Why do snakes lay straight next to you

When I am at work doing public education programs with our reptiles, I get all sorts of crazy questions and statements from our guests. There are countless myths and misunderstandings about reptiles, especially snakes, which has given rise to much of the fear people have for these creatures. That's why I feel my job is so important; by just providing a little clarification and information, I am able to calm many of the fears and dispel much of the dislike people have for these amazingly important animals. After all, the first step towards conservation is education!

I've heard quite a few stories that people swear to be true, but there is one urban legend in particular that I hear. ALL. THE. TIME. And most of the time, the guest recounting the story promises me that it MUST be true. Many of you have likely heard this tale at some point or another (it's been around for ages!):

 There was a woman who had a snake as a pet, a python which she loved so much. The snake was 4 meters long and looked healthy. However, one day it just stopped eating. The desperate woman tried everything she could and offered anything that a snake would like. Still, the snake seemed ignorant and refused

Can Snakes Really Come Up a Toilet Pipe?

Snakes are often elevated on the list of things adults are most afraid of. So, imagine the reaction to a snake slithering its way up out of your toilet, particularly when you're about to sit down.

If even the reflection of toilet snakes sends chills down your spine, take heart; while it's certainly possible for a snake to end up in your toilet, it's extraordinarily unlikely. The very reason that these stories make headlines is that they are so very rare, and so shiver-inducing [source: Wickman].

In August 2020, a routine bathroom visit became something completely different for a man in Texas, when a snake allegedly climbed right up into his toilet.

A video of the slithery occurrence was posted to Twitter by CBS meteorologist Payton Malone:

And in 2010, newspapers devoted column space to the story of a 3-foot (0.9-meter) corn snake found in a 19th-floor toilet in New York City. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, herpetologist – that's a snake expert – Jack Conrad agreed that it was "within the realm of possibility" that the snake made its way up through the pipes. He cited the fact that snakes are good swimmers who can h

What does it mean when your snake stretches in a straight line next to you? Is what my friend said true?

So I was telling my friend that I'm gonna get a snake, and she started telling me about this girl she knows that had a snake. She said that she took the snake out of its cage and layed it next to her on her bed but it stretched in a line next to her. She called the vet and he said to bring it so they could kill it. He then told her that when a snake does that it means it's checking to see if it's big enough to eat you, and he's planning to try to eat you. I didn't believe her, is it true? If it is, getting a corn snake won't be a problem right?

First of all, this can be a sign of measuring it's prey but not always. It may just be that it does not hve enough room in it's viv to stretch out and is just stretching out. This can also help a snakes digestion. However, this is pretty strange behaviour. Even though it is considered as measuring prey, no snake should be killed unless it is really aggressive and has violently attacked or eaten an animal or human. Anyway, if you had a corn snake you would never have a problem with this. They are nowhere near big enough to e

Issues with inconsistent feedings

thecrawdfather:

have you been doing this long enough to see a difference in lifespan or breeding life?

I had a corn snake that I purchased as a hatchling and kept for twenty-five years. Feeding schedule was every two to four weeks and no feeding for three to four months during winters

I have a fifteen-year-old ball python, a seventeen-year-old chondro, and a thirteen-year-old alterna. All of them are basically on the same cycle as above.

Now, none of these are/were breeding animals so that takes a degree of body stress off of them. But, with the exception of the ball, those ages are in the upper end for what we typically see in the hobby.

I grant that there is no scientific study behind it but when I look at my own collection and at the hobby writ large, there is sufficient anecdotal evidence for me to personally feel that overfeeding is an issue within the hobby.
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saleengrinch:

experiences as a amateur boxer taught me small more frequent meals increases metabolism. Now I will freely admit I don’t know if the same holds true to snakes being cold blooded. I feed prey that is way smaller compared to what I observe people f

Snake Myths: Snakes stretch out next to you to size you up as a meal!

Spurred on by a few fictional viral posts, this is one of the most pervasive snake-myths on social media, yet it is one of the least credible.

Imagine you’re the most successful ambush predator on the planet.  You are capable of sitting still and perfectly camouflaged for days, weeks, even longer, if necessary… just waiting for that perfect opportunity to spring a surprise attack on your prey, launching your gripping jaws at their head, then quickly overwhelming their desperate struggles with several coils of pure muscle, squeezing the life from your prey in minutes.

Now imagine if, before you could launch your surprise attack, you had to stretch out beside your prey to see if they were an appropriate size first.  In that context, you can quickly see that exposing yourself to take measurements wouldn’t be an effective hunting strategy for any predator, especially a camouflaged ambush predator like a large python or boa.

So how DO snakes size up their meals? The sad truth is, they generally don’t. While they tend to prefer safe, familiar prey that they have experience eating, snakes are opportunistic preda