# laughing snakes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laughing-snakes/312121>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 12, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laughing-snakes/312121 "2005-07-12T03:29:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laughing-snakes/312121/1 "2005-07-12T03:29:48Z")

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can you tie a snake into a knot such that it can’t extricate itself?  
just wondering.

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**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:** [July 12, 2005, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laughing-snakes/312121/2 "2005-07-12T04:00:29Z")

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No. Not without killing it.

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**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laughing-snakes/312121/3 "2005-07-12T04:56:29Z")

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oh. i suppose it won’t be able to breathe.

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laughing-snakes/312121/4 "2005-07-12T09:00:29Z")

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Yeah, I can’t imagine any configuration you could put a living snake into that its own muscles wouldn’t be able to get it out of, not unless you seriously injured it.

Reminds me of the John Ciardi poem:

“I had two eels once whom I taught  
To make themselves a true love knot,  
But one would slip and one would slide  
And then the knot would come untied. …  
No matter that I tried and tried,  
No matter than I even cried,  
The knot would always come untied.”

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**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laughing-snakes/312121/5 "2005-07-12T12:59:22Z")

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I’ve actually tried doing this on more than one occasion. The snake immediately slides out of the knot.

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**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laughing-snakes/312121/6 "2005-07-12T19:01:38Z")

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> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Not without killing it.

Well, that would pretty effectively prevent the snake from extricating itself.

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**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:** [July 12, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laughing-snakes/312121/7 "2005-07-12T21:33:06Z")

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> [@Cervaise](#):
>
> Well, that would pretty effectively prevent the snake from extricating itself.

Yes.

The problem is not so much breathing but that the snake, while very flexible, does have some limitations. Snakes’ bodies don’t have a lot of friction (otherwise they couldn’t move very well). If you knotted a snake’s body tightly enough so that friction would be effective enough to hold the knot, it would probably break or at least dislocate its spine, cut off its blood circulation, etc. The snake might not die immediately, but its not being able to extricate itself would have as much to do with being crippled as anything else.