Learning to Love the Mole Snake (Pseudaspsis cana)
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Our free, effective and ecologically friendly suburban rodent controller
By Vard Aman
The mole snake is a voracious predator of rodents that can, if allowed, provide free and effective, ecologically friendly rodent control in a suburban environment. All that’s required is a little understanding of how it actually behaves.
Unfortunately, you’re not likely to get any help from social media when it comes to that. You’re more likely to get:
“Mole snake: not venomous but can inflict a nasty bite”, or “…can inflict a nasty bite which may require stitches.”
And that, very often, is the only “fact” you get.
Let’s make some other mole-snake-style introductions and see how they sound:
“My friend Jane can pepper-spray you or shoot you with her 9mm”
“My toddler can inflict a painful bite which may need stitches and antibiotics”
“A Labrador can bite the hand off a small child”
“Swimming pools can drown you in 30 seconds”
“Cars can crush you or catch alight, burning you alive should you be trapped inside”
“Throat lozenges are non-toxic but, if inhaled, can choke you to death”, or …
“African Penguins aren’t venomous, but they can inflict nasty bites needing stitches”
All of the above are all factually or technically correct, but they all sound pretty ridiculous, right?
Yes.
But not when it comes to snakes it seems – then the teeth sinking in and the sending you off to the doctor’s office is the first and sometimes only point, no matter how rare and extreme a scenario that really is.
Is it because all of those other things are familiar to us while mole snakes are not?
Again, yes.
OK, so let’s familiarise ourselves with them.
How does the mole snake bite work?
Certain teeth near the back of the jaws have cutting edges which are used to kill prey when the snake employs a slicing action.
These are useful for killing prey underground where constriction space is limited, and also helps mole snakes to kill prey items such as large rats and mole rats which are more than capable of inflicting a very nasty bite in return.
A fairly recent discovery is that these slicing edges are far more developed in males, which suggests they are used prominently in male-male combat (Evans, et.al. 2019), which unlike most other snakes, can be quite violent. Old males can often be distinguished by their battle scars.
It is these cutting edges that can cause the damage – which may require stitches – on the off-chance the cutting edges manage to slice through human skin. However, mole snakes will only bite under provocation, which means you will have to have done something to earn the bite.
Even then, the defensive bites are usually quick, without any slicing taking place – in which case, all you’ll get is a few puncture wounds.
The slicing either happens if you’ve been playing with rats and you then try to pick up a hungry mole snake, or if movement occurs during the bite – such as instinctively pulling away as the snake bites, causing the teeth to slice (this is how it usually happens). In other words, a mole snake will only “inflict a nasty bite which may require stitches” under a very specific set of circumstances – which are almost entirely the fault of the person getting bitten.
That’s it!
So, considering all of the above, maybe instead of the first and sometimes only point being what mole snakes can potentially do TO people in only very specific circumstances, usually under extreme provocation, how about telling people what they do FOR people every single day, without recognition or thanks, by providing free, effective and ecologically friendly rodent control?
Ey, snake catchers?
In a suburban environment, the rodents that are on the mole snake’s menu often include the highly invasive Black and Norwegian rats, which do far more harm to humans and human well-being than mole snakes … and can also “inflict and nasty bite which may require stitches” – and an antibiotic and tetanus shot to boot!
Let’s rather give mole snakes (and other snakes) and the role that they play in the environment fair representation and due.
Until we are able to do that – rationalise knowledge and bust the irrational fears (instead of confirming them, or making people who were previously not afraid more fearful), people will continue to rather have the snake removed, and we will all (excluding the rats, of course) ultimately be worse off for it.
Especially when, in the absence of suitable predators, people resort to cats and/or rodenticides, both of which can have severe negative impacts on biodiversity and the environment. Let’s learn to understand the snake!
References
Evans A.M., Choiniere J.N. & Alexander G.J. 2019. The cutting-edge morphology of the mole snake’s dental apparatus. PeerJ 7:e6943
We will be bringing you more articles by herpetologist and FoTP committee member, Vard Aman of Cape Snake Conservation, so watch this space.
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