Weird Questions Concerning Snakes

[Snakeknot]

I'm just curious, what kind of weird question have you gotten from people who don't own snakes about your little slithers? Mine was a doctor who wanted to know what color snake poop was.:rolleyes:

Devon

[Stefan-A]

I get the poop question all the time. People also often ask whether their tails grow back, like lizards'.

Other questions copy-pasted from the comment sections of two of my YouTube videos:

- can they eat sardines from a tin?

- did you catch those garters from the wild

- hey i have a dekay brown snake so do u think u can get 1 and try helping me with info to take care of it

- what if they eat something they are not supposed to , LIKE A LIGHT BULB

- um i have a butler and common and i am looking to breading, which is the girl and which is the boy

- where the hell do you get your worms!!!

[drache]

those are all excellent questions, along with
"aren't they slimy?" and
aren't you worried they'll eat you?"
and even better: "how do they all get along?" implying that they're all free-roaming in my house

[guidofatherof5]

I hear:
Don't they stink? and How do they Poop?
I get a lot of surprised people when they learn where the babies/eggs come out of.
They thought they came out the end of the tail. They also had no idea the had a butt, as they call it.:D

[Snakeknot]

I have some people look at me strange when I tell them some snakes give birth. Someone else thought that the momma snake raised the babies to adulthood.

Devon

[wolfpacksved]

weird one: are snakes just heads w/ a big tail?
most common Q : is that poisonous?

[GarterGeek]

When my rescue garter gave birth, someone I was talking to asked me how long it takes for the little ones to be weaned... :rolleyes:

Although a lot of questions are silly from our perspective, I think that we should appreciate that these people have the curiosity and interest to ask. - They are much better than those who completely dismiss snakes out of fear.

[guidofatherof5]

When my rescue garter gave birth, someone I was talking to asked me how long it takes for the little ones to be weaned... :rolleyes:

Although a lot of questions are silly from our perspective, I think that we should appreciate that these people have the curiosity and interest to ask. - They are much better than those who completely dismiss snakes out of fear.

Great point to bring up.:)

[Stefan-A]

When my rescue garter gave birth, someone I was talking to asked me how long it takes for the little ones to be weaned... :rolleyes:
I frequently get the question "Can they be separated from the mother right away?" Not the least bit weird, really. Most people just aren't used to non-mammalian animals and they've never really had to think about how things work with for example reptiles.

[bkhuff1s]

My favorite has to be "why is your snake staring at me" it cracks me up every time :) I tell them he thinks they're dinner

[Tyrel26]

i get "if it gets out aren't you scared it'll strangle you in your sleep?"

"or crawl down your throat??"



this was directed towards my garters :)

[guidofatherof5]

I was on Youtube looking at a Garter snake video. This question was left in the comment area.

"cant garter snakes like suck themselves in and make there scales like razor blades and when they slither out of ur hand they cut u? some lady at petco told me that"

Wow, that's a new one:D

[Snakeknot]

That's almost as good as the one I heard on another forum where someone's relative swore that turtles shed their shells! I guess they got them mixed up with hermit crabs.

Devon

[Snakeknot]

I had a great opportunity to get asked some weird questions yesterday. I went to our local Faerie Festival and since the place is very pet friendly, I took two of my snakes. I wanted to take my big corn Draco but he was blue and had the sniffles. So I took my two healthy sand boas, Franco the Kenyan and Smoothie the Saharan. Franco has done this sort of thing before. Smoothie needed the experience.

Well they both handled the experience wonderfully! They were handled by many people, took part in the drum circle with the belly dancers and were even kissed by a few people! I think I chose the right snakes to go with. I really gotta keep my eye on Draco. He likes to go everywhere, and this usually includes under people's clothes! They also had another guy with a booth educating people about the creepy crawly critters and he had a ton of large corn snakes. I may have lost Draco! He had several that looked like him!

Anyway someone asked me if snakes can roll downhill after you. Hmmm. Interesting fiction. I got asked by a bunch of people, "Is that poisonous?" I guess because sand boas are so unusual looking.

I had a really unusual question from one lady who asked if snakes like to be captive. Hmmmmm. I told her that when I put my sand boa away and instead of digging down in its sand, he reaches up and tries to get back into my hand, I take that to mean he doesn't want me to be done holding him. I also told her about my male corn snake "twitching" when I hold him sometimes and I explained what that meant! That got a chuckle outta her.

Anyone have a lonely corn girl for Draco? I don't do the whole inter-species thang!

