5 Most Beautiful Snakes

5 - Milk Snake they have smooth shiny scales and their color pattern is alternating bands of red-black-yellow or white-black-red

4 - Brazilian Rainbow Boas are brown or reddish brown. There are three parallel black stripes on the top of the head and large black rings down the back that give the appearance of dorsal blotches. The round lateral blotches are black with an orange or reddish crescent across the top.

3 - Easter Coral Snake is one of the most beautiful of all snakes. Unfortunately it is also very venomous, as are all coral snakes.

2 - Blue Racer Snake have creamy white ventral scales, dull grey to brilliant blue lateral scales.

1 - Green Tree Python is found in New Guinea, Indonesia and parts of Australia. It, along with the Emerald Tree Boa, have a unique way of sleeping. They loop one or two coils along a branch, saddle style and place their head in the middle.

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Top 6 most Venomous Snakes

When it comes to snakes, you either love them or you’re scared of them. These animals have been around for so long and they’re developed a few defense mechanisms that are harmful to humans. Poisonous snakes can be found all over the world, and below are the 6 most poisonous snakes that you can find.

Tiger Snake

These snakes are commonly found in Australia and have strong neurotoxic venom. A full grown man can die from a single bite within half an hour. However depending on how close to any vital organs the bit is, it can take 6 to 24 hours. Before an antivenin was made specifically for these snakes, fatality rate was around 60 to 70 percent. Symptoms include pain on the neck and feet, numbness, sweating and a tingling feeling.

Black Mamba

One of the most feared snakes in the African continent, the black mamba is highly aggressive. What’s even more scary is that these snakes strike with very sharp precision, so if they ever do attack, you’re bound to get bitten. They’re also very fast, considering that that the can move with speeds that can reach 20 km/h. one bit form these snakes can extract venom that’s enough to kill 10 to 25 adults. Bites that are not treated within 3 to 4 hours can lead to experiences respiratory arrest, convulsions, coma and death.

Taipan

Another local from Australia, the Taipan’s venom is enough to kill 12,000 guinea pigs. It works by clotting the blood, which blocks veins and arteries. No known snake bite survivors were ever recorder before the development of a specific antivenin for it. in less than an hour, victims typically die if not treated. Even after the victim is given the antivenin, they usually will need to stay in the intensive care unit.

Blue Krait

This snake is commonly found in Indonesia and along south East Asia. Half of all snake bites from the blue krait are fatal, even after the victim is given an antivenin. These snakes are cannibals, hunting other blue krait and snakes for meals. They’re nocturnal, which means they’re more active and aggressive when it’s dark out. However, unlike the black mamba, these snakes are actually quite timid, hiding or running away, rather than attacking.

Eastern Brown Snake

It might not have a scary name, but don’t let this fool you. around 1/14,000 of an ounce of this snake’s venom can kill an adult man. Although there are a number of different brown snake species, the eastern brown snake is the most dangerous. Another Australian native, these snakes are fast and can become aggressive when provoked.

Inland Taipan or Fierce Snake

This snake has the most toxic venom amongst all land snakes. 110 mg of it is enough to kill 100 humans in just 45 minutes. Luckily, these snakes are very shy and there are no recorded fatalities. In fact, humans rarely encounter them in the wild.

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7 Islands where Animals Rule

In some places in the world, a certain species of animal seem to rule over humans. From horses to cats and even rabbits, below are 7 places where it seems like there are more animals than humans.

Monkeys - Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico

Imagine the movie Planet of the apes instead the settling is in an island used as a research facility. There is an estimate of around 800 to 1,200 rhesus macaque that frolic around the area. 409 of these monkeys were actually sent in from India in the late 1930’s to make the research facility, and a couple decades and some generations later, the monkeys have ruled the island.

Cats - Tashirojima, Japan

Cat lovers with think this little island is paradise. The island of Tashirojima is a fishing village where cats are said to outnumber humans by 4 to 1. The felines that live here are pretty happy and well feed, thanks to locals and tourists who give them food for good luck. The island also has a number of cat shrines as well as unique cat-shaped and themed buildings.

