Snakes are fascinating creatures to be precise. They are usually associated with a lot of bad omens and even gods in some mythologies at the same time. People have created the image of terror and illness when they witness a snake in real life. This makes a lot of facts about snakes quite interesting. To be honest, snakes are that particular species that give out a lot of content for us, humans to study.

The world shelters a lot of snakes currently. To call it precisely, they are the most infamous creatures to have ever been present in the class of reptiles. Reptiles are usually slender organisms that tend to survive on both land and water. But this rule of figures doesn’t apply to snakes because they don’t have any limb systems. They crawl on the surface enabling them to move from place to place.

Apart from their core physical structure, they are well-known for their beautiful scales which have a lot of colors and designs. This is what makes snakes outstanding reptiles more than the other ones in the group. Let us look at some of the best facts associated with snakes and their behavior below.

1) Facts About Snakes

1.1) Never Wash the Wound of Snake Bites

When a person tends to get bitten by a snake, they will always move forward to wash the area which was attacked by the snake. This is a bad move when you get bit by one. It is because, when a person is attacked by a snake, the wound on the portion of his body gets affected by the venom. This venom will slowly grow over time throughout the body. The only way to stop this is by injecting the person with an Antivenom.

Anti-venom can only be found when we know about the kind of venom which was received by the person’s body during the attack in the first place. Thus, washing off the wound will erase the traces of the venom in the person’s body, making it hard for the paramedics to find and administer the Antivenom.

1.2) Eyes of the Snakes Never Lie in Indicating their Nature

Snakes are usually categorized into two segments: Venomous and Non-Venomous. Venomous snakes are harmful and deadly, but Non- venomous snakes are not as harmful as compared to other ones. Their bites won’t be showing severe cases of after-effects in the attacked body. The person will only experience pain, but not death. Now, it will be a lot difficult for a person to determine whether a snake approaching him is either venomous or nonvenomous.

We can tell this by looking at the snake’s pupil. Venomous snakes usually tend to have pupils which are elliptical. They look sharp and dark. While on the other hand, nonvenomous snakes will have round and simple pupils.

1.3) Snakes Use their Scales to Help them Breathe Underwater

As we all know, snakes are one of the most beautiful creatures to ever exist on earth. The one main thing which makes them so beautiful is their scales. The scales of the snakes are quite attractive due to their texture and color. The snake scales vary from one snake to another. This is because a lot of snakes own scales that are of different textures and different colors. Some are flashy, some are purely dark. These scales beautify the whole appearance of snakes. These scales are known for retaining moisture in the snake’s body.

Controlling their temperature will help them breathe underwater. It also helps them to handle difficult terrains and makes their movement a lot faster.

1.4) Some Snakes Give Birth to Young Ones

Snakes come under the animal classification called reptiles as said before. These reptiles are particularly known for their ability to lay eggs after the process of reproduction. The young ones hatch from the eggs laid by the parent reptiles. Most reptile groups like crocodiles and even turtles tend to lay eggs. They protect the egg and sometimes, bury them underground to provide the perfect temperature for the young ones to fully develop inside the egg. Snakes are also known to lay eggs.

But little is known about the fact that a whole 1/3rd population of snakes doesn’t lay eggs normally. They give birth to the young ones as mammals do. These sections of snakes are considered Viviparous. Read more about the snakes which give birth.

1.5) The Lifespan of Snakes is Incredibly Huge

The average group of snakes tends to live only for about 10-20 years. But some snakes are usually expected to grow for more than a couple of decades. The lifespan of snakes usually differs when they are in captivity and when they are let loose in the wild. The ones in captivity are the ones who tend to live a lot shorter than the ones in the wild.

The Ball pythons are considered to be the longest living snakes in the world, having an estimated record of 67 years in captivity. Some snakes in captivity can live for more than a single century. Who knows, maybe there is a snake which is a lot older than the usual ones in the record books but is still left undiscovered and let loose in the wild.

1.6) Antivenom that can Possibly Cure Cancer

The Antivenom extracted from the original venom of a snake is made for the purpose of treating snake bites of the same nature. But some of them were found to have tremendous caliber than just curing a bite of its very own. For instance, we have the Antivenom extracted from the Pico Jackfruit snake. The Antivenom of these snakes is said to give a permanent solution for one of the ultimate health issues which are faced by mankind i.e. Cancer.

The Pico Jackfruit snake originated from the region of South America. People who were bit by these snakes have shown symptoms of illness ranging from mild to severe. Well now, scientists and other researchers have concluded that the venom of this snake can cure cancer due to its ability to target cancer cells.

1.7) Denim can Protect you

The denim material was said to have protected about 60 percent of researchers and explorers in the country of the United States of America according to a study taken. Snake bites are less effective and harmful when it comes in contact with denim. The texture of the denim is naturally designed to be thick.

The thickness of the material has made it difficult for the snake to inject venom into the human flesh. To be specific, gloves of denim are said to have stopped a lot of venoms when put in contact with a snake. Thus, denim is considered to reduce the damage caused by snake bites a lot.

1.8) Snake Feces Look Similar to that of a Birds’

Snake droppings or feces as we call them tend to look pretty similar to that a bird’s feces. This fact is quite contrasting because birds are light eaters. Most birds are omnivores, but they have a very reduced capacity for eating.

While on the other hand, snakes tend to be heavy eaters who usually prey on heavy targets. They are known to bring down giants with just a couple of bites or so. This tells us how deadly their bites can be. They feed on this food of theirs and excrete it. The excreted material will seem similar to that of a normal birds’

1.9) Snakes Shed their Skin more than a Couple of Times a Year

The snake scales have an outermost layer which is known to be their skin. The skin of a snake is always shed about 3 to 6 times a year. Shedding of the skin is the primary sign of physical growth in a snake. A Snake that sheds its skin is called to have started its process of ecdysis, which simply means shedding of skin. Snakes start to rub their body and especially their head, to initiate this process.

