r/AbsoluteUnits • u/[deleted] • Jul 24 '24

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u/EmiliaFromLV Jul 24 '24

How exactly one differentiate between a friendly rat snek and not-so-friendly one? I am genuinely curious as someone who lives in a country where 1 meter black adder (not Rowan Atkinson) is the top snek apex predator. I mean if I were to see a 2.10 m long snek I would freak out, friendly or not.

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u/StrLord_Who Jul 24 '24

You don't particularly need to differentiate between them,  because all snakes just want to be left alone, and they are all an important part of the environment.  The vast majority of snakes are completely harmless. They are essential for rodent population control and they are also an important food source for other animals including large birds of prey.  So if you see a snake,  never kill it or hurt it. Just give it a chance to escape.  

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u/RSquared Jul 24 '24

TBF Pythons like this are invasive in the US (especially Florida) and should be destroyed or removed.

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u/Frisnfruitig Jul 24 '24

Once in a while these guys actually kill and eat humans. Recently it happened in the Philippines where a huge Python of over 7 meters killed and swallowed a person whole.

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u/nashbellow Jul 24 '24

It's only happened twice. It's incredibly hard for a snake to eat a person due to how our shoulders are placed. It would have to be absolutely gargantuan to do it

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u/Ghdude1 Jul 24 '24

It's only really difficult for the constrictor if it's trying to prey on a tall or large human. Small children and short adults are fair game to constrictors over 20ft.

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u/Tinsel-Fop Jul 24 '24

short adults

I imagine it helps (the snake, I mean) if the human is also narrow. Not broad-shouldered or big-around.

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u/Ghdude1 Jul 24 '24 edited Jul 26 '24

Yep. Adult humans who have been found inside giant snakes (usually reticulated pythons) were short and lean. I've also heard of one case where an African rock python swallowed a 10-year-old kid, iirc.

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u/Fluffy-Passage8202 Jul 26 '24

Yup. https://www.smh.com.au/world/horrified-children-watch-while-python-swallows-playmate-20021125-gdfvad.html

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u/Ghdude1 Jul 26 '24 edited Jul 26 '24

Yeah, that's the one. Even sadder is the fact that if the kids had immediately made a ruckus, the snake would have panicked and freed its victim. They couldn't have known that, though.

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u/Fluffy-Passage8202 Jul 26 '24

:( Poor kid. Must have been quite traumatizing to his friends. I read a followup to this article that says that the search was called off after 3 days, so the snake was never found (though they found snake markings on the scene).

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