Pigs- Big Major Cay Island, Bahamas

When you think of the Bahamas, you usually imagine white sand beaches, tropical drinks and just relaxing. However, you might see a couple dozen pigs that would swim along with you. Pigs are actually good swimmers. Local legends say that these pigs were left by sailors as food reserves, but they never came back for them. The pigs are now tourist attractions and are very warm to strangers.

Rabbits - Okunoshima Island, Japan

Japan has a thing about cute, furry little animals. Okunoshima Island once housed a facility that made poison gas back in WWII but now the place has completely changed with a tourism industry brought in by thousands of rabbits that freely hop around the place. The island also has a hotel, camping grounds, a small gold course and even a museum that remembers its dark past, but most of the tourists go there for the bunnies.

Horses - Assateague Island, Maryland and Virginia

Assateague Island has one of the best beaches in America, but first time tourist there are often shocked to find over 300 feral horses that roam around the place freely. Locals say that these horses survived a big shipwreck that happened near the island some years ago. They’re mostly harmless, although they’ve been known to take food away from campers.

Snakes - Ilha da Queimada Grande, Brazil

If you’re scared of snakes, this island near Brazil is deffinetly not for you. Ilha da Queimada Grande, which is around 90 miles off 90 miles, is often called the world’s deadliest island. Deadly snakes are found all over the place, estimating 1 snake per 10sq-ft. Golden lanceheads, which are vipers with poison that are said to have the ability to melt human flesh breed here.

Deer - Itsukushima, Japan

The Shinto religion regards the dear as a sacred animal, which is why many of these animals just prance around so many towns near the rural areas. However, Itsukushima is known to have the most populated herd. The place is also known for its Torii gate and shrines.

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10 Weirdest Snakes

This list contains ten of the strangest snakes in the world | planet earth.

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World's 10 Most Dangerous Snakes (with SnakeBytesTV)

World's 10 most dangerous snakes. watch the video and learn more about them.

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Eeek! It’s a snake!

 Fewer reptiles command such fear. My middle son Jeff discovered that when he proudly brought a snake into the kitchen to show Mom.

With that snake dangling from his hand and my whole body starting to tremble, Jeff could sense that the balance of power had shifted. Luckily, I shifted both of them out of the house really quickly.

Whether you squeal in delight or scream in terror, the common garter snake is the gardener’s friend.

Close to 90 percent of the snakes in North American gardens are in the Family - Colubridae or Common Snakes, Species - Thamnophis Sirtalis or Common Garter Snake. Often mistakenly called gardener snakes, their name comes from the resemblance of their stripes to old-fashioned sock garters.

Common garter snakes are common in both suburban and urban areas with plenty of cover such as debris, boards, vegetation, rocks, or logs. They also love moist, grassy environments and are often found near water, such as around the edges of ponds, lakes, ditches, and streams.

Highly variable in color, garter snakes typically sport three light stripes running along the length of their black, brown, gray, or olive body. The stripes can be white, yellow, blue, greenish, or brown. One stripe runs down the center of the snake’s back; the other two stripes run alongside this central stripe. Garter snakes

The common garter snake breeds in the spring. The females are ovoviviparous meaning they bear live young usually in litters of 10 to 40 babies. Upon birth, baby garter snakes are independent and must find food on their own. Garter snakes can live two years or longer. Active mainly during the day, garter snakes hibernate from late October through March or early April.

The diet of the common garter snake includes earthworms, leeches, slugs, snails, insects, crayfish, small fish and other snakes, all of which they swallow whole. Large fish, bullfrogs, snapping turtles, American crows, hawks, raccoons, foxes, and squirrels are some of the animals that prey on common garter snakes.

Do they help in your garden? Although insects are a favorite in their diet, the population of common garter snakes is generally not dense enough to consider them a biological control for insect problems.

Garter snakes may be more notable for what they don’t do. No plants are harmed by snakes; they neither eat them nor damage plants while moving through the landscape. They don’t contribute one bit to noise pollution and leave very little in the way of droppings. They avoid the gardener at all costs and will never bite unless stepped on, picked up, forced into a corner, or threatened with injury. Even then they would rather escape than fight.

Garter snakes are our friends. I have learned to make just enough noise to let them know I am around, and my garden friends seem to have gotten the point.