Shedding their skin allows them to get rid of all the existing parasites on their body. In addition to this, they grow another skin underneath the one which is getting shed.

1.10) The Land which has no Snakes- New Zealand

Snakes belong to that specific category of creatures which is not capable of withstanding cold conditions. They have that particular issue with their body associated with survival. Snakes are Ectotherms. Ectotherms are the species whose body temperature is heavily determined by their surrounding’s temperature. Snakes get too hot when it is hot around them. This makes them come out of their living holes in search of ventilation and water.

While on the other hand, snakes turn too cold when they are in a surrounding which has a very low temperature. This triggers them to go in search of warm places and shelter. Some snakes can withstand heat. But none of the snakes can endure cold. New Zealand belongs to one of the coldest countries available. This makes it the most unworthy habitat for the snakes to live in.

1.11) The Land which only has Snakes- Quiemada Grande

The Ilha da Quiemada Grande is a small island located in the off-coast region of Brazil, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is well-known by another name called Snake Island. You can witness about 5-10 snakes per square meter.

Well, that is a lot of snakes for a place like an average island. The climatic condition in that particular place is heavily suitable for the snakes to settle in. They are also provided with endless sources of food and ventilation as well. They are restricted to come out of the island by the ocean waters though. The island houses some of the rarest snakes in the world, including the Golden Lanceheads, which are only found in Quiemada Grande.

1.12) Snakes can Control their Metabolism

Metabolism is the process of converting raw food and consumed substances into energy. The energy is converted to such a form for the sole purpose of helping the living being undertake their necessary activities in the ordinary course of life. Humans, animals, and every single living thing on this planet which consumes food for a living have this process of metabolism working within them from time to time. This process tends to happen automatically. This is also a trigger for the feeling of hunger. But in the case of snakes, they are manual.

Snakes can tune their metabolism. They can stop feeling hungry when they are in dire need of food. They cannot stop it completely, but they can tune it to a minimum amount to withstand hunger for a longer period.

1.13) Snake Teeth are always Curved Backward

Snakes possess a very deadly weapon. It is their set of fangs that are used to inject venom when used on humans or animals or any other target’s flesh. These fangs are attached to the venom glands of the snakes in case they are venomous.

During the process of eating something, we humans tend to chew on our food. The same goes for the animals around us. But here, snakes don’t chew on their prey. They have a set of sharp fangs curved backward, enabling them to hook on their food, giving it no chance to escape.

1.14) Some of the Snakes can Fly as well

Well, snakes that fly don’t mean that some of them have feathers to flap around. It means that certain snakes have a particular technique and a unique body structure with features to glide from one place to another. These snakes fall under the category called the Chrysopelea, which simply means flying snakes.

These snakes tend to glide from one tree to another with the help of the scales present under their belly. These jump from a higher distance and glide with the help of their scales. They can easily reach a minimum distance of 100 meters per single glide. These snakes grow up to 4 feet and are mostly found in the southeastern part of Asia.

1.15) The 60 Million-Year-Old Snake

Some animals have a very ancient ancestral period. Crocodiles have dinosaurs dating back to the Jurassic age and Elephants have Mammoths. Here snakes have a certain species of snakes called the Titanoboa. These snakes are the oldest and largest to have ever been recorded in Human history.

Fossils were found containing the imprints of a very giant snake which was later named the Titanoboa by some of the experts. The snake was said to weigh 20 times the weight of an average human. It has also said to have maintained a diet that included giant crocodiles and turtles of the past era. This fossil was found in Colombia and was dated back 60 Million years before.

1.16) The Fastest Snake Alive

The Black Mamba is currently holding the record of being the fastest-moving snake in existence. The snake is famous for its slender appearance and its greyish-black colored scales. Black Mambas were named in such a way due to the color of their inner mouth portions.

Every Black Mamba’s mouth will be pitch black. It does not have a flesh color, like the other snakes which are in a reddish pink shade. Black Mambas are said to have a record of moving for about 5 meters per second, which can catch an average running man within seconds.

1.17) Snakes will Explode

Quite a surprising fact about this deadly creature. Snakes are considered to be one of the heavy eaters on the planet. They are especially known to take down living things of bigger sizes than their actual size with their powerful venom. But at the time of eating the prey that it has taken down, snakes set a specific limit for their consumption.

It is because snakes can burst when they overeat. When a snake tends to swallow and consume something which exceeds its normal capacity of consumption, the inner portion of the body will find it difficult to stretch beyond its capacity and ends up getting blown all over the place.

1.18) A Snake can Eat Itself

Another disturbing fact about this creature is that snakes tend to start eating themselves when they reach the highest rate of their metabolism. Yes, they can tune their metabolism rates, but not for much longer. A snake will start to bite itself when it finds no prey during its hunger. This causes stress in its head and will further motivate it to eat itself.

At last, the snake will end up becoming a victim of severe blood loss due to its very own fatal bites. The venom of the snake doesn’t affect it. Instead, it is the severity of the bite wound which makes it die due to blood loss. This happens during the peak season of summer when snakes find it difficult to target prey.

These are some of the facts about snakes. Some of these are fascinating and some of these are straight-up disturbing. Well, whatever it is. Snakes stay as one of the most beautiful, but deadly creations of all time. Check out the 10 Deadly Amazon Rainforest animals brought to you by Icy tales.

Last Updated on September 13, 2023 by kalidaspandian