# More snake stuff **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 2, 1999, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-snake-stuff/1132 "1999-09-02T22:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AuraSeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-snake-stuff/1132/1 "1999-09-02T22:32:00Z")
Slightly related to the mailbag article: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msnakekill.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msnakekill.html) In the September _Scientific American_, there’s a short article on how some people have been bitten by venomous snakes that they thought they’d killed. I quote one small part of the article: > [@](#): > > “Patient 2 shot a rattlesnake, striking the head several times, and observed no movement for three minutes.” Patient 2 lifted the snake, got a dose of venom in his finger and became the subject of observation himself, at the hospital. It’s not quite as impressive as the myth that a decapitated snake will live until sundown, but it is an interesting factoid at least. * * * Of course I don’t fit in; I’m part of a better puzzle. ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-snake-stuff/1132/2 "1999-09-03T05:55:00Z")
Aura ,that brought back to mind the famous “Fang in the Boot” tale and the “Scientist Killed by the Preserved in Formaldehyde Snake Head” Fangs for the memories. * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![AuraSeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-snake-stuff/1132/3 "1999-09-03T19:49:00Z")
That was a bad pun! Boo, hiss! ---
**Author:** ![VegForLife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9de0a6/32.png) [@VegForLife](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegForLife)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-snake-stuff/1132/4 "1999-09-03T21:39:00Z")
> [@](#): > > some people have been bitten by venomous snakes that they thought they’d killed Well, I haven’t read the article, but based on the snippet you provided, I question the accuracy of what I just quoted. I think it’s more likely that the guy _had_ killed the snake, and the fact that he got stuck with a fang when he picked it up was his own fault. Did the article give any more details on that particular incident? Rich ---
**Author:** ![AuraSeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-snake-stuff/1132/5 "1999-09-06T02:48:00Z")
The point of the article is that the snake’s reflexes remain operational, even after the rest of the life functions cease. It’s similar to the way a chicken can move around after its head has been cut off. So in the incident I quoted, the guy didn’t just poke himself with the fangs by accident. A self-defense reflex triggered, and the dead snake bit him. * * * Of course I don’t fit in; I’m part of a better puzzle. ---
**Author:** ![AuraSeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-snake-stuff/1132/6 "1999-09-06T02:48:00Z")
The point of the article is that the snake’s reflexes remain operational, even after the rest of the life functions cease. It’s similar to the way a chicken can move around after its head has been cut off. So in the incident I quoted, the guy didn’t just poke himself with the fangs by accident. A self-defense reflex triggered, and the dead snake bit him. * * * Of course I don’t fit in; I’m part of a better puzzle. ---
**Author:** ![AuraSeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-snake-stuff/1132/7 "1999-09-06T02:49:00Z")
Okay, that double post was _not_ my fault. The MB claimed I had a bad password the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Diane\_Lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@Diane\_Lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane_Lee)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-snake-stuff/1132/8 "1999-09-06T05:05:00Z")
I have been advised by a veterinarian who specializes in “exotics” that extreme care must be taken with dead venomous snakes because “nervous reflex” remains for quite a while after death. I personally do not expect to put this advice to use, preferring to leave venmous snakes to the professionals and =very= experienced amateurs. * * * MomCat