Source: Here

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Hungry Snake Picked The Wrong Dinner

Researchers on Golem Grad Island, Macedonia, stumbled upon a rather intriguing and wholly disgusting find whilst looking for snakes -  a dead young viper with the head of a huge centipede protruding through its body. What a way to go! The report has been briefly described in the journal Ecologica Montenegrina.

Nose-horned vipers (Vipera ammodytes) are venomous snakes found in southern Europe, the Balkans and certain parts of the Middle East. They can grow up to 95 centimeters and possess a characteristic “horn” on the snout, hence the name. They’re also considered to be the most dangerous European viper because their venom is highly toxic, but they’re a pretty docile species that tend to only bite when provoked.

Adult nose-horned vipers usually feed on lizards, smaller snakes and rabbits on Golem Grad, whilst the juveniles eat lizards and a particular species of centipede, the Megarian banded centipede (Scolopendra cingulata). It is not uncommon for snakes to consume potentially dangerous prey, and there have been numerous reports of death due to them “biting off more than they can chew”. Although, as mentioned, these vipers are known to eat this particular species of centipede, it seems that this cocky snake may have underestimated his dinner this time.

S. cingulata can be pretty savage killers themselves; they’re opportunistic carnivores and will eat almost anything that’s not larger than themselves. The authors of the paper note that it’s exceedingly difficult to kill a full-grown Scolopendra. Some people even keep these creepy crawlies as pets. Each to their own I suppose.

The team measured the viper and the centipede; the centipede was found to be 84% of the viper’s trunk length, 112% of its body width and 114% of its body weight. This isn’t hugely impressive compared to the size of animals that snakes have been found to consume previously. But what is interesting/disgusting is that upon dissection, the snake was missing all of its visceral organs- the centipede was occupying the entire volume of the snake’s body. They think it’s possible that the snake swallowed the centipede alive, but the centipede ate its way through the snake in an attempt of freedom, bursting its way through the snake’s abdomen (I am going to have nightmares now…). But unfortunately the poor little guy didn’t make it and died inside the snake with his head poking out. So close… Yet so far…

Source: Here

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Zoologger: Flying snake gets lift from UFO cross section

Why crawl when you can fly? While their relatives slither on the ground, a few snakes take to the air, gliding from tree to tree. The most skilled of them all is the paradise tree snake, and we may finally have worked out why. It gets an aerodynamic lift by shifting its body into an unconventional, yet strangely familiar, form.

There are five species of flying snake, all native to south-east Asia. The five are reasonably average in the looks department – at least, until they begin to move. These snakes slither up trees before launching themselves from branches high in the canopy, undulating their bodies from side to side as they glide elegantly – at speeds of about 10 metres per second – to their destination.

Source: Here

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Monster Snakes Threaten Ecosystem and Humans in Florida

Most people know that Florida has a history of invasive reptile species. Until recently, researchers have noticed that monster snakes, that are larger and more aggressive than the Burmese python, are threatening the ecosystem and possibly humans in Florida. The potentially dangerous snake is known as the African Rock python. Florida scientists are calling the snakes “one of their worst nightmares.”

The African rock python can grow to 20 feet long and have extremely aggressive temperaments. It is actually quite common to see freshly hatched rock pythons striking at any intruder that comes near them. These snakes are normally found in African savannahs, grasslands and rocky outcrops. They love to hide out in driftwood piles, old termite mounds and abandoned aardvark dens. The African rock python normally loves to eat small to medium-sized antelopes, hares, monkeys, rodents, monitor lizards, crocodiles and an occasional fish. A female can lay up to 20 to 60 eggs, with extremely large females that are capable of laying up to 100; females than stay with their eggs to protect them from predators and to incubate them for two to three months.  During this time, she will neither feed nor drink water.

Source: Here

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Snakes on the brain: Are primates hard-wired to see snakes?

Was the evolution of high-quality vision in our ancestors driven by the threat of snakes? Work by neuroscientists in Japan and Brazil is supporting the theory originally put forward by Lynne Isbell, professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis.

