Funny things people have told you about snakes.

.. have told/asked you. :P

A coworker (who is a friendly person, not against my snakes at all) just genuinely asked me out of the blue, "So do they remove the teeth on your snakes? Or what do they do with pet snakes to remove the venom?"

So I replied that very few people own actual venomous snakes, and none of my snakes are venomous. So they don't remove the teeth. She then asked, "Do they bite you, or..?"

So I replied that they're very docile, they've never bitten me, and that's why I have so many! :D

I'm sure I have more. I'd love to hear the other weird things and misconceptions you guys have been asked!

At my first job, I was asked how they poop and if it came out of their mouth...that same person and a few others also seemed legitimately shocked that snakes mate. I'm not quite sure how they thought snakes reproduced after hearing that, but of course I explained things as best I could. o: It's very strange how little people understand snakes!

My father used to tell this story about how when he was a boy and on his way to school there was a type of snake that would chase him and other children. The way the snake chased them was by putting his tail in his mouth and rolling after them! Especially going after them on downhill roads where the snakes would pick up speed. I kid you not! My father was from Whitmire, South Carolina about 50 miles outside of Columbia. :snake:

My partner's mother very seriously relayed the urban legend about the python that was "measuring up its owner to eat" and told me she was afraid for our safety with Yigg in the house, so that was fun to educate her otherwise.

For me its mostly oh their slimy, although there was one time someone jumped backwards out of a open window screaming when they realised I had a corn snake across my shoulders, screaming "oh my god I thought it was plastic" as you jump backwards out of a window is an impressive trick just wish this was in a time when cell phones had cameras.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

My father used to tell this story about how when he was a boy and on his way to school there was a type of snake that would chase him and other children. The way the snake chased them was by putting his tail in his mouth and rolling after them! Especially going after them on downhill roads where the snakes would pick up speed. I kid you not! My father was from Whitmire, South Carolina about 50 miles outside of Columbia. :snake:

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Omg... I'm actually dying laughing LOL what an image! That's hilarious.

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Originally Posted by AlbinoBull

At my first job, I was asked how they poop and if it came out of their mouth...

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I can't believe HAHAH! Jesus christ

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

.. have told/asked you. :P

A coworker (who is a friendly person, not against my snakes at all) just genuinely asked me out of the blue, "So do they remove the teeth on your snakes? Or what do they do with pet snakes to remove the venom?"

So I replied that very few people own actual venomous snakes, and none of my snakes are venomous. So they don't remove the teeth. She then asked, "Do they bite you, or..?"

So I replied that they're very docile, they've never bitten me, and that's why I have so many! :D

I'm sure I have more. I'd love to hear the other weird things and misconceptions you guys have been asked!

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Yes! I took Karma to school for pet Friday, someone was like 'So....How much was it to get her fangs removed.' Also somebody said a snake flicking it's tongue was like a dog wagging it's tail.:rofl:

Just last week a coworker asked about my ball python's "poison." I honestly don't think he believed me when I explained that it isn't venomous.


Another coworker insisted their partner's snake eats vegan, and I should switch mine over too. I just nodded and changed the subject quickly...

For me it's probably that most non snake people think they are slimy... They are surprised when they find they are not..

I love correcting people when they use poisonous. One of the girls at work was like we saw a poisonous snake today. I'm like what? She repeated herself, and I'm like poisonous? Then she's like yea poisonous, so naturally I'm like venomous. Then we go back and forth so I decided to educate her on the difference.

Then when I see people say the only good snake is a dead snake, I usually make some remark to upset them. I hate idiots.

"You know that'll get like 20 feet long, right?"

"Don't put it around your neck!! It'll strangle you!!"

I have had one person ask "where's her butt?" which is actually pretty hilarious to think about in hindsight, but at the time I was just glad to be educating someone eager to learn.

Some people ask me, "aren't you afraid of her/ afraid that she'll do x?" and I always kinda want to be like uhh no, why the hell would I have an animal that makes me fear for my safety? Instead I just try to answer as patiently and non-condescendingly as possible. It's a little harder after hearing the same thing a million times, but I don't want to be mean. They've often never thought of the possibility of someone purposely having a snake in the house with them before, so they're thinking the logical first things that come to their minds. Especially if they're uneducated and think that all snakes are venomous and/or one track minded killing machines. 'Cold blooded,' ya know?

