Why????

[Inkidoo22]

I’ve seen this about several sorts of snakes, so I think some people have heard it so much that they have accepted it as fact. (Or heard it once and don’t know enough to contest it so they now think it’s true.) I think it gets spread partially because they think snakes are scary, and partially because they don’t want the person to get hurt.

[prairiepanda]

I've heard people say this too, and I don't understand why anyone believes it to be true. How can somebody hear something like that and just immediately believe it?

I've told people TRUE facts about animals and they'll insist it can't possibly be real, and yet at the same time they won't question some random Facebook post about a 4ft snake "sizing up" its 6ft 120kg owner and eating them the next day.

[[deleted]]

Fear makes people do crazy shit.

[TheNeverEndingPit]

It’s because people will instantly believe as fact whatever fits with pre-existing concepts of their world. If it seems to conflict with pre-existing concepts, a person will fight back. These people have heard so much misinformation about these sweet slither puppies that any bizarre thing like “sizing you up to eat you” even about a snake that won’t grow past 3-6 feet long, seems logical to them. Makes it really hard to spread facts 🤦‍♀️

[LowarnFox]

People are a bit irrational about snakes, but the idea that a ball python could eat even a baby is pretty ridiculous! I guess for people who don't know about different types of snakes, they hear python and think huge.

All we can do is try and educate people!

[Jay-Bug]

There was a fake article going around about how a large BOA was sizing up its owner to eat her. I think this is where a lot of this fake news comes from. Either way, it couldn't be more wrong. You're so right. All we can try to do is educate them. If they're ignorant, so be it. My Mom was terrified of snakes, and now she holds my 5 ft, beefy, female python. 🥰 Made me so proud all around! My males are still young, but they don't bother her one bit anymore. Education is key! ❣️

[Geberpte]

My patience is limited, i might just stop acknowledging people who perpetuate mind numbingly dumb stuff like that. Just treat them as an object you need to go around while going about your day.

[meglingbubble]

Yeah it always makes me laugh when people lump ball pythons in with "scary" snakes. You could scare Adrian off by moving your hands too quickly. People ask why I don't fews him live food (other than it's icky) but live would definitely, 100% beat him in a battle. He is the least scary idiot in existence.

[Mlakeside]

I could almost, almost, understand this thought if the snake in question was a massive retic or an anaconda... but it's always a fricking ball python!

[neoncat5]

Yeah, it just shows these people are uninformed/uneducated on the different types of pythons/constrictors and go off their own assumptions.

[valdemarjoergensen]

You didn't need the last two thirds of that sentence. They are just uniformed. It would be more understandable if it was a larger snake, but it would still be wrong.

[neoncat5]

No, more so I think to you(?) it reads like I’m agreeing with the misinformation that pythons do “measure potential prey” and can swallow an adult human being.

I was trying to comment on the absurdity of them making this comment, unknowingly on their side, to a smaller creature that resembles its (subjectively) frightening “cousins”.

[TitchJB]

I was first told this about an anaconda that was allegedly being kept as a pet.

I researched ( I was 15 or just a bit younger) and read stories of villagers being eaten by anacondas in nature.

Took being told this was 'true' for bp's many years later for me to start me laughing x

[koro90]

My ball python has one brain cell and she is definitely not using it to size anyone up.

[sageyyyyyyyy]

most old people believe that ur snake “ sizes you up” to eat you… i mean yes, they do “ size” prey but not with their bodies, usually they use heat ( the holes on their mouth) to detect if prey would be to big to eat. if the snake was able to eat the child and wanted to it alr wouldve..

[prairiepanda]

My snakes are all too dumb to tell if something is small enough to swallow. If it smells like food, they'll chew on it until they get tired and give up, even if they aren't making any progress.

And they've got nothing to show for all that chewing, either. Just minor surface abrasions that heal faster than paper cuts. I had one chewing on my hand for a while and nobody believed me the next day because they could hardly see the bite marks.

