The Misconceptions of Snakes!

This is a fun topic, because I've come across many people who ask me the dumbest questions about Sylvester whenever I post a picture of him on Facebook, or when family members visit and I have him out and their initial reaction is disgust and then interest, and then the questions come through that make me want to slap my forehead. 

Of course, not knowing these things about snakes isn't dumb, I think it's great if you wanna learn more about snakes, and I welcome questions from anyone and I wouldn't ever make someone feel stupid for not knowing, because let's be fair, snake facts aren't common knowledge unless you're a member of the Irwin family and you literally grow up in a zoo. 

I'm rambling, but I'm gonna go through the most common misconceptions about snakes, and educate on the reality. Enjoy! 

Misconceptions 

• "Is he slimy?" - No. No snake that I know of is slimy. Amphibians (frogs, toads etc) secrete mucus, reptiles do not. The best way that I can kind of describe to you what a snake feels like is a handbag. Which may be a little insensitive, but they do. They feel like soft leather, it's a cool feeling.  

• "Omg he's in an S pose he's going to bite" - Not necessarily. Although the famous "S" pose is a known position they make before they strike, hence the "S", a lot of the time they are just resting and that's just the position they have chosen to rest in. This is commonly seen in boa constrictors. Basically, if the snake isn't hissing, puffing up, or the rest of its body isn't tense but it's neck is in the "S" pose, they most likely are just chillin and they aren't going to bite you. 

Sly chillin his his scary "S" pose

• "Snakes are mean" - No. Snakes aren't mean (they can be sassy though), snakes are flighty. Snakes are not the biggest predator out there, so in most cases, I believe, that snakes are more of a flight animal. Meaning that they 99% of the time in a confrontation between you and the snake, it will choose to run away before it starts to defend itself. If it can't run away from you, it will begin its defensive displays e.g. Hissing, striking/tagging, rattling its tail (if it's a rattler) etc. Snakes are scared of us, because we are (for most species) bigger and they look at us and think "it's going to eat me". If you listen to its defensive strategies, it will ignore you. And usually, even wild snakes, once you pick them up and handle them they'll calm right down once it realises you aren't a threat. My favourite saying is: There is no such thing as an aggressive snake, only defensive ones. 

• "Why are you holding it?! You'll get salmonella!" - Not likely. Snakes do carry salmonella, but it's pretty unlikely that you'll contract it by holding a snake once or a couple times. However, as a precaution, you should always wash your hands after handling any reptile and keep on top of your husbandry, keep the cage clean and do a monthly deep clean where you disinfect the enclosure and everything in the enclosure. 

• "Omg that snake is going to eat your dog!" - No. Bit of context, I have a very small Chihuahua (Rosie), and I often get the whole "Sylvester could eat Rosie". A snake the size of a ball python would not be able to eat or really seriously harm a dog, even a tiny breed like Rosie. For one, Sylvester is only big enough, and will only ever be big enough, to take down a small rat. He would never be able to swallow a small dog. I mean, bigger snakes like an adult Reticulated Python, Burmese Python or a Green Anaconda could totally take down a small-medium sized dog, but I don't and don't see myself owning a snake bigger than a Common Boa Constrictor in the future, so I think Rosie will be safe. I also never do nor condone letting your dogs around your snakes, ever. Mostly for the snakes safety. 

• "Snakes change colours when they shed" - Yes, I've heard this one and no they don't. Their colours will dull when they're in shed, but once they shed they will look the exact same as they did before they began the shedding process. 

• "Snakes dislocate their jaw when they eat" - Nope. They don't dislocate their jaws, they just have very stretchy jaws, and they have some specialised bones in their jaws that aren't fused together, which allows for the snake to stretch their jaws around the prey to swallow it whole. 

• "Snakes are poisonous" - No. They aren't poisonous, because the only way you can get poisoned is by eating something, absorbing it through the skin, or inhaling the poison. Some snakes, however, are venomous. Venom can only be inflicted by injection by fangs or stingers. However, there is a very rare snake that is poisonous that has toxin glands on the back of its neck, but it's rare you'll ever encounter the Asian Tiger Keelback snake, so you should be good. 

The "poisonous" Asian Tiger Keelback

• This is my favourite one: "Milk snakes drink milk" - No they don't, but it would be adorable if they did. Snakes can't digest dairy products, but this whole myth came from the story of how these adorable harmless little guys got their name "milk snake". Farmers would find them in their cow barns, and they thought that they were stealing the milk from the cows udders, therefore, they got the name "Milk Snake". Unfortunately, the farmers would get rid of these alleged milk stealers, until they found out that the reason they were in the barn was to hunt the mice. Now, farmers usually welcome these cuties because it's free pest control. 

That's all I can think of for now, but I love hearing these myths and misconceptions that people have about snakes and I love helping people learn about the truth behind the myths. When people learn more about animals they fear, they fear them less the more they can understand them and can begin to appreciate what beauty and coolness they bring to the world, which is what everyone in the reptile community wants at the end of the day. 

Hope you liked this, bye! 

The adorable Milksnake bids you farewell