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

My father used to tell this story about how when he was a boy and on his way to school there was a type of snake that would chase him and other children. The way the snake chased them was by putting his tail in his mouth and rolling after them! Especially going after them on downhill roads where the snakes would pick up speed. I kid you not! My father was from Whitmire, South Carolina about 50 miles outside of Columbia. :snake:

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Ah, the hoop snake. I think they say coachwhips do that too, and will let go of their tails and whip you with them if they get close [emoji1]

A friend of mine came over one time (unexpectedly like he always does lol) and It was maybe a couple weeks after I got my first bp and my friend didn't know I had a snake... well I had him out and I was playing on the computer and he was wrapped around my neck napping and my friend walks in the room and almost has a heart attack then after about 5 minutes of me LITERALLY explaining to him that's he was a pet and not some random snake that came into the house trying to kill me.... he ask me if he could pet him and he did and the first thing he says is "is he sick?" I said "no why"???? he said "he is not slimy something has to be wrong" well me being the bluntly honest person I am said "dude... snakes are not slimy" as I was laughing historically ....well long story short he wanted to know more about them so I explained everything I knew about bp's (thanks to this community) and now he has 2 bp's and a dumerils boa. needless to say I felt good about myself because I enlightened him enough he lost all fear of the animal and is now able to see their true beauty.

sorry its so long winded but I thought it would be cool to share. thank you

I can't believe the number of people who seem to think all snakes have fangs and venom!
These are people with advanced degrees.

Even as a kid chasing garters in the back yard, I knew they wouldn't hurt me. My mother, however, had a deep and generalized distrust of nature. We grew strawberries in the back yard. It was a small patch, and frequently by the time one ripened, it would already have a bite taken out of it before we got to it. She HONESTLY believed that the gartersnakes were the culprits.

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Originally Posted by distaff

I can't believe the number of people who seem to think all snakes have fangs and venom!
These are people with advanced degrees.

Even as a kid chasing garters in the back yard, I knew they wouldn't hurt me. My mother, however, had a deep and generalized distrust of nature. We grew strawberries in the back yard. It was a small patch, and frequently by the time one ripened, it would already have a bite taken out of it before we got to it. She HONESTLY believed that the gartersnakes were the culprits.

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Right? Even after I got my first ball python, some coworkers were trying to dissuade me from snakes using venomous species like cottonmouths as examples... I'm like bruh lol.

also LOL!! My dad actually would totally believe the same thing if that happened to us. He once asked me if my snakes should eat some vegetables, because it would be a more balanced diet than just meat...

It's really amazing to me how many people ask how they poop. They're surprisingly, err, surprised to learn that snakes poop the same way as everybody else - they have a stomach, a small intestine, a colon, and an exit that is positioned at the juncture between the body and the tail (oh yeah, and that there is actually a distinction between the body and the tail).

To me that says that a lot of people just have an extremely tenuous grasp of basic biology. It's really a shame, because that basic lack of understanding informs public policy on conservation and environmental protection, endangered species protections, pet regulations, etc. Not to mention that it's just cool and amazing to see how much we have in common with animals that look so fundamentally different from us.

I'm enjoying reading all of this.

I once had someone tell me (with certainty) that snakes give people warts "like toads do", which is a myth to begin with, and my great grandmother has always had this idea that snakes "sting" with their forked tongues.

Its honestly kind of interesting, all the misconceptions and urban legends surrounding snakes.

Ugh one of my moms friends disliked the fact that I have snakes, she tells me they will kill me etc, I own ball pythons.... So she came up with this wild story that her friend from highschool had a large Python and this snake whenever it smelled mustard got aggressive and bit the owner and tried to kill him. Saying "sometimes snakes won't like a certain smell and go crazy, id be careful if i were you" LOL....


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Originally Posted by Neal

I love correcting people when they use poisonous. One of the girls at work was like we saw a poisonous snake today. I'm like what? She repeated herself, and I'm like poisonous? Then she's like yea poisonous, so naturally I'm like venomous. Then we go back and forth so I decided to educate her on the difference.

Then when I see people say the only good snake is a dead snake, I usually make some remark to upset them. I hate idiots.

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LOL YES this is the BEST thing to correct people on. Idk why I find it so satisfactory.


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People around here believe black snakes cross with rattlesnakes. And that I could feed my snakes crickets.

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Petco actually feeds their snakes crickets LOL.

I've had a couple kids really surprised that a snake will actually poop LOL.

I love it when I first show kids my snakes and they are so afraid that they stand outside of the door of the snake room and peak in the room until I pull out a few snakes, then they come in and eventually even touch them and see how cool they are and all the different colors and patterns and sizes after about 20 minutes stand in wonder how they could ever be so scared of snakes in the first place HA!

