Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Smaller snake, the ringneck snake. Lol, whoever reads this will either think "stupid", "idiot" or they will laugh. See, I have been studying up on their "venom", you know, the toxic properties in their saliva. Well, turns out, their "venom" is actually stronger than alot of venomous snake's venom. For instance, Coral Snakes, I have seen them eat all sorts of prey, from anoles, to skinks, to other snakes. The prey is almost always swallowed alive(there are some exceptions). The coral snake would grab a snake and imediately begin chewing on it, this could last for 30 minutes, but the snake will still be swallowed alive. However, last night I fed my male northern ringneck, he is about 13 inches, when a little snake comes in seeing range, he stands still, only to strike when he is in distance of the snake's neck. But when he grabs the other snake he begins chewing on it and it is swallowed dead about 5 minutes later.

Granted, the snakes that I feed to him are only about 4 inches long, but still, 5 minutes?? That's pretty quick for a snake that isn't considered venomous. Regal ringneck snakes, the most toxic of them all, wow, where to start, they too, will always bite the neck, but when they do that to snakes(atleast in my experience) they let go. The other snake will wander off and pending on size, will die 5 to 15 minutes later.

I don't know what I am getting at with all of this, but does anyone have any thoughts or anything they wanna share about their feeding behavior/toxic saliva? : )
Michael
Michael's Place

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www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
Michael_Fedzen@hotmail.com

Did you read my previous post about patchnosed snakes? The replies were most enlightening. It would appear that very little research has been done on the venom of "non-venomous" snakes. Which is surprising because I find this facinating! Well, at least that which I can comprehend, being just a hobbyist and not a biologist. Have you seen pictures of a hognose bite? There is a great site which shows the results. Maybe I'll try to test my patchnose on myself if I can manage to get him to bite me! I'll post pictures if I do. Hey anything for science right!

Depending on what your expecting...prepare to be disappointed. I have been bitten at several times by Patchnose with no effect. Can you say micro dose?

However....Back in the late seventies a shop owner asked me to examine a harmless watersnake from Asia. He had found the identity in Larousse's encyclopedia of Animals where it was listed as Natrix subminiatus (Red Necked Keelback).

The snake chewed on my wrist when I was examining it. I had no ill effects. Less than two weeks later a boy in California almost died of a bite from the same species. I beleave my escape from ill effects had more to do with the fact that the two foot snake could not open it's mouth wide enough on my wrist to effectivly envenomate me.

Somehow the literature in the hobby (not just Larousse) had failed to discover that this snake was quite potently venomed and not a Natrix, but instead was a rearfanged species.

It was promptly reclassified under Rhabdophis.

The moral...make sure you know what's biting you.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Frank is right, it wasn't until fairly recently that it was realized how serious bites from supposedly harmless snakes could be...

Hell, just a few decades ago, EVEN HERPETOLOGISTS thought boomslangs were harmless! Go figure!

I think it's interesting how many colubrids actually have venom and fangs. Take the redbelly snake for example. I was in the lab watching one eat a slug. It had it about half way down when I opened to cage to take a picture. The snake let go but I observed the slug and it appeared to get weaker and weaker. This could be an effect that comes from being half swallowed but it was interesting.

I think most venom in colubrids are intended to weaken or kill the prey item wether it be insect, slug, amphibian, or whatever and it would be interesting to see if those venoms had any effect on mammals (lab rats-not my hand of course).

The only problem with that, take the red belly snake for example, is really small, and could not bite onto a lab rat. As with many other smaller colubrids.
Michael
Michael's Place

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www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
Michael_Fedzen@hotmail.com