What's the highest a snake can lift its head?

Factual Questions
1

See subject.

I was watching a cobra do its snake-charmer thing, and wondered about how many coils of its body to maintain a base to lift the rest of its body and head to a maximum height.

I presume the strength of its muscles and the total weight of the extended part are factors. Thinking structurally, the size of the base must figure. Perhaps even the shape of its head–a big square clonker is harder to wield than a svelte in-line one.

So:

  1. What is the maximum any snake can lift its head?

  2. What is the maximum, relative to body length, a snake can lift its head?

  3. Is there some dimensionless number that could be applied to answer question 2) to apply for all snakes considering the factors I suggested (or others) in the opening grafs?

2

There is probably no firm answer to your questions. Cobras as a group include raising their heads high in their standard defensive repertoire, so I expect that they may be the champs. I have always read that cobras can raise their heads about 1/3 of their body length. I have been in the presence of 15-foot king cobras whose head was eye-level for me, and I’m 6’2", so that seems about right. Here’s a pic of a king cobra with about 1/3 of it’s length off the ground.

3

Cobras probably have the best ability to raise their heads off the ground, used in their threat posture. The largest cobra, the King Cobra, reaches a length of a bit over 18 feet, and is commonly stated to be able to lift the front third of its body off the ground. Therefore the maximum is probably a bit over 6 feet.

While pythons and anacondas get bigger (with maximum lengths a bit over 30 feet), they don’t typically rear up the way a cobra does. I’m not sure that their musculature would allow raising the head in the same way, but if one applies the “one-third” rule the absolute maximum would be perhaps 10 feet.

4

I have a Mexican red-tailed boa that has reached his maximum size of about 5 feet long. If he has to raise his head without any other support, 1/3 of the body length is just about right. However, given something to rest against… he has been able to reach door knobs and pull himself up on them. (And, yes, he was a little confused about what to do next after he had himself precariously wrapped around a door knob with nowhere to go.)

5

I think a rough green snake may have the cobra beat out in it’s ability to stretch upward and or outward. I have seen them working the bushes along creeks in Mississippi and they appear to be going at least 1/2 their body length. They may be slightly anchored in bushes when they are doing this.

6

I’ve seen videos of snakes doing remarkable stretches, maybe even more than half their body height, but I think they were always able to anchor the other end of their body and/or lean on branches while doing that.

7

Green snakes are very good at lateral extension while anchored to a branch, but I have never seen one lift its head very high from a position on the ground. Vine snakes are really good extenders.

8

If you’re talking straight up and free-standing, 1/3 total length is about right for all the snakes I’ve known. They can go a lot more than that if they’ve got something to balance against, though.

I’d agree with around 1/2 to 3/4 total length for lateral reaches, depending on the snake and what they’re anchored to.