snake.

So, how did that happen?

During the Ice Age, Ireland and England were too frigid to be suitable habitats for cold-blooded reptiles such as snakes. But then, 10,000 years ago, when the glaciers shifted and land emerges connecting Europe, England and Ireland, allowing for migration. Animals that did make it to Ireland during this time period included brown bears, lynx and wild boars.

As Popular Science noted, when the glaciers began melting, the land between Ireland and England was covered over 8,500 years ago, but the land between Britain and Europe went underwater 6,500 years ago, allowing more time for snakes to slither over.

http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/h... IC - Feb 3&utm_term=The Best of IrishCentral
 
The Glaciers must have chased them off. In sub-artic Ontario Canada the Eastern Garter Snake lives right up to the edges of James Bay, a sub-artic treeless wilderness. An area where the winter temperature regularly holds at -50 F or -45 C during the dead of winter. Few people live in this this sub-artic barren wilderness.
 
The real reason why there aren’t any snakes in Ireland (Sorry, St. Patrick)

St. Patrick didn’t banish all the snakes from Ireland; there were never any snakes in Ireland to begin with.Photo by: iStock

Legend tells it that in addition to introducing Christianity to Ireland, St. Patrick banished all the snakesfrom the Emerald Isle, chasing them into the sea from atop a cliff where he had undertaken a 40-day fast.


As beloved as this element of St. Patrick’s story may be, a brief scientific inquiry and look back through history – such as the one National Geographic conducted in 2014 – reveals what while St. Patrick did a great many things, sending snakes slithering away from Ireland was not one of them.

The truth is that there were never any snakes in Ireland to begin with.

There are no signs of snakes in Ireland’s fossil record. In fact, it’s likely that for millennia there weren’t any snakes in either Ireland or Britain, though Britain eventually gained three species of snakes: the Grass Snake, the Adder Snake and the Smooth Snake.

So, how did that happen?

During the Ice Age, Ireland and England were too frigid to be suitable habitats for cold-blooded reptiles such as snakes. But then, 10,000 years ago, when the glaciers shifted and land emerges connecting Europe, England and Ireland, allowing for migration. Animals that did make it to Ireland during this time period included brown bears, lynx and wild boars.

As Popular Science noted, when the glaciers began melting, the land between Ireland and England was covered over 8,500 years ago, but the land between Britain and Europe went underwater 6,500 years ago, allowing more time for snakes to slither over.

http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/The-real-reason-why-there-arent-any-snakes-in-Ireland-Sorry-St-Patrick.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Best of IC - Feb 3&utm_term=The Best of IrishCentral
Is anyone else unconvinced by the 'snakes represent paganism' and 'dragons represent paganism' claim? I've been reading it in books of popular folklore (and in other books) since I could read, but haven't seen any convincing evidence backing the claim. It has the appeal of portraying Christian missionary saints, and Christianity on the whole, as an overbearing invader that banished all the old magic from the world, a notion which I'm sure is attractive to folklorists. But is there any actual evidence that there is a connection? Isn't it enough that those figures credited with introducing Christianity and converting our populations were already known to have done just that, and any serpent-banishing and dragon-slaying is just aggrandizement? Is John Lambton ever credited with having banished paganism from County Durham? Just musing, really.
 
Is anyone else unconvinced by the 'snakes represent paganism' and 'dragons represent paganism' claim? I've been reading it in books of popular folklore (and in other books) since I could read, but haven't seen any convincing evidence backing the claim. It has the appeal of portraying Christian missionary saints, and Christianity on the whole, as an overbearing invader that banished all the old magic from the world, a notion which I'm sure is attractive to folklorists. But is there any actual evidence that there is a connection? Isn't it enough that those figures credited with introducing Christianity and converting our populations were already known to have done just that, and any serpent-banishing and dragon-slaying is just aggrandizement? Is John Lambton ever credited with having banished paganism from County Durham? Just musing, really.

Can't say on that but the story of St P using the Shamrock to explain the Trinity is :BS:

Irish Pagans were familiar with the concept of the Trinity through the Threefold Morrgan.

Morrigú! Morrigú! Morrigú!
 
Is anyone else unconvinced by the 'snakes represent paganism' and 'dragons represent paganism' claim? I've been reading it in books of popular folklore (and in other books) since I could read, but haven't seen any convincing evidence backing the claim.
The link is probably the Serpent in the OT Garden of Eden, the opponent of God. A good symbol for pagans, who also reject God.
 
Snakes were also the bad guys in some forms of 'paganism'. Our word python comes from a nasty serpent killed by Apollo. Typhon was another snakey/dragony monster, and let's not forget Medusa, the ultimate snake-knacker.
 
This sort of reinforces the point. There have always been tales of heroes slaying serpents/dragons since long before Christianity. It seems to me the saints who slew or tamed such monsters were simply inheriting a narrative from pagan heroes. There is a tradition of dragons guarding ancient sites, such as python, but that doesn't mean the expulsion of a dragon is a mythical representation of the defeat of paganism in a given location. Often cited is the fact many churches are built on sites of pagan worship, and a few have dragon legends associated with them. But that prominent sites will attract legends and places of worship through the generations hardly needs explaining. In medieval Christianity, dragons and serpents represented the devil, certainly, but I'm no more convinced by that that stories of dragon-slaying are supposed to be some coded way of saying, 'this saintly figure banished paganism!'

I've been reading the idea my whole life, and at first thought, oh yeah, of course, as though it should be self evident. Thereafter I've just accepted it. Now I'm asking, where's the proof? Why are these not just stories transferred from one hero to another, from ancient times, with no more appeal to our medieval ancestors than the familiarity of the story and some vague association of draconic beasts with Satan?
 
THE COMMON PERCEPTION is that there are no snakes in Ireland. St Patrick or an Ice Age saw to that, depending upon who you talk to.

Try telling that to a homeowner in Glasnevin, Dublin, who encountered this little fella recently:

By ‘encountered’ we mean the snake fell out of a hole in the man’s ceiling and onto his head while he stood on a ladder, and by ‘little’ we mean ‘huge’ – the animal is five feet long.

Fortunately, it isn’t poisonous. It’s a Rat Snake, and the DSPCA believe it was probably kept by the house’s previous tenants as a pet.

http://www.thejournal.ie/snake-dspca-2674027-Mar2016/?utm_source=shortlink
 
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