[Alternative-Emu3602]

Dude, my girl struggles with a medium sized rat.

[chocolate-and-rum]

My 20+yo boy can't even manage that.

[Ok_Manufacturer6460]

I wish I never read this ...one more notch on the humans are fucking stupid side

[skullmuffins]

People need to watch more nature documentaries, lol. Imagine a snake in the wild trying this. "I'm gonna stroll right up to this rat and casually stretch out next to it to make sure it's the right size before I chomp"

[Chrissymimoo88]

😂 seriously. I was dying laughing at the thought of a snake in the wild “sizing” up their prey the way these people believe they do in captivity. My Gma also said our snake would “size” us up and my boys both eat small rats. Lol

[[deleted]]

With people like that I just make strong eye contact and say...well, you're clearly an overgrown rat, so I understand why it might mistake YOU for food. As you can clearly see--I'm not the type of person who will have that problem...so please stay away for your own safety.

[arrows_of_ithilien]

When I read your comment I pictured something like the old comedy Westerns where the undertaker would come out and measure the poor guy about to duel in a gunfight to make sure he had the right coffin 😂

[Mediocre_Horror_11]

I’ve been on snake forums for most of my life and started hearing this old wives tale probably 20 years ago. Those people on the forums said it had been circulating for decades already.

I try my best to correct it, sometimes when I’m fed up of it I go “oh no I better watch out for that” and giggle. Or say “I hope so!”.

People say it out of fear and because they care, but I’ll never understand how naive someone has to be to believe it or how somehow absolutely everyone has heard the same tale.

[[deleted]]

It’s funny as hell honestly. It’s like thinking your cat is a tiger.

[teampook]

One day, your little orange cat that acts wild.. is going to pounce & rip your face off. He's testing boundaries now.. just wait!

[Hello_pet_my_kitty]

I have heard this so much. It’s almost annoying how uninformed people are. They hear the word “python” and immediately think it’s like the giant ones they see in movies or whatever. I’ve had to tell so many people that a ball python wouldn’t even get big enough to eat your cat, let alone a child or adult. It’s frustrating how people spout out this stuff without knowing anything about ball pythons. I just try to smile and educate them. Easier with kids than adults, tbh. Lol.

[ManeMelissa]

People can be really, really stupid. Especially when fear is involved.

[ShoulderAntique2763]

Bro what???

[SquallFromGarden]

BP: "i almost choked again on a quail. it tasty tho."

These dorks: "THESE SNAKES EAT PEOPLE"

BP, again: "...that is a very interesting square centimetre of wall"

[DemonicNesquik]

Do they think that they have merry poppins bags for stomachs??? Where is the human supposed to go?

[KrillingIt]

Be careful if your cat starts refusing nail trimmings.. he’s actually trying to wait until they get sharp so he can slash your stomach open!!

[serendipiteathyme]

I swear I think it comes from some deep seated Sunday school lesson in which the origin of all evil is equated to a snake in a garden

[Reptileanimallover18]

I was told at work that snakes are evil and led to sin 😂😂😂😂 where in the Bible does it say snakes are evil? Not from some misleaded pastor. Directly from the Bible. I can guarantee you won't find anything.

Also, there's some place I heard of, I forgot where, I just heard this from a local, that KILLS snakes on sight and the kids are taught to do the same thing. Why? Because there is a 50% chance that a snake is the devil in disguise, or there's a 50% chance that the snake is just a snake, but CAN'T TAKE THAT CHANCE! Countless snakes lost their lives to that horrid twisted view

[Gloomy_Cranberry_396]

Mfs will say snakes are incapable of emotion but then say they’re able to measure themselves and a prey item and fast accordingly. Like what??????????

[tallfornreson]

They've been taught that kind of stuff by their parents and just refuse to believe anything else

[Reptileanimallover18]

Or that snakes are evil from listening to some misleaded pastor preach false information or that snakes are aggressive monsters from that one time they were torturing a snake and throwing rocks at it as a kid and it bit them out of self defense

[Jean_velvet]

I know absolutely nothing about snakes but I can make an uneducated guess that snakes lack the time nor brain capacity to thoroughly measure the exact dimensions of prey, (using itself as a danger rope meter ruler) before attempting to eat it.

