Sized Up By a Snake: Debunking a Popular Urban Legend

When I am at work doing public education programs with our reptiles, I get all sorts of crazy questions and statements from our guests. There are countless myths and misunderstandings about reptiles, especially snakes, which has given rise to much of the fear people have for these creatures. That's why I feel my job is so important; by just providing a little clarification and information, I am able to calm many of the fears and dispel much of the dislike people have for these amazingly important animals. After all, the first step towards conservation is education!

I've heard quite a few stories that people swear to be true, but there is one urban legend in particular that I hear. ALL. THE. TIME. And most of the time, the guest recounting the story promises me that it MUST be true. Many of you have likely heard this tale at some point or another (it's been around for ages!):

 There was a woman who had a snake as a pet, a python which she loved so much. The snake was 4 meters long and looked healthy. However, one day it just stopped eating. The desperate woman tried everything she could and offered anything that a snake would like. Still, the snake seemed ignorant and refused to eat. Finally, the woman took her loving pet to the vet as a last resort.
The vet listened to the story carefully and then asked the woman whether the snake sleeps with her at night, wraps around her, and whether it tends to spread out throughout its length.
Being happy to hear that, the woman gave a positive reply. She further explained that it looks like the snake asks for something, but she is unable to help and make it feel better.
Then, the vet said something shocking. Namely, the python wasn’t sick but it has been preparing to eat her instead!
As he explained, each time the snake used to creep and wrap around the lady`s body, it was actually checking her size and weighing how a great meal she was and how prepared it has to be prior the attack. Speaking of the reason for its refusal to eat, it was actually making enough space so that it is easier to swallow and digest its next meal (the lady herself). (Source)

Okay, so hopefully you read through that, had yourself a good laugh and understood that it's a made up tale with a cheesy moral (something about recognizing the true motivations of others). Unfortunately, there are many people who do believe this tale to be a true account; this, of course, does nothing to lessen their fear of these animals. I must then not only inform them that the story is just that, but I must also explain WHY the legend is completely bogus. So here are just a few reasons why this tale is complete fiction.

1. A Snake Eating a Person is Astoundingly Unlikely (Practically impossible):

So unlikely that the debate rages whether or not it is even physically possible. While snakes can flex their jaws to swallow food much larger than their own heads, the human body presents a major obstacle: our broad, non-collapsible shoulders. Even the largest snakes (up to 30 feet) would have pretty much zero chance of getting their mouth around our shoulders, never mind the four meter snake in the legend. Look at the photo below; that's a huge snake but it would never be able to swallow any of the people holding it! Perhaps a snake could eat a human, but it would have to be the unlucky meeting of an absolutely massive snake and a smaller-than-average human with narrow shoulders. (Earlier this year, an Indonesian reticulated python was believed to have eaten a man. Experts point out that if the story is true, it is because the victim was a native Agta, hunter-gatherer tribesmen who are physically small as adults). (Source)

2. Snakes don't plan their meals.

A snake doesn't really think ahead when it comes to food. If it sees reasonable prey, it will simply try to eat it right then and there. In fact, they don't really even plan out any means of cathing their prey! It'll just slither in and grab it or just wait until it comes close and grab it. If the snake had in anyway considered the woman to be a meal, it would have just crawled into the bed and immediately eaten her that first night. Even if a snake has just eaten it won't pass up on another meal (who knows when the next meal will be?). No snake would ever pass up a meal just so it can eat something even bigger later like the one in the story. They certainly do not save their food for later or plan out what and how they plan to kill. Snakes just live in the moment.

3. Snakes don't measure their prey.

Imagine how successful a snake would be if it routinely lined itself up along its intended prey when hunting. It would quickly starve as no animal is going to sit idly by while a predator snuggles up next to them. For a snake, it's just grab then eat. Generally, they are able to swallow most anything they kill, but every now and again a snake will bite off more than it can chew. I've seen snakes that took on prey that was just slightly too large, fight to swallow it for a little while, and eventually admit defeat and regurgitate the meal. However, such cases are quite unusual; in most instances, snakes can work down any prey they catch with a little work. But there's no measuring involved, just grab and hope you can work it down!

Okay, so we know that snakes just don't behave the way the python portrayed in the story does. But even urban legends tend to be based at least a little bit on a truth. Is there any kernel of fact to this tale? 

Sure.

Let's suppose you own a python or other large snake and decided to let it freely roam your home (not a great idea, but hey it's your hypothetical snake). It would not be too surprising to wake up and find the snake lying up against you in the bed. But if it's not trying to eat you, what is it doing? Is it looking for companionship like a cat or dog?

Nope! The snake would be there for one reason: heat. Snakes are ectothermic (cold-blooded) meaning that they rely on their environment to regulate their body temperature. If they get to cold, they must move to find a warmer place. As an endotherm (warm-blooded), we are practically a living furnace, producing our own heat from within. Any snake would be happy to make use of this heat source if they can (our program snakes seem to enjoy being handled because they are exposed to our body heat...we're basically like a big heated tree!). Pythons especially have heat pits on their upper lips that allow them to see with a sort of thermal vision. To a python, a warm human would be practically glowing with heat! The snake would very likely look to crawl up against that person to keep itself warm.

So this story is just a story; by and large it just doesn't reflect true snake behavior. Hopefully you all enjoyed this little article (I probably relay this information to guests on a weekly basis but what can you do?), and maybe even learned something new about these animals. There are countless similar tales that drive the general fear and dislike of reptiles, so hopefully we can begin combating them with a little bit of good ol' fashion education!

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