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Snake durability
Topic Started: Sep 16 2015, 01:55 PM (2,643 Views)
Grimace
Kleptoparasite
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Can we get a thread about how durable snakes are?
I always see people saying a fight would be over if an animal could get a big constrictors head or etc.

Here, have a video of a caiman chomping down on an anaconda's face and it being fine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lfcRIfQ2KA
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Ceratodromeus
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Yeah, never got how people thought getting to a large snakes head would mean the snake would die.

Tyrant originally posted this account:
"A 48-year-old experienced wildlife rehabilitator was attacked in her kitchen by a 14-foot boa constrictor as she reached into the tank to give the animal water. The snake bit her hand and coiled half of its around her arm. The woman began to feel weak and faint during the 20-minute attack. Firefighters attempted to cut off the snake’s head to free her. The partially decapitated snake survived and was sent to a veterinary college. Days later, the woman still had not recovered sensation in parts of her hand."
SOURCE

We have the evidence showing that a bite or injury to the head is not goingto instantly kill the snake. For example, we have that frequently posted alligator/ python interaction, and we have these photos
Posted Image
It is well known that large iguanas have serious bites capable of causing lots of damage.
Here's another such instance of python surviving a bite to the head, this time a predatory attack from a red fox
Posted Image

I recently came across this video clip from the show "monsterquest",(skip to~4-4.5minutes)

This animal was taken to a vet, where it was established that this animal had survived people trying to kill it via trauma to the head. The wound is evident, yet the snake is still alive and active, even after receiving such wounds.



Edited by Taipan, Feb 25 2017, 11:06 PM.
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Canadianwildlife
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I don't need to see evidence to prove if they are durable or not. I've killed a few that were regarded as pests before and believe me they can take a ridiculous amount of mechanical damage and brunt force. Can't tell you how long its taken me sometimes. I think I already said this before.
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Grimace
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Oh man I forgot about that iguana picture. That one is the most impressive to me, iguana bites are awful and I completely would have expected that boa to look way worse
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Tyrant
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Testimonies of a veterinarian.

Quote:
 
UC Police Dept. found a 13-foot-2-inch, 85-pound Burmese python left for dead with numerous stab wounds on UCSB’s West Campus last week.

UCPD Corporal Michael Romero discovered the python coiled up in a dirt parking lot on the Devereux Loop on April 24 at approximately 5:50 a.m. while making his final patrol of the night. A mutilated fluffy white rabbit carcass was also found nearby. He called for backup, assuming the python was dead, but when officers approached the animal to remove it, they saw its tail move and realized it was still alive. The officers contacted the Santa Barbara County Animal Control for assistance in moving the large snake to Valley Animal Hospital for treatment. The snake was suffering from severe hypothermia and was semi-comatose when it arrived. It had to be euthanized by hospital staff.

The reptile had been stabbed repeatedly by one or more people, UCPD detective Bill van Nieuwenhuize said. The unidentified snake butchers used a blunt object, a wide-body heavy knife and a smaller knife to attack the python.

“It’s a unique case. It’s the kind of case that I haven’t seen in the 14 years that I have been here,” van Nieuwenhuize said. “Somebody just stabbed and hacked this thing.”

Although UCPD does not know the exact time that the python was attacked, it has determined that it happened between 11:30 p.m. April 23 and 5:50 a.m. April 24. UCPD was dispatched to Devereux Loop in response to a different incident at 11 p.m. on April 23, and officers did not see the python at that time.

It is possible for reptiles to survive for long periods of time with injuries as severe as those inflicted on the python, said Dr. Eric Westheimer, the veterinarian at Valley Animal Hospital who treated it.

“Reptiles are absolutely amazing animals. They could probably survive several days with injuries like this,” he said.


Police speculate that the owner or owners of the python took it out to the parking lot in order to feed it, when something went wrong.

“[What I think is that] they tried to feed the rabbit to the snake,” van Nieuwenhuize said. “These are normally fairly docile snakes, this Burmese python, but when they haven’t been fed in a while and they smell prey, they’ll do a prey strike and if somebody tries to pull that animal or tries to take it away from [the python], it becomes very aggressive.”

Van Nieuwenhuize further speculated that the python, which would have been capable of killing an adult man, bit at least one person.

“There are a number of pry marks on the mouth to indicate it has been locked onto something and they used a tool to pry it loose,” he said. “[The stab wounds are] just so indicative of a really tremendous struggle that ensued.”

Police believe the snake was living with a new owner, who may have acquired it in the last 9 months, and that the snake showed signs that it was not well cared for prior to the stabbing. It had the early stages of belly scale rot, a disease caused when a snake’s cage is too moist or improperly cleaned.

Van Nieuwenhuize said UCPD is not treating his case as a criminal investigation, and he was more concerned with the public health issues because the python was infected with cryptosporidiosis, a disease spread through ingestion of the stool of an infected animal. Symptoms include diarrhea, stomach cramps and a slight fever.

