odd questions - non-BP

[Gurgie]

ok so I'm watching tv the other day and saw something interesting. It was some show on discovery or similar, and they said something about the scales on a snakes head can tell you at a glance if the snake is venomous or not. (I think the "or not" part had something to do with being a colubrid).

basically you look at the head and if you see a single scale in front of the eye between the eye and nostrils, its venomous. if there is 2 scales between the head and nostril, its not venomous (or a colubrid. not quite for sure exactly about this part *grin*

anyone else heard something like this before?

also, anyone know of a black mamba that "hoods" like a cobra? I thought I saw it but it was small and not sure if I was seeing it correctly or in the wrong lighting or something.

[mr~python]

yes, mambas do make hoods like cobras.

ive never heard the venomous thing though. whos gonna look close enough to see the scales on a snakes head to check if its venomous or not? lol. i think someone who can't tell if a snakes venomous or not by looking at its pattern, and headshape should leave the snake alone.

[Kizerk]

i never heard about that scale thing...

i read that black mambas were one of the fastest venemous snakes or something

[JLC]

I too, have never heard of that "single scale" thing....and at the moment, I'm not buying it. But I'm too tired to look for pictures of animals to check. Maybe tomorrow. Also...if I can't identify a snake, I'm sure not gonna get close enough to it to count the scales on its head! LOL


BTW....I moved this to the General Herp forum for ya.

[Deliciously Evil]

Oh yeah - With my eyesight, I take off my glasses and get close enough to count the scales on the head....I'm dead.

[Gurgie]

well now, I never thought about getting close enough to look at snake scales. LOL

I'm wondering if it came to me in a drug induced stupor

yeah the black mamba is the fastest snake in the world. it can cruise along at 24 mph for several minutes. its also, if I recall correctly, the longest venomous snake.

...wonder how I get back to that stupor?....

[jotay]

Actually they cruise more around and up to 16 miles an hour or at least that is what was said on the special I watched on Sunday night on Animal Planet about Black Mamba's. It was one of those Mutual of Omaha specials and was pretty good. Showed a clutch hatching, at birth they are about 2' long.

And they do hood. And they can get as long as 14' and rise up high enough to look a grown man in the eyes. Very nasty critters

[Snakeman]

Actually they cruise more around and up to 16 miles an hour or at least that is what was said on the special I watched on Sunday night on Animal Planet about Black Mamba's. It was one of those Mutual of Omaha specials and was pretty good. Showed a clutch hatching, at birth they are about 2' long.

And they do hood. And they can get as long as 14' and rise up high enough to look a grown man in the eyes. Very nasty critters

yeah i remember seeing that sometime ago. i was like "wow".

[JLC]

yeah the black mamba is the fastest snake in the world. it can cruise along at 24 mph for several minutes. its also, if I recall correctly, the longest venomous snake.

....

The King Cobra is the longest venomous snake. Mambas are super-cool, though.