# Snake with foot found. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 25, 2009, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445 "2009-09-25T01:11:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/1 "2009-09-25T01:11:02Z")
- I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw," said Mrs Duan of Suining, southwest China. \* Story with picture[here.](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6187320/Snake-with-foot-found-in-China.html) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/2 "2009-09-25T01:19:38Z")
Cool. Too bad she killed it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Fat\_Chance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8baadc/32.png) [@Fat\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fat_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/3 "2009-09-25T01:22:02Z")
I have a history of recurring snake theamed dreams. Thank you for assuring an truly horrifying night of sleap. 'night ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/4 "2009-09-25T01:53:23Z")
I think it’s bullshit. A hoax, artificially created to get attention and possibly money. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/5 "2009-09-25T02:01:48Z")
> [@Fat\_Chance](#): > > I have a history of recurring snake theamed dreams. Thank you for assuring an truly horrifying night of sleap. > > 'night I cannot even click the link open else I’ll have nightmares for days. The thought alone is squiking me out, big time. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/6 "2009-09-25T02:05:23Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Cool. Too bad she killed it, though. If I saw that thing, I’d kill it, too. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/7 "2009-09-25T02:09:49Z")
Pythons and boas have vestigial feet, but they’re down by the tail end, not sticking out of the middle. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/8 "2009-09-25T03:01:05Z")
_slither, slither, slither, click_ _slither, slither, slither, click_ _slither, slither, slither, click_ It’s coming for you. _slither, slither, slither, click_ ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/9 "2009-09-25T03:16:23Z")
Seems like a hoax: according to the OP link, she beat it with a shoe, and then preserved it in alcohol. The photo doesn’t show evidence of beating to death; the body would be all smashed up, don’t ya think? This could be the photo taken before preservation in alcohol, but it sure isn’t one taken after. From the OP link: > [@](#): > > The snake – 16 inches long and the thickness of a little finger – is now being studied at the Life Sciences Department at China’s West Normal University in Nanchang. The photo doesn’t at all match up with those measurements to my eyes. Little finger is your pinkie, and look how fat that snake is in the middle…Looks to be about 2.5’ long, really. I appreciate snakes, and would be interested if they all of a sudden sprouted legs. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/10 "2009-09-25T03:17:44Z")
You know what foot snakes love? Fear, and clawing out human eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/11 "2009-09-25T03:20:22Z")
Sixteen inches? What’s amazing is that the snake was only four inches long, and then it grew a foot! ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/12 "2009-09-25T03:21:59Z")
Am I the only one that thought she found a snake with a foot sticking out of its mouth? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/13 "2009-09-25T03:34:04Z")
Methinks that Mrs Duan of Suining, southwest China speaks with forked tongue. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/14 "2009-09-25T04:14:52Z")
> [@elelle](#): > > I appreciate snakes, and would be interested if they all of a sudden sprouted legs. Based on the bulge in the body, it looks to me as if the snake had swallowed a live lizard, and the lizard managed to partially claw its way out of the snake’s body. While odd developmental things can happen, that leg seems way too well formed to be actually part of the snake. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/15 "2009-09-25T04:59:39Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Based on the bulge in the body, it looks to me as if the snake had swallowed a live lizard, and the lizard managed to partially claw its way out of the snake’s body. While odd developmental things can happen, that leg seems way too well formed to be actually part of the snake. That was my first thought on seeing the picture as well. Talk about indigestion! ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/16 "2009-09-25T05:07:07Z")
I thought the same myself and was coming back to post it and was beaten to the punch again. The clicking sound the woman heard was probably the lizard tapping an SOS in Morse Code. Didn’t do him much good though. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/17 "2009-09-25T05:56:53Z")
I thought for sure the picture would turn out to be [one of these](http://rangeboy.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/ajolote-unexplained-mysteries.jpg), which I find far creepier than snakes. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/18 "2009-09-25T06:14:33Z")
Doesn’t the picture look more like a live snake, hissing at someone? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/19 "2009-09-25T07:37:28Z")
I like the part about the 2-headed snakes: “the heads have a tendency to attack each other.” When I was on Maui back in '91, someone had found a 2-headed snake and took it to the zoo. They named it Thelma and Louise (the movie had just come out). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445/20 "2009-09-25T07:40:01Z")
Incidentally, this is the one time a vestigial mutation would not even bother creationists, as many believe that, before the whole apple thing, the serpent had legs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snake-with-foot-found/511445.md?page=2)