“We really rather would have had somebody call us and said, ‘Man, we just had something really bad happen’ … that would have made it the best of all possible worlds,” van Nieuwenhuize said. “We could have called everybody we needed to call to take care of it and be done with it, but they just panicked and ran.”

A Reptile Warehouse, a local pet store specializing in reptiles, received a Burmese python from the Humane Society about two months ago. Bryan Szal, the owner of the store, said he remembers selling the python he received from the Humane Society to a person living in Isla Vista, but does not know if that python is the same one that was found by UCPD.

He said the animals take a lot more care than many people realize and that he takes extra precautions so that prospective buyers know how much care is needed.

“I don’t sell animals like that to the impulsive buyer,” Szal said.

Anyone with information about what happened to the Burmese python is asked to call van Nieuwenhuize at (805) 893-8477.


http://dailynexus.com/2003-05-01/13-foot-python-hacked-stabbed-to-death/

Quote:
 
Here, have a video of a caiman chomping down on an anaconda's face and it being fine.


To be fair, not many animals can outright killed just by destroying their jaws.
Edited by Tyrant, Sep 18 2015, 03:05 PM.
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Ceratodromeus
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Hognose snake survives after being partialy paralyzed via midbody injury
"I found this little kennerlyi on a road. I think she had been hit, but a while ago. She was paralyzed half way down her body, and was dragging the last part of her body. It was completely limp. However, she seemed to be really fat, so she had been eating alright.

She was really easy to pose for photographs...
You can see how limp that part of her body was. There was no resistance there. Notice how the paralysis begins above the cloaca.
Posted Image
Posted Image
I have no evidence that she was actually hit by a car beforehand, but it was definitely not recent. I think she looks like she's doing pretty well considering"
can't link to another forum, but its a well known field herping one.
Edited by Ceratodromeus, Apr 19 2016, 02:46 AM.
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Thalassophoneus
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A few years ago me and my family were on holidays in Tseria, a village on mount Taygetus. One day we had a tiny viper entering our house. My parents searched for it for hours and when they found it my mother chopped it with a pick.

I can't remrmber for how much did it keep moving but we had to chop it once more to be sure.
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Ophiophagy
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the snake takes time to die i have had snakes hurt and die way later they get infections if a gator chomps cracks down on its head for a bit later on its gonna die
iggy bites are not that bad like a monitor lizard
Edited by Ophiophagy, Apr 19 2016, 11:38 AM.
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Ceratodromeus
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i would have to doubt most of that, particularly the bit on iguanas.
Edited by Ceratodromeus, Apr 19 2016, 01:08 PM.
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Grimace
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Ceratodromeus
Apr 19 2016, 01:07 PM
i would have to doubt most of that, particularly the bit on iguanas.
Ditto. iguana bites are pretty awful. I've seen people get destroyed just from quick bites, I can't even imagine what would happen if a big male ig clamped onto someone and decided to start shaking and spinning.
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Ophiophagy
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im in vet tech been bitten by iggies its not that bad nothing like a dog bite or even a ferret or cat bite


tegu bites do hurt a lot so do monitor bites ive been taged at my store by both


I keep toucans mini toucans with iggies that are 6 feet long they are not very formitable animals they are prey species bottom low low on the trophic level their bites are not meant to kill



it should be a easy meal for a python


a big monitor lizard or tagu are much more powerful
also once a snakes head has been crushed its done for a lady brought in a snake that had been attacked by her cat when she wasnt home the head was mutilated it was still alive and silthering and died after a couple of days. It should have just been put down. The snake was just a corn 4 feet. BUT if the head really does get crushed and damaged they are done for. THey will stay alive for a while but they wil die slow. LIke one snake had half of its upper body torn off by dogs that i rescued from a dog park. rat snake. It was about 6 feet or so. I took it to rhab. But it died also. Its head was totoally fine but all its skin was gone the dogs acually chewed his skin right off. Like skinned the snake alive. Probably did it for fun

DOGS are sick when it comes torture and you think cats are bad? dogs are 10 x worse. If they can get away with it dogs would do so much damage you would not believe. I am a dog lover but just saying all the animals have come in from dog mauling. Specially in emergency big animal clinics when horses have come in having dogs taking chunks out of their stomachs.
Edited by Ophiophagy, Apr 21 2016, 04:30 AM.
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Ceratodromeus
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Ophiophagy
Apr 21 2016, 04:23 AM
im in vet tech been bitten by iggies its not that bad nothing like a dog bite or even a ferret or cat bite


tegu bites do hurt a lot so do monitor bites ive been taged at my store by both


I keep toucans mini toucans with iggies that are 6 feet long they are not very formitable animals they are prey species bottom low low on the trophic level their bites are not meant to kill



it should be a easy meal for a python


a big monitor lizard or tagu are much more powerful
also once a snakes head has been crushed its done for a lady brought in a snake that had been attacked by her cat when she wasnt home the head was mutilated it was still alive and silthering and died after a couple of days. It should have just been put down. The snake was just a corn 4 feet. BUT if the head really does get crushed and damaged they are done for. THey will stay alive for a while but they wil die slow. LIke one snake had half of its upper body torn off by dogs that i rescued from a dog park. rat snake. It was about 6 feet or so. I took it to rhab. But it died also. Its head was totoally fine but all its skin was gone the dogs acually chewed his skin right off. Like skinned the snake alive. Probably did it for fun