In a paper published Oct. 28 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Isbell; Hisao Nishijo and Quan Van Le at Toyama University, Japan; and Rafael Maior and Carlos Tomaz at the University of Brasilia, Brazil; and colleagues show that there are specific nerve cells in the brains of rhesus macaque monkeys that respond to images of snakes.

Source: Here

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If You Care To Know More about the Deadliest Snakes on Earth

Our environment is home to the stealthiest of predators but there are slithery killers that strike in the twinkling of an eye at other creatures that even move at such a blinding speed.

Snakes, according to Wikipedia are, “elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with many more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads with their highly mobile jaws. To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca.”

If you care to know more about the world’s deadliest and most venomous snakes, here is a list for your guide with number 1 as the least and number 10 as the most venomous:

1. Rattlesnake – This snake is easily identified by its rattle at the end of its tale. This snake is found on the most part of America with the Eastern Diamondback as the one that is the most poisonous in North America. The bite of a rattlesnake is harmful and fatal although the juvenile rattlesnakes have more potent venom than the adults because of their ability to inject more amount of venom in victims and prey. The hemotoxic venom is the kind of venom found in most rattles that has proven to do tissue damage, degenerate organs and clot blood in the body for the most part. Its antivenin can help decrease mortality rate at less than 4% when given just at the nick of time.

2. Death adder – This viper is usually found thriving in Australia and New Guinea. These snakes love to kill it kind through ambush. They have shorter and more squatted bodies compared to other snakes and have triangular shaped heads, more similar to the vipers’ appearance. A Death Adder’s venom can cause paralysis and respiratory failure with neurotoxin as the venomous culprit.

3. Vipers – These snakes are found everywhere but the most cunning and venomous are found in the Middle East and Central Asia particularly India, China and South East Asia. Known as nocturnal vipers, they usually attack at night with poison causing necrosis and bleeding.

4. Philippine Cobra – Cobras are venomous but most specie would not make it to this list. However, the Philippine Cobra’s venom is the deadliest among all Cobra specie which they can quickly spit at a maximum of 3 meters. Its venom is also neurotoxin, attacking the heart, affecting cardiac and respiratory functions of the body.

5. Tiger Snake – This one viper is found in Australia and has a strong and powerful neurotoxin that can kill within a matter of minutes. It can cause paralysis and death.

6. Black Mamba – Found in the most part of Africa, the Black Mamba is agile, aggressive and deadly. Known to be the fastest land snake in the globe, its speed is quite blinding which reaches up to 20 km/h. A single bite from this notoriously swift and slim viper is capable of knocking-off 10 -25 adults.

7.Taipan – This one is ruthless coming from Australia. Its potent venom can kill 12,000 guinea pigs at one time. Its venom is strongly neurotoxic.

8.Blue Krait – A fatal bite from this deadly snake is sure death even with the presence of an antivenin killing the victim within 6-12 hours because of its deathly neurotoxin effect which is 16 times more potent than that of a Cobra. These snakes also kill their kind. They are more active at night, making them nocturnal vipers.

9.Eastern Brown Snake – This brown snake is an aggressive killer with 1/14000 of an ounce of venom just adequate to kill a human being.

10.Fierce Snake or Inland Taipan – This one is not that aggressive and usually operates subtly but its single bite alone containing 110mg of venom is enough to kill 100 humans or 250,000 mice!

The above list is the top ten but there is another snake that can be included in this list. It is the Belcher’s Sea Snake but can be set-apart because it belongs to the sea and not on land. Just a few milligrams could suffice in killing 1,000 people.

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Different Snakes to Have As Pets

Getting a snake as a pet may be uncommon but then, many people still have them as pets. Although majority would prefer to have pets with fur that are affectionate, warm and cuddly, there are still a select few who opt to have a snake that are quite dull, cold and unpredictable.

Before deciding on having a snake as pet, ask yourself what kind of snake is best to keep as a pet? You cannot afford to risk your life living with a treacherous and venomous viper, right? After determining the best kind to keep, you should be able to ready to cope with the demands of taking care of a reptile – its space requirement, diet and many more.

In considering a pet snake, first think of its size when it grows mature. How big can it grow? Do you have a suitable place for it to nurture and thrive? There are snake owners who love to have big snakes that could be wrapped around their shoulders and there are also snake owners who just want to watch them in an enclosure or snake terrarium.

