can a snake swallow a human when its alive?

Question

a snake like a, andaconda or a python

Answer 1

Yes, but dead snakes cant. This is why dead snakes are better.

Answer 2

The prey item of any snake needs to be roughly 2/3 the size of the widest point on the snake or smaller. Most humans have shoulders and hips that are too broad for even the largest of anacondas and reticulated pythons. True they can eat deer and crocodiles but this is because such animals are typically "thinner" than the width of a human. If a snake does grow to a size in which its thickest point is 1/3 larger than your shoulders, then it would be possible for a snake to devour you.

Constrictors do not crush their food, and nor do they actually suffocate their food. The purpose of the constriction is to cause cardiac arrest. Whenever a prey item breathes out, the snake constricts more. This prevents movement and allows the snake to "pinch" the blood vessels and halt blood transport. The heart cannot get adequate oxygen from the stagnant blood and the cells begin to die. The fact that some animals die of asphyxiation wasn't the actual intent.

Now, snakes are not the best at judging what they can actually eat. It is possible and probably has occurred before for a snake to attempt to devour a human only to regurgitate the remains because the stomach could not safely hold the contents.

Constrictors do not always kill their food before they eat it, and they will happily eat incapacitated prey.

Answer 3

The types of snakes that grow large enough to swallow a human are all constrictors. By definition, a constrictor constricts it's prey to death FIRST, then proceeds to swallow it while it is dead. There are not that many snakes that swallow things alive as I think it is just too dangerous for the snakes and most have evolved the behavior to kill their prey first; either by constriction or venom. One snake that comes to mind though is the garter snake; they eat frogs and things while the prey is still alive. However, as I mentioned, you will never see a garter snake anywhere near large enough to eat a rabbit let alone a human. If you want to speak hypothetically, the snakes that are large enough to eat us could do pretty much whatever they wanted to due to their immense strength advantage over us puny humans but, in reality, they would squeeze you to death before swallowing.

Edit:
Oh, one thought, if the person didn't thrash about and just acted "dead" (maybe in shock or something), the snake may just begin to eat the person without necessarily crushing them first so I suppose in that case it could happen.

Answer 4

About the only snakes big enough are constrictors which usually prefer to squeeze things nearly to death before eating them. It also depends on the size of the person verses the size of the snake. My boyfriend at 6'3" is not at great risk from any snake. Me under 5' is a lot more risk.

Snakes don't like to take damage to themselves and there is a limit to how much they can expand. Most snakes either eat prey which can't inflict much damage, like a cricket, or have quick acting vemon, or wrap themselves tightly up around the body. Either way, the prey needs to be unconscious very quickly.

Answer 5

hi there
OK... unless it's venomous then most snakes are constrictors... just FYI
OK there are 4 constrictors that can eat a small human... when they are full grown they are anaconda, rock python, reticulated python and a Burmese python are known man eaters(mostly children) in the wild they constrict their pray till they are dead .... the rest of the larger snakes have the potential of killing but not eating ...http://crinaustin.home.att.net/Snake2.htm

Answer 6

why yes it can but most larger snakes will go after small
children first they are easyer then a full sized man.a snake can eat something 1 1/2 the size of it's head.

Answer 7

Ja...a friend of mine just sent me a picture story of a large constrictor from India. It had swallowed a grown man. I think the snake died after swallowing him.

Answer 8

Actually I watched a show on this on animal planet. If you mean the human being alive, I don't think the person would let it eat them, but if the person was dead, it depends on how it eats the person. If the person is laying flat on the groud, they can't get their mouths wide enough to get around the shoulders but if the person was on their side, then it may be able to eat a person.

Answer 9

I honestly don't know but on that movie "Snakes On A Plane" they sure made it look real.

Answer 10

Of course. A dead snake can't swallow anything.


Grammar serves a purpose.

Answer 11

Yes, but it would have to be a mighty large snake.