What Eats Snakes?

[StuartDH]

I guess that good protection against snakes is to find out what eats snakes then carry one with you at all times Do any tribes/travellers around the world adopt this strategy? I know secretary birds can take on snakes, put they're a bit big to put in your pocket, so maybe a mongoose instead? Did cowboys take dogs with them to ward off snakes from approaching their livestock and horses?

[ericrovve]

Well you've got the Snake eagle or Short-toed Eagle that lives almost exclusively on reptiles - be a heavy on your arm, though, on a long hike.

[frostfire]

Originally Posted by StuartDH

I guess that good protection against snakes is to find out what eats snakes then carry one with you at all times

I've been trying to think of how any tribes protect themselfs from snakes but haven't come up with anything...
But maybe if this presenter had read this thread he could have protected himself by putting one down his trousers though!
YouTube - kccitv's Channel

[black]

Excellent stuff, some great one liners They didn't half have problems extracting the snake from his pants.

[Fairy-wren]

Kookaburras eat small snakes (among other things); they might fit into a large pocket, hehe.

[kandbslack@tiscali.co.uk]

Sorry, but don't think you stand much chance. There were pictures taken from the Miami water ways of a pyton which was released in to the wild and actually burst open when it swallowed an alligator. Ouch

[frostfire]

Originally Posted by kandbslack@tiscali.co.uk

Sorry, but don't think you stand much chance.

Then maybe it would be better to know how to treat snake bites... I suppose you could memorise the Theriaca, a poem of the Greek Nicander of Colophon (130 bc) about poison remedies including snake bites, which is also the oldest piece of writing we have on the subject in Europe. The poem describes over a dozen snakes and the effect of their poison. It might have been dedicated to the king of Pergamon, Attalus III, who was an experimenter with poisons. He even used criminals to see if his antidotes worked!
I'll give you one of his options for if you want to be prepared just in case you are bitten tomorrow, you will have to carry a mixture around with you containing the flesh of mating snakes, a stag's marrow, wax, the root of a centaurea, a general medicine, consisting of more than 24 ingredients and apply olive and rose oil to the skin!

By the by it would also be useful to have in your mind for when you are bitten by spiders of scorpions.

[paul m]

There's no problem as long as you stay in the correct lane!

Sign language: Week 11 - Telegraph

[goosey]

Should work well if all involved take heed of the signs .