# How to hold a snake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118 "2001-11-18T23:12:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/21 "2001-11-19T15:16:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tamerlane \* > …the field has lost several fine researchers to avoidable carelessness. > > Most recently **Joe Slowinski** … I read the articles. Sweet Jesus have mercy, but what a sad, wasteful, courageous way to go. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/22 "2001-11-19T15:23:12Z")
I was always taught to hold the snake behind the head, and that’s what I’ve done. If it’s in the wild, I hold the head down with a stick or other implement, then grab behind the head. Works fine. And the snake can’t possibly get its mouth to me, as it presumably could if I grabbed the other end. Of course, I’ve never had to or tried to grab and hold a highly dangerous and aggressive snake like a mamba. In a case like that, if forced to, I might grab the tail, but only preparatory to swinging the snale in an arc to whack its head against something, a la **The Gods Must be Crazy**. When I was a kid I went to see Dr. Haas at the Miami Serpentarium. Dr. Haas, who handled King cobras and other such agressive and venomous snakes, always grabbed them behind the head, then “milked” the venom into glass containers. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/23 "2001-11-19T20:38:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheLoadedDog \* > **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.** I’m trying to picture how you drink beer with all this going on. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/24 "2001-11-19T23:19:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > > \*\*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. \*\* > > 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. > \*\* um, > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Mangetout_ > 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** ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/25 "2001-11-20T02:15:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*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** \*\* [/QUOTE] Reading Comprehension 101: Be sure you don’t skip over an entire sentence of the paragraph as it may make you look somewhat silly later. Let me put that in my notebook. Got it. ::slithers out of thread:: ---
**Author:** ![Jojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@Jojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jojo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/26 "2001-11-20T02:48:55Z")
I remember Steve Irwin saying that you should **always** hold a snake by the tail because it has small delicate bones in its head that you could damage. But you should also support its body weight with a stick. (Not that Ive ever knowingly been within 100 miles of a snake in my life) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/27 "2001-11-20T04:27:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JillGat \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by TheLoadedDog \* > > **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.** > > I’m trying to picture how you drink beer with all this going on. \*\* Tha’s whot he’s got his best sheila there for. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/28 "2001-11-20T04:30:41Z")
I once caught a non poisonous snake at camp using a stick and grab behind the head method. Do you think I missed my calling to be a Wildlife Adventerer? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/29 "2001-11-20T12:44:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JillGat \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by TheLoadedDog \* > > **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.** > > I’m trying to picture how you drink beer with all this going on. \*\* Well, you need to find the other end of the snake, get somebody to hold it up high, grab a plastic funnel, some oil, and… …ok, I won’t go there. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/30 "2001-11-20T18:17:01Z")
Just another note here re. snake handling. When I was growing up in California, I used to catch gopher snakes. They were aggressive mothers. If they didn’t bite you first and you held them right behind the head, they would throw the rest of their body around your arm and shit all over you. They also emit this horrid oily smell that’s hard to get rid of. We have a related species here in New Mexico, the bull snake. It’s also aggressive but they don’t seem to shit on you like gopher snakes do. Maybe it’s just a California thing. - Jill ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118/31 "2001-11-20T18:55:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jojo \* > **I remember Steve Irwin saying that you should always hold a snake by the tail because it has small delicate bones in its head that you could damage.** I really doubt this is a serious problem. You’re supposed to hold it **behind** the head, gently but firmly. I suppose if you held the head itself in a power grip, you _might_ damage some of the thinner bones. However, a snake’s skull, and the rest of its skeleton, is extremely flexible, so I really think you’d have to squeeze it pretty hard to damage anything. If you are trying to transfer a snake between tanks, or into a bag, it would be appropriate to lift the snake’s body on a snake stick while holding its tail to prevent it from sliding off the stick. However, pulling a poisonous snake by the tail while hanging out of a tree seems to me to be irresponsible in the extreme. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-hold-a-snake/94118.md?page=1)