Also, a lot of people ask me if I own 'pythons'. I say yes and they just say WOW without even knowing what they are talking about LOL.

I got a new one, I had someone swear blind that their friend had a vegetarian snake and it was thriving on said diet. I enquired and apparently they use quorn and some other bits. I'm still quite staggered by the dedication this person believed it.

Not my story but this is a phone conversation Buddy's breeder had recently.
"Hi I was wondering if you guys doom herald your boas."
"...I'm sorry, sir, what?"
"Do you doom herald boas."
"I'm so sorry I don't know what that i-"
"Look if you don't carry doom heralds, just forget it."

Doom heralds boa.
Dumerils boa.

Haha guys, I don't know why it's such a universal question, but I've had so many friends ask me how snakes poop/where their poop comes out of too. So I had to show them and point out their anal scale, and they always want a close look. Yes, reptiles have a butthole! LOL

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Petco actually feeds their snakes crickets LOL.

I've had a couple kids really surprised that a snake will actually poop LOL.

I love it when I first show kids my snakes and they are so afraid that they stand outside of the door of the snake room and peak in the room until I pull out a few snakes, then they come in and eventually even touch them and see how cool they are and all the different colors and patterns and sizes after about 20 minutes stand in wonder how they could ever be so scared of snakes in the first place HA!

Also, a lot of people ask me if I own 'pythons'. I say yes and they just say WOW without even knowing what they are talking about LOL.

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Seriously, what's with petcos and feeding their snakes crickets OMG. I've seen my local petco (many years ago) with crickets in their ball python enclosure.

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Originally Posted by kath_

Not my story but this is a phone conversation Buddy's breeder had recently.
"Hi I was wondering if you guys doom herald your boas."
"...I'm sorry, sir, what?"
"Do you doom herald boas."
"I'm so sorry I don't know what that i-"
"Look if you don't carry doom heralds, just forget it."

Doom heralds boa.
Dumerils boa.

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I almost screamed. This is the funniest crap I've ever heard LMAO.

I've heard from a Petsomething employee that the crickets get in on accident by escaping from the nearby lizards' tanks! They do actually feed rodents to the BPs at those big chain stores. I spoke to a very knowledgable employee about it once. I forgot what size she said they feed, but I know she said something specific... Anyway, they do sell feeder rodents so I'm sure they know that snakes need to eat them, lol

My neighbor across the street is terrified of snakes, although she's good natured about it. Once she asked me if it might escape its tank, crawl out of my house, across the street, into her house, and strangle her in her sleep. She was sort of laughing as she asked, you know like, "Ha-Ha, i'm asking a silly hyperbolic question" I laughed along with her, but then she totally pressed me for an honest answer.

I actually did lose a snake and I never found it, come to think about it that snake may be across the street LOLOLOL

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I actually did lose a snake and I never found it, come to think about it that snake may be across the street LOLOLOL

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Better go check, might still be around strangling your neighbor in his sleep! :D

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Originally Posted by kath_

Not my story but this is a phone conversation Buddy's breeder had recently.
"Hi I was wondering if you guys doom herald your boas."
"...I'm sorry, sir, what?"
"Do you doom herald boas."
"I'm so sorry I don't know what that i-"
"Look if you don't carry doom heralds, just forget it."

Doom heralds boa.
Dumerils boa.

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This story probably won't make a whole lot of sense to most people, but I used to work at a music shop specializing in music before 1750. One time a customer called asking about a piece of flute music, which they insisted was on the repertoire list in a popular method for the 18th century flute. They kept asking for a piece by a composer named Lauber Mitchell Day, or at least, that's what it sounded like. I was totally stumped, and kept saying that didn't sound like any Baroque composer I'd ever heard of.

Eventually, someone figured out that they actually meant Michel de la Barre, and in the alphabetical listing he was listed as "La Barre, Michel de".

But yeah, same sort of story. :)

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I actually did lose a snake and I never found it, come to think about it that snake may be across the street LOLOLOL

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https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...3d-300x260.jpg

A painter I was working with some years back told me about his encounter with a "moccasin". After getting chased around the barn for a good bit this man finally took refuge up a ladder. The snake then proceeded to stand on the tip of its tail and repeatedly strike from this remarkable position. Luckily for the painter, he was just out of reach and the snake eventually lost interest.

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Originally Posted by John1982

A painter I was working with some years back told me about his encounter with a "moccasin". After getting chased around the barn for a good bit this man finally took refuge up a ladder. The snake then proceeded to stand on the tip of its tail and repeatedly strike from this remarkable position. Luckily for the painter, he was just out of reach and the snake eventually lost interest.