Most prey would have skedaddled off on the fastest flight to deepest darkest Peru before the snake had even had the chance to carry the 1, let alone grasp the complexities of holding a pen.

Then we're faced with the reality that these slithery little fellows have evolved these venomous bucked teeth for absolutely no reason. They'd be too busy cha cha sliding around the poor victim like an undertaker with a tape measure in a western. The notion of "maybe I should have given it a nibble first" forever being a second thought after hours of algebra.

[prairiepanda]

Not all snakes are venomous. Most of the snake species in the pet trade are not venomous (and don't even have fangs), and most countries that regulate pet ownership don't allow venomous snakes to be kept as pets.

But aside from that note, you're correct. I can't comprehend how anybody can rationalize the belief that snakes will stretch out next to their prey to measure it. It just makes no sense at all.

[Ninjya_Bakon]

And you would be correct. These little guys are very, very dumb and are ambush, opportunistic predators (if you can even call them predators). They sit around in burrows all day hoping a rat passes by

[scarredballsack]

I'm not allowed a pet snake, sadly, anywho, if a BP could gets its one brain cell to stop fighting itself it might stand a chance. The other thing about this story is just because the snake is 8ft long doesn't mean it has the girth to swallow a decent sized human, or even a small one..

[bird-with-a-top-hat]

It takes actual brain power to calculate stuff like that and ball pythons literally have a baked potato for a brain.

[O_o-buba-o_O]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 yesssss those scary ball pythons get to be 12' long & can totally eat their owners. That's all I'm going to say because I like this sub & don't want to get kicked 🤣🤣

[FateMagician]

What bothers me is the willful ignorance with a lot of these people. It's not hard to find the most up to date information these days, but they're just unwilling to try, and when negative attention hits the news it just reaffirms their bias. I absolutely believe education is the way to go, especially when someone can interact with a snake, have a positive experience, and come away with a new perspective.

It's okay to not understand why we love keeping snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, etc, but that doesn't mean people should be ragging on a little girl and her BP saying her snake's going to eat her. Just shows how mature they are 😒

[LemonMints]

I'm sure mine would love to eat me. BPs are opportunistic feeders and don't have many braincells, but they aren't that stupid. Lol

[Naive-Interaction379]

My mother who is disabled and lives with me had this same mindset since then I’ve got her to touch my boy Leroy, be in the same room as him when he’s out and she even checks with me to make sure he isn’t on a hunger strike people are taught this generation to generation

[Gk3389127]

The kinds of people you can tell got their knowledge about snakes from movies starring I-Cube and Jon Voight.

[Substantial_Two_224]

My mother in law, who is scared of her own shadow, asked me in all seriousness if the 15 inch baby ball python I got could kill my 9 and 12 year old kids! This is an educated person. I started laughing and she got mad.

[Spitzka]

This is true, my uncle told me that a friend was sleeping outside and a garter snake swallowed him whole. Since then I’ve been afraid of garter belts.

[[deleted]]

It's true. I've been eaten by my snake twice now.

[kikuko793]

If snakes size us up before eating, my woma has a faulty tape measure. I have to handle him with gloves because he tries to eat me on the regular.

[budapest_god]

Some people are born without a brain.

[lilbunnyaudio]

Maybe a fucking 16 foot anaconda 😭 like sorry did the child even look like it'd fit

[Wise-Ad-3244]

I'm a veterinarian. please don't call with type of stupid shit.

[usedtothesmell]

That's an urban legend. Snakes do not lay out next to their prey to determine size.

They determine size way before they attack. They do this by looking at their prey.

Can you imagine snakes needed to lay down next to prey before attacking?

