How to hold a snake?

Factual Questions
1

One bright, sunny morning, Sneeze is washing dishes, humming the Smurf theme and enjoying the smell of her lemon-fresh dish detergent when Oh No! Snake in the garbage disposal! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! The snake leaps from beneath a stack of ketchup-encrusted plates and proceeds to wind its way around the faucet, flicking its tongue in an insulting manner and getting snake scales all over Sneeze’s silverware. Sneeze, not being one to shy away from a snake, especially one that is fouling her utensils, grabs a spatula in her left hand and prepares to grab the snake with her right, when she realizes - she doesnt know which end to grab?

Does she go for the snake ala Steve Irwin, grabbing the very end of the tail and then dangling said reptile in front of her like a top-on-a-string, dodging the snake as it periodically lunges at her crotch (which is at its most vulnerable because Sneeze does not believe in wearing clothes while doing the dishes)?

Or does she grab the snake right behind the head, which was always what she thought you were supposed to do, until the Animal Channel was overrun with men in khaki shorts who enjoyed running down wildlife.

As she stands pondering, the snake lunges! AAAHHHHHH! Luckily, the snake had gotten soap in its eyes and misjudged Sneeze’s position in the kitchen. It leaps headfirst into a heavy cast-iron pot and falls, unconscious, to the floor.

Sneeze breathes a sigh of relief and wipes the sweat from her brow, and is then promptly knocked on the head as the afore mentioned skillet falls to the floor.
What a tragic, tragic situation, which could have been avoided, if only Sneeze knew the proper way to handle snakes - so no one else is forced to suffer through such a tragedy, could a Doper enlighten the community on the correct way to handle a snake? By the tail or by the head?

Thank you,
love
Sneeze (who is ok after all) and Snakey (who, aside from the occasional bout of double vision, is ok as well)

note: I dont really have any snakes to handle, but I am curious, having watched several hours of Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin over the weekend: why do they hold it by the tail, when it would be so much safer (it would seem safer, anyway) to hold it behind the head.

Also: Does anyone know what color is the inside of a green mamba’s mouth? In “The Poisonwood Bible,” they say it is sky blue, but I have been able to find any confirmation online. For what it’s worth, the inside of a black mamba’s mouth looks like a smoker’s lung, a necrotically marbled black and grey.

2

The best way to handle a snake is not to handle it.

The next-best way (for you, not necessarily for the snake) is to hold is just behind the head after having pinned it securely but gently with a stick or something, in the case of venomous snakes anyway.

I can’t for the life of me understand why some of these famous TV herpetologists insist on picking up deadly snakes by the tail, except that maybe they think it looks cool.

3

Mangetout has it exactly right.

  • If your objective is to avoid being bitten, the only correct way to hold a snake is directly behind the head.

  • If your objective is to impress the ignorant with your bravado, pick it up by the tail so it can attempt to strike at you in a menacing way.

I have absolutely no desire to ever be in a position to find out the color of the inside of a green mamba’s mouth.

4

Here’s my take on it, and FTR, I’m no expert. I once had a pet Royal Ball Python named Lucifer, but that’s it.

Have you ever tried to grab a snake that wants to bite you by the back of the head? Unless you sneak up behind it, it’s gonna get you first. And even sneaking up behind it, it’ll probably get you before you get close enough to grab its head.

And what if you miss grabbing it by the back of the head? Then it can easily turn and strike you.

Grabbing it by the tail, you have control of the snake, but there is enough room between you and the head to get away from the business end of a fang if need be. Grabbing it by the back of the head would control the snake and keep it from biting you, but then the head is that much closer to your body if your hand slips, lose your grip, or something happened and it got loose.

Also, if you grip a snake by the back of its head, then the snake is free to wrap its body around your arm if you aren’t fast enough to grab the tail as well. If that happens, you’re stuck holding the snake until the snake decides to let you go.

5

Steve answered this question on of the shows, unfortunately I can’t remember the exact explanation.

The gist was, he [Steve] grabs them by the tail because it causes the snake less stress than grabbing them behind the head.

IIRC, holding them behind the head makes the snake completely helpless, and a panic attack (or whatever the snake equivelant is) can cause them to have a heart attack, or a stroke, whatever. Also, it is possible to seriously injure the snake by squeezing the head and neck too hard by accident.