Second thing that you need to consider is the life span of the snake. Are you willing to take care of it for about fifty years because some snakes do reach that age while others just survive twenty years or a bit more.

Now, we can lay out the breed and the kind that can be the best snakes to have as pets.

Garter snake - this one is smaller and usually kept in a small terrarium with length that grows up to only three feet. However, the size is not identifiable to the care and attention. Although small, a garter snake needs much care.

Corn snake – This is the most domesticated breed and often found in homes. Kids can play with them and they are docile compared to the other snakes. This one grows a bit longer up to five feet.

Ball Python- This one is non-venomous and a beginner can learn to take care of it quickly.

The list can go on but these three are the most common and safe to have as pets.

Snakes Video

 

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Medusa Creeps Her Way through As Guiness World’s Longest Snake

Set to topple- off Fluffy’s long-standing record of 24 feet last year, Medusa creeps her way through as soon to be Guiness World’s longest snake breaking it at a length of 25 feet and 2 inches. Slated to be part of Guiness World Records 2013 edition, Guiness officials will be visiting her soon to verify this new and record-breaking title.

Medusa is a reticulated python that knows no bounds. Seven years ago, the 8-year old reptile used to be only 24 inches long and has grown tremendously through the years. What is interesting to note is that unlike Fluffy who has been held captive in Columbus Zoo and Aquarium until she died, Medusa on the other hand works as a major highlight for a haunted attraction, The Edge of Hell, produced by Full Moon Productions based in Kansas City. Business is ticking since Medusa spends most of her time helping build some good business by scaring people who are inside the attraction searching for some frightening adventure. Now that Halloween is fast- approaching, more and more people in Kansas will have a lot of fun in store!

Weighing 350 pounds, it would take 15 people or even more to carry this gigantic reptile. She happily coils up in a strategic place in the haunted attraction, making her life cozier compared to other reticulated pythons in the wild.

As for repercussions and fears of Reticulated Pythons being constrictors, meaning, they love to wrap themselves around humans and prey, Larry Edgar has this to say.

The Daily Mall notes that Medusa’s handler and Edge of Hell general manager, Larry Edgar states that:

““We try to keep Medusa well-fed and slightly out of reach as there have been instances with Reticulated Pythons where they’ve had to cut people out of them! We never underestimate that she does always have the upper-hand.”

Medusa is a star, an eye-catcher and crowd-drawer. She would always attract crowds – practically, befitting to earn this record-breaking Guiness title.

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Snakes and Traveling

Snakes and traveling are two words which don’t often come together in one sentence, but the instances of pet snakes having to relocate or travel with their owners are known to exist.

The 2006 movie Snakes on a Plane starring Samuel L Jackson may have overlooked certain facts linked with snakes and air travel, but as a film it did manage to rake in a significant number of followers, if not for the presence of Samuel L Jackson being in the movie.

But as “natural” as snakes were in the film, traveling with snakes is actually no joking matter, with significant preparations in the part of pet snake owners required for them to undertake before actually getting on board a plane.

After all, all pets – snakes included – tend to get quite stressed when traveling, and ensuring that they are at their most calm of moods is important.

As there is an estimated 2,700 different snake species, a general set of guidelines involving snakes and travel is known to prevail, though there are particular species which require certain treatments or preparations geared to make them more comfortable.

Going to the vet first remains to be a good first step when there are plans to travel with one’s pet snake, with a qualified vet looking into how fit a snake is for a trip. A visit to the vet would also clarify concerns related to proper temperature requirements for snakes, along with ideal feeding frequencies/schedules.

Since snakes are cold-blooded, temperatures must be maintained at degrees which are amply warm enough, not too warm. Generally, snakes are okay with 75 to 80 degree temperatures, but getting the ideal temperature reading for a specific type of snake is still highly advised.

With regards feeding frequencies, a visit to the vet will also clarify when the ideal time to feed a snake is, as well as how much food and water they should be given. Informing the vet of how long the trip would is important, and allowing for travel delay allowances should also be added into the mix.

All in all, snakes should be kept in enclosures which they can’t easily escape from too, to avoid further problems one a plane takes off.

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