There seems to be a misconception that a broken spine means this snake is going to die. To the contrary:

An article published in Herp Review showed a radiograph of a Western with definite break in the vertebrae and spinal cord... and lived.



The article was authored by a prof at the U of Colorado and kept it in his collection there. I visited the place in 2004, and saw with my own eyes the snake in question. It still had a kink in the back, but certainly didn't appear to be suffering or inhibited.
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Virginia Herping

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VaHS

Virginia Herpetological Society online store

http://www.cafepress.com/vaherpsociety



"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has... to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine

[ Hide Replies ]

• hurt hoggie - mike1234, Fri Aug 27 01:54:16 2010
• RE: hurt hoggie - mike1234, Fri Aug 27 01:54:41 2010
• third pic - mike1234, Fri Aug 27 01:55:54 2010
• RE: hurt hoggie - leehafley, Fri Aug 27 06:36:50 2010
• RE: hurt hoggie - mike1234, Fri Aug 27 06:57:14 2010
• RE: hurt hoggie - Rextiles, Fri Aug 27 06:34:13 2010
• RE: hurt hoggie - mike1234, Fri Aug 27 06:55:22 2010
• Last resort? - Adam_S, Fri Aug 27 10:28:26 2010
• RE: Last resort? - mike1234, Fri Aug 27 11:58:29 2010
• RE: hurt hoggie - CBH, Fri Aug 27 12:30:17 2010
• RE: Sadly... - Gregg_M_Madden, Fri Aug 27 14:33:54 2010
• RE: hurt hoggie - mike1234, Sat Aug 28 00:39:59 2010
• if anyones interested - mike1234, Sun Aug 29 00:42:33 2010
• RE: if anyones interested - CBH, Mon Aug 30 15:52:23 2010
• RE: hurt hoggie - Colchicine, Sun Sep 12 18:41:22 2010