To repeat a bit though…the best way to handle any snake it NOT to handle it. Send the Croc Hunter a quick e-mail, and he will be right over to take care of ya, mate. :stuck_out_tongue:

6

Hmm…

I am glad, Lixitxachitl, that atleast Steve is holding the snake that way because it is nice for the snake.

And Crunchy Frog that is a good point too - what with being all spread out along the ground, I bet snakes are great when it comes to picking up vibrations of people who are trying to sneak up behind them with the intentions of displaying their fangs at a video camera.

Colibri and Mangetout, I see what you mean about bravado. Personally, though, I think it would be easier to show a snake to a camera if it wasnt bouncing around trying to kill you.

So thank you Dopers for the response, and dont worry because, like I said, I dont really have any snakes to handle. There is not a snake in my garbage disposal (and I hope it will stay snake-free), and I am not planning on any snake-catching expeditions. I was just curious.
love
Ssssssssssneeze

7

Let me get this straight…

You’re naked, doing dishes. You see a snake, and not only do you not freak out and bolt, but you take aggressive action to disable it? AND consider how to pick one up the next time it happens?

OK, I’m impressed. Gutsy lady.

How YOU doin?

8

I’ve handled both poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, and in fact have kept both. You’ll never catch me holding a poisonous snake anywhere but from right behind the head. If I can’t identify it right away, I’m treating it as if it were poisonous. Once you’ve got the head under control, support the weight of the snake’s body with your free hand, or by looping some coils over the arm that’s holding the snake, and keeping them there as necessary with the free hand.

However, the vast majority of the time I’ve handled poisonous snakes, I’ve picked them up with long grabbers, at around the first-third of the body, and then dropping the whole snake into a dark pillowcase, then placing a quick over-hand knot in the bag. This puts the least possible stress on the snake, and allows you to handle the snake quite safetly, so long as you hold the bag above the knot.

Non-poisonous snakes, I’ve handled fairly casually, and while they’ve bitten me on occaison, it’s no big deal, and I go out of my way to prevent them from being excessively stressed.

9

Herpetologists I know will grab a snake by the tail if 1) it is trying to escape (rather than just sitting there); 2) they want to capture it particularly badly; 3) it’s either harmless or they are extremely gonzo (and I know some of those too.)

It’s not advisable to pick up a snake that can potentially give a serious bite (either a venomous snake or a big one like a python), even behind the head, by just barehanding it. First you should immobilize the head with gentle pressure behind the head with a snake stick if one is available, or other stick if not.

Are these TV guys picking up venomous snakes by the tail (I’ve never seen them)? I could see picking a harmless snake up by the tail in order to avoid stressing it, but messing around that way with a venomous one is kind of nuts (IMHO).

10

Steve Irwin always holds snakes by the tail. In particular, today I saw him holding a green mamba by the tail when perched in a tree, and then, on the ground, holding a black mamba.

All by the tail.

And Grok - wink wink, baby : )

love
sneeze

11

Just a tip here for those of you who handle large pythons or boa constrictors It’s important to have a mirror somewhere nearby, in case the snake gets wrapped around your neck. A few people have died that way, being suffocated because they couldn’t see the ends of the snake to unwrap it.
(ps - oh, and Britney, you are welcome to ignore my advice)

12

I always hold my snake behind the head. Sometimes I stroke it to make it feel better.

Then ,when I’m done with it, I put it back in my pants.

13

On the other hand, it is possible that he [Steve] does it that way for the effect: If you hold the snake by the head, you get a bit of drama from the coils wrapping around your wrist, or thrashing around violently…

But if you grab it by the tail, you get ten times the fun and drama from the frequent strikes, near misses, and general sensationalism…

e.g…
WOW, look at that! [snake whips around and misses Steve’s nose by a millimeter] WHOA, watch out, he’s grumpy! etc. etc.