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LOL!
The lengths people will go with tall tales to make snakes look like magical cartoon villains.

Great stories!
I've heard the same 'they poop?!' surprise quite a few times which is always pretty funny.
When co-workers find out about breeding I usually get questions about how long do they stay with the mother and how does the mother feed them?
:P
The silly questions are some of my favorites because it's a great opportunity to engage and educate others. Seeing the automatic fear response some of them have turn into genuine curiosity is great, feel like I'm hosting a nature show sometimes.

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Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

When co-workers find out about breeding I usually get questions about how long do they stay with the mother and how does the mother feed them?
:P
The silly questions are some of my favorites because it's a great opportunity to engage and educate others. Seeing the automatic fear response some of them have turn into genuine curiosity is great, feel like I'm hosting a nature show sometimes.

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It's pretty funny that their first thought is the mother takes care of their young! Most people I've met think that snakes are completely "cold/heartless" so they just lay eggs and leave them to incubate on their own LOL.

Same, sometimes it's fun to help educate. Until they get tired of hearing me ramble. :D

Do I ever have the most ridiculous snake story ever, I still can't believe someone would tell me this with a straight face and actually seem concerned.

My wife and I recently had our first child and of course everyone that knows me knows I love Lizards and Snakes. A few months prior to his birth at the baby shower a concerned friend of my mother in law pulled us aside to give us a warning about snakes. There I was expected to hear the usual about how dangerous they are and how they can eat babies. Nope!!! boy was I in for a treat, she told us that she had heard stories about snakes that are responsible for the malnutrition of babies. According to these stories snakes love breast milk so they enter homes with a sleepy breast feeding mother at night and latch on to the mother's breast. These conniving snakes would then put the tip of their tail in the babies mouth to keep the baby happy suckling and the sleepy mother unaware the snake was breast feeding:O .This was the only time I didn't bother to explain how harmless BPs are or try to dispel a misconception.

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Originally Posted by mdb730

Do I ever have the most ridiculous snake story ever, I still can't believe someone would tell me this with a straight face and actually seem concerned.

My wife and I recently had our first child and of course everyone that knows me knows I love Lizards and Snakes. A few months prior to his birth at the baby shower a concerned friend of my mother in law pulled us aside to give us a warning about snakes. There I was expected to hear the usual about how dangerous they are and how they can eat babies. Nope!!! boy was I in for a treat, she told us that she had heard stories about snakes that are responsible for the malnutrition of babies. According to these stories snakes love breast milk so they enter homes with a sleepy breast feeding mother at night and latch on to the mother's breast. These conniving snakes would then put the tip of their tail in the babies mouth to keep the baby happy suckling and the sleepy mother unaware the snake was breast feeding:O .This was the only time I didn't bother to explain how harmless BPs are or try to dispel a misconception.

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What in the holy heckin world.... :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Okay, here is one that I get a lot. Once maybe, but a couple of times? COME ON!

One of my students had our beardie on his shoulder, and another student with two students in her hand. We were on our way to a presentation. One of my fellow colleague asked, "ARE THEY REAL?" (mind you, the BPs and beardie ARE moving)

And then, she proceeded to express her INTENSE dislike of reptiles, and follows up with the question, "I want to touch it. Can I touch it?"

I proceed to ask my colleague WHY she would want to touch something she claims she intensely dislike. She had no answer.

I really think people have curiosity of the unknown confused with "dislike".

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Originally Posted by mom_of_bananachip

I really think people have curiosity of the unknown confused with "dislike".

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This is so true! Otherwise they have "does not know" confused with "dislike/fear". I've learned that it's crazy how much people don't understand about themselves.

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Originally Posted by mdb730

According to these stories snakes love breast milk so they enter homes with a sleepy breast feeding mother at night and latch on to the mother's breast. These conniving snakes would then put the tip of their tail in the babies mouth to keep the baby happy suckling and the sleepy mother unaware the snake was breast feeding:O .This was the only time I didn't bother to explain how harmless BPs are or try to dispel a misconception.

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How else did you think they came up with the "milk snake" moniker?

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Originally Posted by John1982

How else did you think they came up with the "milk snake" moniker?

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O...M...G.

so that's what it is. :rofl:

Probably weirdest one was around a knitting table. Talking about how I was working on removing a wart on my thumb and a woman asked "Was the wart from your snake?" Thought I misheard "bite" as "wart" since the wart was covered by a band-aid and she might've misheard me, but no, she thought snakes could give you warts.

Lol.
I will never think of popcorn without thinking of my bp's urates:( I used to love popcorn.