And we get all freaked out when our kids' toys have a little bit of lead...

Maybe it's been de-fanged???

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Nov 12 2007, 05:59 PM) [snapback]538652[/snapback]</div>

Well, either that or it's the snake's kid. That's not outlandish; I know many kids with at least one parent an unrepentant snake, and what do you think that apple handed Eve is really a metaphor for anyway?

MB

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(airportkid @ Nov 12 2007, 11:46 PM) [snapback]538725[/snapback]</div>

yah maybe de-fanged hehe









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Well, no fangs certainly but also poison sacs removed since some cobras can also spit.

All it all, pretty stupid of the parents. I don't care what country they're from or what religion they practice.

 

The snake continually strikes at the kid, to no effect, even apparently making physical contact. While it's possible that the parents wanted to dispose of the kid, and it took the snake a while before actually biting, I really think the snake has been de-fanged, and (as Godiva pointed out) had its poison glands removed as well. This done, the snake makes a harmless pet, if you like that sort of thing.

 

Removing the fangs was enough for making it safe for the kid. Spitting cobras squirt the vemon through the fangs. Without them the vemon would be all over the snake's chin.

A defanged and deglanded snake isn't a safe pet. Fangs grow back and some of the gland could have been missed.

 

This is going to get me in hot water but I have to honestly say that I felt the snake was getting the worst of it throughout the entire video. It was obvious from the first seconds that the snake had been rendered harmless: the likelihood that a snuff film had made it intact to YouTube was too astronomically improbable to make any other assumption. So here's this snake which from its point of view is being threatened, and rather than try to slide away it courageously stands its ground, terrified, and finally its worst fears are realized as the infant grabs it. Frankly, the entire production is a bit of cruelty against the snake.

That's the hallmark of humanity, unfortunately: to inflict calculated cruelty as entertainment, whether to snakes or to other human beings. We would do well to locate where that impulse pollutes our genes and excise it; whatever survival value it conveyed on the savannah a million years ago has long since been made irrelevant.

OK, heap it on me for not worrying about the kid but the snake (and why this sort of film finds wide popularity).

Mark Baird
Alameda CA

 

There's actually a Snopes page on this video
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/babycobra.asp

It explains that the Cobra's mouth is tied shut, although the status of the explanation is listed as undetermined. That makes sense to me though, as most venomous snakes have a row of small teeth in addition to fangs. A snake bite from the small teeth generally feels like one of those old circular TB tests -- a sharp and quick prick that draws blood in a pattern of tiny punctures corresponding to whatever percentage of the snake's teeth hit (i.e., a circle or oval for a full-contact open mouth bite, a portion of an oval for something less). I say this from having a pet boa for about 20 years and personal experience. Even a defanged cobra's bite would still be painful enough to likely deter a baby. And (obviously) a venomous bite would kill a child of that size quite quickly. Cobras are elapid snakes, with a neurotoxin venom that acts very quickly.

 

I could be wrong but I believe the defanged Cobras do not live long either. Whether this is due to the missing fangs and venom sacs I do not know but I have watched a few documentaries and I thought I remember this being the case.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ShellyT @ Nov 13 2007, 10:30 AM) [snapback]538973[/snapback]</div>

I stand corrected on the suitability of a de-fanged cobra as a pet. Thank you. For the record, I consider cats and dogs to be the only suitable pets, and then only if the dog is not very small, and the cat is not very big.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MegansPrius @ Nov 13 2007, 11:31 AM) [snapback]539004[/snapback]</div>

Thank you for the straight dope.

Mark: It does not appear that the snake is really being hurt by the baby. I'll agree with you about the delight humans take in cruelty towards other living creatures, including each other. But I really don't think this video is an example of that.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(F8L @ Nov 13 2007, 02:49 PM) [snapback]539013[/snapback]</div>

This might be more to do with their after care. De-vemoned snakes that won't take pre-killed prey have to be tricked into thinking their poison killed the mouse. I can't imagine a snake charmer giving their charge much thought when they likely just go into the bush for a new snake.
I am not a hundred percent on elapid growing fangs back, but vipers do. They can actually have back up sets ready, like a shark.

I thought I saw the snake's mouth open. Now non-vemonous snakes can draw a bit of blood with all their teeth, but they also have to hold onto struggling prey. It can be...unpleasant...when a 4ft boa or python mistakes your hand for food. The vemonous snake just needs those teeth for swallowing dead prey. So they are likely smaller than a boa's, have less, and if they pulled the fangs, they likely also pulled any other potentially harmful teeth.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ShellyT @ Nov 14 2007, 08:10 AM) [snapback]539444[/snapback]</div>

Sounds reasonable to me. I've been bitten by small snakes before and even those can draw blood. That was what I was most worried about with the child in the video. Open wounds in dirty conditions is rather dangerous for ones health.

 

Mutilating an animal so it can be used as a pet is wrong.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ Nov 14 2007, 08:28 AM) [snapback]539464[/snapback]</div>

So are most of the things we do.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ShellyT @ Nov 14 2007, 11:10 AM) [snapback]539444[/snapback]</div>

Yeah, I couldn't find any good facts on this issue yesterday -- other than venomous snakes mostly having at least additional upper teeth -- but today did find a good picture of a cobra skull at (scroll down) showing both upper and lower teeth.
http://www.seanthomas.net/oldsite/skulls.html
Looking around the internet, about half the things I read seem to say the snake's mouth is sewn shut and about half say it's teeth are pulled. Most of the articles (i.e., the Daily Mail) just sensationalize this video. I sure would be curious to know the real story behind it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MegansPrius @ Nov 14 2007, 12:19 PM) [snapback]539494[/snapback]</div>

Well, both techniques are used by snake charmers. Some do neither.

The cobra's teeth are miniscule compared to the python. Not surprising considering they are only put to use after the venom has done its job. The snake only needs to get the fangs in, and then get away before the target can strike back. So the one in the video, if defanged, may not be using enough force and time to harm the baby with the other teeth.

Even if it did break the skin, most of the bleeding is do to the teeth being sharp, and not wound depth. The clotting response is slower to sharp cuts. Plus some snakes have anti-colagulants in their saliva. Which leads to things looking worse than they are.

 

"Mutilating an animal so it can be used as a pet is wrong."
Does that include nuetering?
Does that include cropping tails on certain dog breeds?
Heck, what about clipping my dog's toenails?
Or nailing shoes on a horse?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darwood @ Nov 14 2007, 11:55 AM) [snapback]539586[/snapback]</div>

I believe cutting the tails off of animals is cruel. However, there's no harm in cutting toenails provided that it's done carefully so as not to cut down to living tissue, which will be very painful. I think (but am not sure) that horseshoe nails only go into the (dead) hoof, which is like a fingernail. If I am correct, the horse feels nothing, and the shoe protects the horse's hoof.

When my cat was a kitten he scratched me one too many times. Having warned him several times (utterly pointless, of course!) I grabbed him, got the nail clippers (the same ones I used on my own nails) and began clipping his claws. To my surprise, he began purring like crazy. From then on, all I had to do was show him the clippers and he came running into my lap to have his claws trimmed.