Snake commits suicide by biting its own neck?

14 November 2014 - 16:24 By Times LIVE
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A brown tree snake.
A brown tree snake.
Image: Onionhound/ Wikipedia

A snake catcher has found the body of a serpent that appears to have committed suicide by biting its own neck.

According to The Daily Mail Matt Hagan, from Cairns Snake Catchers, was called to a Earville home after a woman found a 1.5m Brown Tree snake writhing on her doorstep.

By the time he got there, it had sunk its fangs into its own neck and died.

‘I could immediately see something wasn’t quite right with the snake. When I picked it up I noticed it was still biting down firmly on its neck,’ Said Hagan.

‘Apparently when they do have a trauma they do try and bite around the area. I suspect the snake didn’t end its own life on purpose, but was possibly in severe pain and ended up in this unfortunate position,’ he said.

‘It’s just a really odd catch.’

It is unclear whether snakes are immune to their own venom, but there is at least one case on record of a cobra biting itself.

The cobra survived but it developed a large abscess that required surgery, but didn't develop the other symptoms normally associated with its bite.

There is also a video online of a snake which appears to have bitten itself to death by a roadside.

How could snake venom be poisonous to a snake, if they routinely inject it into their food? Basically the venom is a protein, so when it encounters the acid in its stomach it breaks down and becomes harmless.

It is only toxic if it gets beyond the gut and into the blood stream.

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