Vine snake died from self-inflicted bite?!

Posted by henry on July 07, 2002 at 17:01:08:

Well this beats all.

This morning I found one of the vine snakes dead in what appears to have been a stand-off with a anole, complicated by a self-inflicted bite. The anole had him by the lower jaw although this happens sometimes and usually the snake manages to kill it and work it around to eat it. In this case however the snake had buried his upper-right teeth pretty deeply into his own neck and at an angle that may have been too tight to work loose from.

And while the anole looks large in the picture, it really isn't. It was a medium anole and the snake is 40 inches long and much fatter when not dead. I imagine he died from suffocation (anole may have compressed glottis?) or simply from thrashing around until he was spent, rather than from his own venom, but I understand that some feel they aren't necessarily immune to their own venom. What do you think?

- henry

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: Well this beats all. : This morning I found one of the vine snakes dead in what appears to have been a stand-off with a anole, complicated by a self-inflicted bite. The anole had him by the lower jaw although this happens sometimes and usually the snake manages to kill it and work it around to eat it. In this case however the snake had buried his upper-right teeth pretty deeply into his own neck and at an angle that may have been too tight to work loose from. : : And while the anole looks large in the picture, it really isn't. It was a medium anole and the snake is 40 inches long and much fatter when not dead. I imagine he died from suffocation (anole may have compressed glottis?) or simply from thrashing around until he was spent, rather than from his own venom, but I understand that some feel they aren't necessarily immune to their own venom. What do you think? : - henry

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