Sizing up to eat: Myth?

Hi all!
So, backstory: I just posted a picture on my Facebook showing Wanda laying next to me to show how long she's gotten... To which an old friend got really upset and told me she was sizing me up to try to eat me. (She dosen't own snakes so please don't be mean about her thinking that.)
Now, I'm pretty sure that pythons sizing up prey was a myth... I can't imagine a snake in the wild spreading out next to their prey... But, before I tell her that it's a myth, I was just wondering A) am I right in thinking it's a myth (I read it somewhere, but I don't have a source) which leads me on to B) can anyone send me a source saying so? I don't want to spread any misinformation ;)

Thanks!

If that is a fairly recent pic of Wanda in your avatar, and you are larger than a barbie doll, I have a hard time believing the snake was sizing you up. Just saying.

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Originally Posted by cletus

If that is a fairly recent pic of Wanda in your avatar, and you are larger than a barbie doll, I have a hard time believing the snake was sizing you up. Just saying.

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Yeah that photo is from months ago :) She's now as long as my legs!

I get the same response any time I show my coworkers a picture of my girl. Makes me a little sad, as she's an absolute sweetheart. And let's face it, a huge scardycat. It also baffles me how people think a ball python can swallow a human when I see how derpy she is just trying to line up a rat to get it down the hatch.

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It is a myth and one that has been around for a long time.

When I see snakes 'sizing up prey', what they do is look at it. As in, sit there for a moment, I can see their eyes moving as they look up and down and then they decide it's too large and don't strike. I have NEVER seen a snake strike, coil and then do anything to size it up and have never seen one lay alongside something before eating it. They decide before striking if they can handle it, at least in my experience.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/measured.asp

Pretty much unless you're shorter than 2 feet tall (lol), even adult ball pythons see you as a potential predator.

Their tolerance with you is having learned that humans, such massive strong predators like us, are safe and won't hurt them. Not the other way around.

And they instinctively judge whether a small animal is 1. edible and 2. small enough to eat, by just looking at it for a second LOL. They don't ponder around and measure themselves and measure their prey. That's laughable.

Thank you for all these replies! So I was right then, time to go do some educating :D I'll never understand why people think snakes are so dangerous!

I admit I'm a little confused why your friend got so upset with you? Even if she doesn't own a snake or know better that still seems pretty rude :(

Its ignorance at its finest. :rofl:

It's a myth, have you ever seen a snake size up a rat like that? Also in the wide prey items wouldn't hang out and let them get that close. Have you ever accidentally/ purposely scared a rabbit? They take off like hell, it's a prey response and it generally works out well for them if they notice the predator.

The amount of times I've heard this exact myth is staggering. I usually point out that no prey animal would allow their predator to measure them. I usually ask them to observe what happens when a dog or cat is anywhere near an animal that they could eat.

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Originally Posted by Vipera Berus

The amount of times I've heard this exact myth is staggering.

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does anyone else ALWAYS get told the "girl sleeping with snake" story? i swear to glob any time people learn i own snakes they always tell that SAME story!
i always tell people it's a myth but others just eat that stuff up! :taz:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/measured.asp

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

does anyone else ALWAYS get told the "girl sleeping with snake" story? i swear to glob any time people learn i own snakes they always tell that SAME story!
i always tell people it's a myth but others just eat that stuff up! :taz:

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Yeah my sister told me that one when I got my first snake.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

does anyone else ALWAYS get told the "girl sleeping with snake" story? i swear to glob any time people learn i own snakes they always tell that SAME story!
i always tell people it's a myth but others just eat that stuff up! :taz:

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All the time. Theres a pjcture floatimg aroumd on lime of a girl layimg with a snake and the caption tells that story. People tag me on it on fb all the time. They always ask what I'm gonna do when my snake gets that big. And they always say that snakes get as big as the tank you keep them in

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A myth yes.. But its the first time I've heard that myth with a 2-3 foot Ball Python involved lmbo.
Usually thats said with a 14-20 foot Giant Python or Boa.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

does anyone else ALWAYS get told the "girl sleeping with snake" story? i swear to glob any time people learn i own snakes they always tell that SAME story!
i always tell people it's a myth but others just eat that stuff up! :taz:

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Oh yes that story, I've had four people in one day independently tell me that story. Every single one thought my still not more than 3ft ball python would do this.

I was at a party tonight, and someone swore to me that this happened to their friend! That was a new take on it, usually I've heard it as a rumor kind of thing. She said her friend had a snake (didn't specify what kind), and that it stopped eating and would stretch out next to her in bed, and she eventually learned that her snake was "starving itself" and sizing her up to eat her. I told her that that's a story that's been going around for forever and is just a myth, but she was skeptical. I even told her that it doesn't make much sense, because of the whole thing about what prey would sit their and let a predator measure it, so why would an animal ever behave this way? She said maybe the snake learned it as a pet (to which I thought, oh, it learned it? Did it eat some other people before, and the owners took THAT long to wise up to what was happening?). In all honesty, IF (and it's a big if) that did indeed happen to her friend, then the reason the snake was stretching out next to her in bed was probably because it needed the warmth (letting a snake chill with you in bed for any extended period of time, outside of the regulated temperature and humidity conditions of the tank, would certainly not meet all of the animal's husbandry needs), and the reason it wasn't eating was probably because it was stressed that it was not being kept in adequate conditions, as suggested by the first point!

It's crazy how widespread this myth is! :rolleyes:

Yeah, pretty much all snakes are ambush predators. They don't even go looking for prey let alone try to size one up. It's really a myth that's very counterintuitive. By the time the snake is "sizing it's prey up", the prey would've run away by then, hell, it run away at the first sight if the snake. Prey isn't just going to wait to be measured by its predator.


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1. Even an adult python is not going to consider people prey. Way too small a snake. Nothing short of a retic or AfRock is large enough to even "consider" eating a person.
2. I use consider in quotes because snakes really aren't that bright. They are instinct driven. They do not measure, they do not think about it much beyond "oh this smells nice Ima eat it." I think they do assess "size" to an extent that, if they happen to be in a burrow and something very large trundles by, i.e. something much larger than the snake, they hunker down and ignore it. But if it's the difference between a "weaned rat" and an "adult rat" I doubt there is much thinking and I am certain they do not shinny up alongside it to "measure it."
3. Think about how stupid that would be, anyway. The most important "size" to a snake is the diameter of a prey item, not the length. After all, king cobras and king snakes routinely eat other snakes that are very long-- but not very wide around. So the best way for a snake to "asses" size if it were going to would be to grab it and wrap around it, and they will do so if they think they may want to eat it. Kill first, ask questions later. Or die trying. That seems to be their motto.
4. Start screening stupid people who don't know snakes from your FB posts. Some people can be educated, it is true. But others are hysterical about things, so for your sanity, just filter your snake posts to not include her. My mother is of the hysterical type, so I just don't talk to her about snakes at all. If she was on FB I'd filter her from my snake pics because her reply would always be "Ew," and that's just annoying.