DOGS are sick when it comes torture and you think cats are bad? dogs are 10 x worse. If they can get away with it dogs would do so much damage you would not believe. I am a dog lover but just saying all the animals have come in from dog mauling. Specially in emergency big animal clinics when horses have come in having dogs taking chunks out of their stomachs.
Spoiler: click to toggle

sure, not bad at all.

Quote:
 
I keep toucans mini toucans with iggies that are 6 feet long they are not very formitable animals they are prey species bottom low low on the trophic level their bites are not meant to kill

iguanas are definetly not at the bottom of "the trophic level", not even at the bottom of the food web either.
their bites are not meant to kill, sure, most animals that are biting an another if they feel threatened don't any way. aside from that their bites are nasty, their teeth lacerate human skin like knives through butter if they get a good hold on you.
Edited by Ceratodromeus, Apr 21 2016, 04:35 AM.
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Ophiophagy
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even introduced small mongoose eat them, hawks catch and eat big ones they are on the same level as rats abovie mice
what im saying is the bite pressure they have isnt much compared to when i was bitten by other monitors when i actually made a hospital visit in case
one who bit me didnt shake or spin tho lol just a quick bite and let go
and i should have said WE keep mini toucans with big iggies i have the video i sell birds to bird kingdom here in niagra falls and they keep my toucans with huge iggies
the pic u showed me was from a CROC monitor not a igggy lol
also my macaws could easily do that to someone what was done in that pic which is a low ranking bird on the trophic level toucan could not do that i dont think which is a higher ranking bird isnt that funny?
Edited by Ophiophagy, Apr 21 2016, 05:02 AM.
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Ceratodromeus
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Quote:
 
even introduced small mongoose eat them, hawks catch and eat big ones they are on the same level as rats abovie mice

i'm pretty sure they're well above rats, though they do indeed have multiple predators. fun fact though, iguanas are known to have apparently eaten rats in florida.

Quote:
 
what im saying is the bite pressure they have isnt much compared to when i was bitten by other monitors

"bite pressure" as in the durophagous species such as albigularis, niloticus or what? anyway, i'm referring to the mechanical damage these animals inflict, not how hard they bite -- their teeth aren't meant for that anyway.

Quote:
 
the pic u showed me was from a CROC monitor not a igggy lol

mmm not sure on that one, where i got it from says it was an iguana -- and its not like iguanas haven't been recorded biting a person to where the bone is exposed like the above picture anyway
Posted Image
from the green iguana manual
and here, have some more nasty iguana bites.
Spoiler: click to toggle

http://www.todaysplanet.com/pg/beta/lizardlover/page6.htm
Edited by Ceratodromeus, Apr 21 2016, 05:25 AM.
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Ceratodromeus
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This guy gave me a good laugh, oh well.

Relevant
Four-foot boa constrictor found with broken jaw in Newport

Posted Image
"A four-foot boa constrictor was found with a broken jaw and puncture wound in a shed in a Newport alley over the weekend.

RSPCA Cymru are trying to track down the owner of the injured boa, after it was discovered in an open shed in an alley off Bassaleg Road on Sunday.
RSPCA animal collection officer Stephanie Davidson, who took the snake to a veterinary surgery, said: “The snake wasn’t moving when I arrived, but that was mostly likely down to the fact that he was really cold.
“I immediately took him to an independent vet and it was found that he had a broken jaw and a puncture wound, but is in a good condition otherwise.
“He is now receiving treatment and it is hoped that his injury will heal. He has become more lively since he’s warmed up.

“The snake is most probably an escapee and has been attacked by another animal. We hope we can reunite him with his owner who could be frantically looking for him.
“If anyone has any information about this snake, please call us on the RSPCA inspectorate appeal line Calls are treated in confidence.”
The RSPCA is encouraging snake owners to make sure their reptiles are securely housed and if owners are tempted to let their snakes outside in the warm sunny weather, to remember snakes can move a lot faster than usual when warm and so they’ll need to be watched carefully."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/four-foot-boa-constrictor-found-11908259
Edited by Ceratodromeus, Feb 24 2017, 08:05 AM.
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