I saw the show with the mamba snakes, one scene has him with an aggressive, dangerous snake constantly striking at him. He is ten feet up in a tree, holding a bushy branch in one hand and the tail in the other. He has half of his attention on the snake, explaining with the other half to the camera how, “…[the snake he is holding, and is trying to bite him as we watch] is one of the most venomous snakes in the world, and there are documented cases of people dying after being bitten by it, even with the antivenom…”

All this while staring straight at the camera.

It sure looks great from this end of the television screen, and I imagine it has added greatly to the popularity of the show (not to mention the copycats).

He is nuts, that Steve…but great fun to watch as well!

-Lixi

14

[SUP]I like Jeff Corwin better.[/SUP][SUB]Tiiiiight Shiiiirts…drool[/SUB]

Anyway, whenever I grab a snake (After I make sure it’s not one of them venomus critters, I stay away from those) I just grab whatsever closest, then get the head. Sure I’ve been bitten a few times, but if the snake it small enough, you don’t even feel it!

15

Well, now that we’ve tackled the poisonous and nonpoisonous wild snakes, here’s what to do with the tame:

Always balance the majority of the weight in your hands. Never hold a (pet) snake solely by its tail or head–basically, by either of few inches on the end. Large pythons will grip you for balance; corn snakes, like my 5’ Henry, will need your hands placed about 1/4 the way down from either end.

When around nervous people, or when handling a nervous snake (such as my Cornelius), always have control of the head and be sure to keep it pointed away from body parts.

So keep those crotches covered!

16

Re. the color of the inside of a green mamba’s mouth;

A different member of the mamba (Dendroaspis) family of elapids, the black mamba (Dendroaspis Polylepis)is also often greenish but is so named because the inside of its mouth is a purplish black. There are three kinds of green mambas, the Eastern Green mamba (D. angusticeps), Western Green mamba (D. viridis), and Jameson’s mamba (D. jamesoni). According to one of my books, the inside of the eastern Green Mamba’s mouth is pinkish white. I’ll let you know when I find out about the other subspecies. - Jill

17

Interesting - thank you JillGat! The mamba I saw on the Croc Hunter must have been the Dendroaspis Polylepis, because purplish-black could definitly be used to describe the inside of its mouth - it was definitly the scariest mouth I have ever seen. If the Grim Reeper has gums, that is what they look like. If it helps any, in “The Poisonwood Mamba,” the family lives in the Congo, so that is the region the sky blue snake would be in. Also that is pretty freaky about people dying by not being able to unravel their snake - I always thought they wrapped with their tail on the inside, so you wouldnt be able to get at it even if you could see it, but yipes - what a bad way to go. And, who is Britney?
Little Bird, I agree about Jeff Corwin - cute, funny AND he gets all these cool animals to visit his house. Sadly, he also has a wife.

Ruffian, those are great names for snakes! Do they go specifically for crotches because they are warm, or just those are places where you really, really dont want to get bitten? Will a snake sit in your lap? Do they enjoy being stroked and scratched like a cat or dog? I imagine alot depends on the individual snake, but have you ever run across any that enjoyed stuff like that?
love
sneeze

18

All words to live by. There is an unfortunate streak of machismo in herpetology. Not all herpetolgists are like this, by any means. But a certain subset, mostly male, is. As a result the field has lost several fine researchers to avoidable carelessness.

Most recently Joe Slowinski, who I knew very, very slightly ( met him once ). His memoriam:
http://www.calacademy.org/special/joseph_b_slowinski/

At least one of those links at that page goes into a little detail on what happened. But essentially he couldn’t see the animal clearly in the bag, he thought it looked like a krait mimic, so he reached in and grabbed it to take a closer look. He wasn’t as careful as he could have been and it wasn’t a mimic :frowning: .

This is not to speak ill of the dead. He was a very talented man. But an ounce of prevention is worth a couple of tons of cure.

  • Tamerlane
19

to respond to the title: very, very carefully…

:smiley:

20

Like any red-blooded Aussie Doper, I normally hold a snake in my mouth, using my teeth to keep its jaws shut. This keeps one hand free for crocodile wrestling, and the other free for casually flicking the deadly spiders away. I’m then still able to round up cattle on my outback property by steering my helicopter with my knees.

Umm, sorry. Actually I’m just a boy from the 'burbs with nothing to add to this thread. I think I saw a snake on TV once though. :smiley: