# Can snakes catch rabies from a meal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-snakes-catch-rabies-from-a-meal/300197 "2005-04-20T06:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-snakes-catch-rabies-from-a-meal/300197/1 "2005-04-20T06:15:32Z")
I’m watching this show on Animal Planet about the top 10 deadly snakes. #8 was the Rattlesnake and there was footage of it eating a mouse it had killed. So now I have to know. Since rabies occurs in the wild, some of the mice surely are infected. Does it pass to the snake? Do the digestive juices protect it barring a bite or scratch? Has it even been studied? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-snakes-catch-rabies-from-a-meal/300197/2 "2005-04-20T06:39:25Z")
Reptiles can’t get rabies, period. It is pretty much a mammal-only disease and at that I believe it is actually rather rarer among rodents compared to other groups ( though, yeah, you can get rabid rodents ). - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-snakes-catch-rabies-from-a-meal/300197/3 "2005-04-20T06:40:31Z")
- - - While it is possible for reptiles to transmit rabies from one mammal to the next under odd conditions, reptiles are not susceptible to the disease themselves. Rabies only infects mammals. ~