Snake Facts

Snakes Facts & Snake Types

There are thousands of species of snakes in the world, approx total 3000 species exist and are found in every corner of the world except very cold continents like Antarctica.  Snakes are not only good pesticides but can also be proven as helpful and fun pets, but it is advisable to keep only those snakes that are harmless to you and to your other pets and kids. Venomous snakes should never be kept as pets as they can be harmful to anyone. 

Snakes are elongated crawling without legs. They  are completely feed on other creatures so they are carnivorous reptiles included in the suborder 'Serpentes'. Snakes are legless lizards and they have no eyelids and external ears. 

Snake Size

As mentioned earlier there are thousands of snakes with different sizes, colors and patterns. The sizes vary from 10cm of the thread snakes to giant Anacondas  & Reticulated pythons whose length are recorded upto 30 feet. According to National Geographic the world smallest snake is the thread snake whose length exceeds upto 10cm-3.9 inches. The worm snake looks almost alike an earthworm. The world's longest snake is the Reticulated Python that can grow up to 30 feet long. 'Titanoboa' is the largest snake fossil discovered. It is said believed that this snake lived 60 millions years ago and might have been 50 feet long - 15 meters long.

Snake Eggs & Snake Babies

Do snakes really build nests? Really? It is a very common misconception regarding the snakes building nests for their eggs and young ones. It is completely false for snakes except the KING COBRA, which is indeed the world's largest venomous snake on the planet. This doesn't state that all the snakes on earth lay eggs.....No, its not true either. Only 70% of the total species of the snakes found in the world lay eggs. The remaining 30% give birth to young ones similar to mammals doing. The reason behind such snakes not laying eggs is the climate they live in. The extremely cold climate are not suitable for developing and hatching eggs. So they have to give birth to young ones. 

What do snakes eat and exist? Snakes feed on?

Snake as we all know are carnivores. It doesn't mean that they eat meat and chicken as we human or animals like lion and big cats do. It is also believed that snakes bite their prey and inject venom to kill them, which in fact is not true at all, for all snakes. Only few snakes like the vipers, cobras and other related species kill their prey using their deadly venom as a weapon. Snakes have many tactful weapons which they use for hunting such as their deadly jaws, fangs to inject venom, toxic venom to make its prey helpless, powerful muscle power and its grip, and so many other. Giant Snakes like pythons, boas, anacondas, etc. swallow their prey whole from head to tail  without any use of venom, as they are completely non-venomous. According to the reports of National Geographic, it can be stated that snakes can eat their prey 70-100% bigger than them, which is really unbelievable. Reports are also that pythons and anacondas have swallowed cows, crocodiles and alligators too. The jaws of the snakes are designed in such a way that they can swallow such huge animals into their belly. Their jaws in the mouth can be unhinged individually helping to swallow the whole prey without any much more difficulty.

Snake has also powerful enzymes to digest the food swallowed by it. As soon as the body of the prey gets inside the snake's body, it releases enzymes that helps it to break down the food and digest it easily. Snake can live without food for months just as king cobras do. Anacondas eat food hardly three times a year.  The reason is their ability to slower their metabolism. In fact they stay alive in cold winter undergoing hibernation by slowing down their metabolism.