Snake myths are numerous and have come along over generations, each one with an add on to spice up the story as told by the story teller.
Many are told as variations of one another the world over.
Some are regional and some global.
There are some impressive ones and some that has a pretty good explanation for what was first observed as the basis of the first story, which inevitably became either folklore or a story still spread as the hard truth by so many.
We will cover them one at a time as we go along.
Please share yours as we go along.
Snake Myths no:1
Snakes measuring their ‘keeper’ or for that matter any other sleeping person.
The myth of a snake measuring its prey to confirm its size before swallowing it an interesting one and floats around social media often.
According to the most common version of this story, a snake would lay down next to its supposed prey, in this case the keeper of said snake , and measure its size (girth and length) each night.
According to the story, once the ‘prey item’ has reached sufficient size, the snake would kill and devour its prey.
This is a fallacy!
Snakes would not survive out in nature if they had to attempt to or ask it’s prey to kindly remain still in order to measure and confirm prey size before striking.
It would stand a good chance of being fatally injured if it would ever attempt to measure its prey with its body first.
If ever your pet python is found laying next to you along your body, at your head or wherever else, it would more than likely be a case of maximising contact with your body as a heat source.
It does not do this to measure you at all.
On a side note, you should not allow any snake to free roam your room or apartment unattended as it poses the risk of an exotic/captive bred snake escaping into nature.