Devon

[Holly]

Not really about snakes but i get asked a lot of weird questions about my geckos. My husband does vocal sessions so we have people come over once or twice a week to record.

We usually get:

-What do they eat?
-Do they bite?
-Are they poisonous?
-Do their tails grow back if thy fall off?
-Oh, they are so small, they must be babies right?

Weirder questions we've gotten:

-Are those the ones that spit venom?
-Are their spikes poisoned?
-Don't they try to eat you?
-How often do they have babies? What do you do with them all?
-Are those the ones that make that noise? You know, howl?

[lokai99]

Ok it's not a snake question, but I have to share it someone might get a kick out of it. I had a chipmunk who was saved from a cat and I wanted to give him a few days of good food and quiet before release. I was told that "yeah that thing is cute now but what will you do when it becomes a squirrell?"

[ConcinusMan]

LoL. I literally Lol'd on that one^^^.:D I raised an eastern gray squirrel from a hairless baby back in 2000. I miss him.:(


When you think of a snake as a worm, it's not surprising they think that things come out of the end of the tail. funny thing is, that's not where worm babies (eggs) come out of the worm! I once had someone ask me "Is that worm a girl or a boy?" :rolleyes: I said "yes". they were like :confused:

Howl? Never heard that one. I have seen people outdoors at night and we heard pacific chorus frogs. Just because the frog sounds were coming from an area where garters can be seen during the day, they just assumed that the snakes were making that noise. :rolleyes:

I can't blame them. when I was 5 or 6, I caught a fence lizard on a stucco wall in San Pedro, California. It managed to wiggle from my hands and escaped into a low-growing evergreen bush. After dark I heard a cricket chirping in there. I just assumed it was the lizard! LoL.

[snakehill]

I had a gray squirrel too! He was one of the best pets I ever had! I miss him too!:(

[flickerfriend]

I get "Are they poisonous?" a lot. Some people:rolleyes:

the common ones when my friends see them are "Aw those are cute" and "Can I hold one" as well as "Do they bite?"

[Sonya610]

"Can they eat vegetables too?"

My mom asked that when I told her how easy they were to feed.

[infernalis]

Do you ever see spotted adders in your yard?

snakes eat fish?

I'm sur the others will come to mind later..

[RedSidedSPR]

I laugh my face off with questions like this. But if you think about it, a lot of them make sense. I mean, you can't expect everyone to know all about snakes.

Some really dumb ones like "are they slimy?" have no excuses, but others like, "do the tails grow back" are not that bad... still, they're great. :D love it.

[PINJOHN]

have enjoyed this thread it has given me quite a laugh, but i do agree that people asking should be seen as a positive thing, even the questions that raise a giggle:D

[kibakiba]

I got asked if garter snakes puke blood on you as a defensive mechanism. I have no idea who has ever thought of that, unless they picked up a dying garter snake that was bleeding internally or something and thought that it was trying to get away from them.

[flickerfriend]

I got asked if garter snakes puke blood on you as a defensive mechanism. I have no idea who has ever thought of that, unless they picked up a dying garter snake that was bleeding internally or something and thought that it was trying to get away from them.

That's a new one :p

[RedSidedSPR]

I got asked if garter snakes puke blood on you as a defensive mechanism. I have no idea who has ever thought of that, unless they picked up a dying garter snake that was bleeding internally or something and thought that it was trying to get away from them.

Some do. As a death display.

[flickerfriend]

Snakes in general? or garters?

[RedSidedSPR]

Hognose snakes come to mind. A few others here and there

Hognose are MASTERS of the death display. They don't let up. you can't "wake" them:p

3yuRT9JplC4

[Mommy2many]

That was one of the funniest "Death Scenes" I think I have ever seen! And the Oscar goes to...

[Didymus20X6]

I got asked if garter snakes puke blood on you as a defensive mechanism. I have no idea who has ever thought of that, unless they picked up a dying garter snake that was bleeding internally or something and thought that it was trying to get away from them.
Some snakes will vomit any recent meals if they feel significantly threatened. It could be that this originated from someone who caught a snake that had recently eaten something, and that snake regurgitated a recent meal, leading the person to think it was spitting blood.

EDIT: I wrote this before watching that hognosed video. In it, the snake regurgitates what looks like a frog in its "death throes".

[RedSidedSPR]

I have personally witnessed one choke up blood.

[flickerfriend]

garter or hognose?

[RedSidedSPR]

hognose. I never meant garters.