Another question from my friend as we're going through the snakes archive here on Yahoo Answer. What the reason why some snakes attempt to eat their own tails?
2006-08-06 21:06:56 · 6 answers · asked by choyryu 2 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
do a search on Yahoo answers, there have been other questions on why snakes do this? or is it all a hoax?
2006-08-07 05:48:13 · update #1
Umm... they don't. The idea of serpents eating their own tails has been around for a long time and is symbolic of several things... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros
However snakes do NOT try to eat their own tails, at least I've never heard of it... The "biting tail, forming a loop and rolling away from danger" thing is a complete fallacy... physically impossible. The closest thing to tail eating I've ever seen has happened twice (rainbow boas both times, ironically enough), where I was feeding snakes and the food was sitting on or next to their bodies, they struck, missed, and grabbed their tails instead. It looks really painful, because they don't let go, and then think it is the prey that's hurting them, so they thrash and fight harder, but they eventually wise up and let go. Just a case of mistaken identity.
2006-08-07 02:40:33 · answer #1 · answered by snake_girl85 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, doubters. We have kept snakes for decades. I just spent 30 minutes getting a California King morph to regurjitate 3 inches of his rear. This is an apparently healthy well fed 3.6 foot snake. It has been around 100 degrees where we live. Maybe that has something to do with it. So, never say never.
2015-07-17 15:58:05 · answer #2 · answered by littlescreechowl 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
After years of keeping snakes I have never seen this happen.
However I have seen HUNGRY snakes strike at a mouse, miss, and bite their own body. Sometimes they hold on for quite some time also.
Once a snake enters their feed mode they are oblivious to everything else - even their own pain apparently.
2006-08-07 03:14:09 · answer #3 · answered by carl l 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's a myth made up in medieval times. Supposedly, snakes traveled in groups of two. If you killed one, the other would hunt you down. If you ran and got away, it would put it's tail in it's mouth and chase you. It could supposedly move faster that way. This myth also existed that snakes could never die of natural causes, because them shedding their skin was actaully being 'reborn' as a younger snake.
2006-08-07 08:51:19 · answer #4 · answered by Avatar Aang 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They think it is another smaller snake. Sometimes they eat all up and completely disappear!. Others do it to to form a hoop and then go for a spin.
2006-08-06 21:22:13 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
who knows
2006-08-06 21:18:45 · answer #6 · answered by Tiffany 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
because they're stupid
2006-08-06 21:22:18 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