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Last night I was checking on a new arrival, about a 6' female forest cobra, when a very unexpected thing happened. I disturbed her out of her hide so she was pretty pissy (though admittedly that's not at all hard to accomplish) and she proceeded to do the typical stand up half her body length and gape at me. She took a lunge at me and I noticed something wet land on my hand. I also kind of "sprayed" across the top of the hide box, which means some of it went down rather than all of it spraying out (indicating there was not much power behind it). So my question is, have melanoleuca ever been documented to spit, or in this case drool and spray, venom? I of course didn't test this liquid to see if it was venom or saliva and none landed in my eyes so I can't really attest to that aspect, but upon casual observation is was a clearish liquid that could have very well been venom but could have been saliva as well. Anyway, just a neat occurence I thought I'd post about. If indeed it was venom, it just goes to show that one should always remain on his/her toes when working with any cobras as some rather unexpected spitters may arise.
-Chance
River Valley Snakes

>>Last night I was checking on a new arrival, about a 6' female forest cobra, when a very unexpected thing happened. I disturbed her out of her hide so she was pretty pissy (though admittedly that's not at all hard to accomplish) and she proceeded to do the typical stand up half her body length and gape at me. She took a lunge at me and I noticed something wet land on my hand. I also kind of "sprayed" across the top of the hide box, which means some of it went down rather than all of it spraying out (indicating there was not much power behind it). So my question is, have melanoleuca ever been documented to spit, or in this case drool and spray, venom? I of course didn't test this liquid to see if it was venom or saliva and none landed in my eyes so I can't really attest to that aspect, but upon casual observation is was a clearish liquid that could have very well been venom but could have been saliva as well. Anyway, just a neat occurence I thought I'd post about. If indeed it was venom, it just goes to show that one should always remain on his/her toes when working with any cobras as some rather unexpected spitters may arise.
>>-Chance
>>River Valley Snakes

Hi Chance,

There is no record of N. melanleuca ever spitting like a spitter. I suppose a lunge coupled with an exhalation might carry either saliva or even venom over a short distance. Over what sort of distance did it travel in this case? In what direction? staright ahead, or ahead and down?

Just curious, as it's an itneresting observation.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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I suspect that all venomous snakes are capable of spitting, but the species that have not evolved a specific mechanism to do this aren't very accurate and don't have too much distance. Doesn't mean they can't get you in the eye if you're in the wrong place though.

I have observed "spitting" like behavior in: Crotalus adamanteus, Crotalus molossus, Crotalus atrox, Crotalus mitchelli and Naja kaouthia. The crotalids were unmistakably throwing venom; it was nice and yellow. I couldn't tell with the Naja because there was so little of it and it ended up as a few small dribbles on the floor.

Most of these incidents were very short distance and low volume, but one notable C. adamanteus tossed a glob on my assistant's upper leg from the ground during a series of agitated bluff strikes. This was a slightly injured and very unhappy animal just subsequent to a rescue. It was not a particularly large animal, perhaps 3' to 3.5' in length and under a kilogram in weight.

I don't know if this counts as spitting, but venomous snakes I am restraining by hand for oral exam or medication may "drool" a few drops of what is clearly venom. The solenoglyphs snap their fangs repeatedly back and forth and may toss droplets of venom quite a ways. To avoid getting sprayed, I sometimes use a large clear plastic syringe casing that is slipped over the upper jaw to cover and restrain the fang sheaths during oral procedures. Gaboons are one of the worst "fang snappers" and put on quite a display that can include a spray of venom when they are nabbed for medication.

>>There is no record of N. melanleuca ever spitting like a spitter. I suppose a lunge coupled with an exhalation might carry either saliva or even venom over a short distance. Over what sort of distance did it travel in this case? In what direction? staright ahead, or ahead and down?

Hello Wolfgang, and thanks for the reply. This indeed was a very interesting observation. I am inclined to think, however, that this was just saliva because it was rather clear and not yellowish. While attempting to tube and place this snake into a deli container this evening, she was very willing to bite anything she could get ahold of, be it carpet, the floor, tongs, the tube, etc, and at that time I could clearly see her yellowish venom. Since what sprayed out the other day was clear I'm pretty sure it was just saliva being expressed by a very, very agitated snake. Regardless, I'm glad it was my hand that received the splash, rather than my eyes, because even snake saliva would likely be uncomfortable. Whatever it was she sprayed went outward from her head a distance of maybe 0.4 to 0.5 m maximum, with some landing on the hide box directly in front of and below her (since she was raised up off the ground at least 0.5 m). This leads me to think that it was probably drooled more than sprayed since it didn't go very far as well as some large droplets hitting directly beneath her.

Just as a side note...it doesn't surprise me at all that this snake worked itself up enough to spray saliva or venom the other day. She is absolutely the worst cobra I've ever dealt with. There were a couple times this evening while trying to tube her that she even grabbed herself out of sheer fury. I definitely understand why people put forests in the same category as mambas and taipans, rather than with certain other cobras like monocleds, because the forests make kaouthia seem nearly like cornsnakes. Ah well, I guess it was good for shedding a number of calories, lol.
-Chance