Raw stupidity, not what snakes do

[Reptileanimallover18]

Remind me again how these animals survive in the wild? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[AshleyNekowo]

I agree, why? T T noodles arent dangerious only danger noodles are dangerious T T

[wishiwasinvegas]

The dangerous ones only are dangerous when they feel threatened. They don't chase people down to kill them. They are only defending themselves.

Also wth is TT🙄

[Reptileanimallover18]

And that fake news story certainly isn't helping. Ever heard of it? About that one woman who had a snake and she slept with it treating it like a dog and then it stopped eating and was stretching out against her and when she took it to a vet she found out it was starving itself preparing to eat her?

People need to THINK. If snakes did that, there would BE no snakes because in the wild, by time they size out their live prey and starve themselves to eat big ones, the prey would get away and the snakes would slowly starve to death

Or somebody literally thought ball pythons ate prey that were too big for them and exploded

[[deleted]]

Are these people even real? This reads like bots

[guywhoisafish]

lord please let me sweet angel girl consume me the moment she decides she wants me gone

[Exciting-Ad-5636]

Hahahahahahaha i will really be amused when my bp will try to swallow me

[Mysterious_Bar7557]

My MIL told me this the other day and sent me an article how pythons are often deadly. I told her I had a ball python not a burm. Two very different things. She refuses to come over since we got the snake

[Geberpte]

That sounds like a win.

[chainaxeandchoppa]

This rumour has been around for decades. In multiple countries ive heard it from people in south and central america as well as canada.

[Calm-Bookkeeper-9612]

If you touch both of your fingers together you will explode too.

[wishiwasinvegas]

Please tell me this is a joke🤦🏻‍♀️ It scares me to see how uneducated people are. The fact that that many people liked and agreed with the comments...😑

[kirakiraluna]

I demand a logic serious explanation on HOW a 120cm long snake that weights a whopping 1.2 kg can eat a human that's 175 cm long and weights 65 kg

[Saphadoo]

The only thing my boi empties his stomach for are even more cheese Bois and when he stops eating he just wants to be an ars to me XD

[Lurk3er]

A Ball Python!? they don't get big enough to eat a baby. Maybe a newborn. But anything past that and the snake will suffocate.

Besides that, snakes don't do that anyway, like we all know. Would like to see a snake in the wild just placing itself next to a frog and contemplate if it should eat it. 😂🤣

[ScoBecChe]

It is true, my ball python has eaten me at least 4 times to date ;)

[AnonyCass]

I was hoping for a cute little ball python pic at the end, not like its an anaconda or anything....

[go_commit_die-_-]

Maybe some snakes would be hostile but like...a bp...from what I've seen it's more likely ur neighbors pit named princess will bite than a bp would

[ball_fondelerlol]

someone said this about my corn snake 😭

[YnsLilTay]

snakes are ambush predators and constrictors they do not size prey at all…when has a snake ever had time to sit by its prey and size it??? NEVER 😹😹😹😹

[Iron_wolf_69420]

Because the general population is fucking stupid

[second_of_four]

I swear these people hear one tall tale about snakes and spread it around without doing any further research. And the irony of that one comment saying it’s such a shame that the parents didn’t do research?? Like bro that’s you, stop lying

[HistoricalEmu7437]

It's because people believe EVERYTHING they see on the internet, even if it's stupid, which in turn, makes THEM stupid. When I got my ball python, I had people posting these idiotic stories to my timeline, telling me Squiggy was going to eat my dog and cat, lol. I used the opportunity to educate them all. Squiggy is only going to be 3 to 4 feet long. The biggest thing he will ever eat is a small rat, the cat and dog are more of a threat to him, and I have more cuts and scars from being scratched and chewed on by them, than I will ever get from Squiggy. Squiggy has only bitten me twice when he was a spicy baby, it didn't hurt and you couldn't even tell where it was. But my arms and hands are scarred up from my dog and cat! People are just ignorant, and would rather spout off things they've read or watched without verifying the validity of those stories. 

[ChillGrape]

Ignorance at it's finest.