Snake attack

[Jenn]

Comment: I got this in an email that read: "Where there's a baby, there's a
mama." Something looks amiss, from the man's apparent lack of alarm to the
odd crinkling of the snake's head.

[chocolate kisses]

Is that a baby snake? I am not a snake person so it's not apparent to me whether it's a baby or mama.
Lack of alarm? I think cringing and closing one's eyes an appropriate response here. I know when something's coming at my face, I close my eyes in an attempt to protect them.

It looks like a regular snake strike to me.

[Singing in the Drizzle]

First I do not believe snakes protect their young and a very quick search on the internet seems to confirm this. Secondly, why would a snake make a leap for the face when there is a perfectly good leg closer to the ground to bite.

So I would have to guess photoshopped. One picture is the person being hit by something and the something removed. Then a snake striking something was added. It also looks like the picture of the person and back ground were scanned in from a magazine based on the quality. Were the snake image was not, but hard to tell do to the coloring, but it does look a little sharper than the rest.

[One-Fang]

The snake's skin pattern gives that illusion - you lose the 'magazine spots' in its pattern. The shadow of the snake on the face seems legit. As for apparent lack of reaction, in addition to what's already been said, snake strikes are FAST. Human reaction time is not.

I suspect it's a real photo and the snake was much closer to the head than the feet for some reason. Perhaps he leaned in too close or something.

[smallpotatoes]

Looks totally legit to me and I've been on the receiving end many times, but luckily never on the face.

I'm pretty sure it's a carpet python, which just happened to be the same type of snake that was my first snake bite. I was working at a pet store that specialized in reptiles & we had recently gotten a carpet python in. It was the 1st time I had ever seen one & this idiot co worker of mine yanked it out of the cage & startled it half to death. It was scared & mad & I happened to be the closest thing to it. I managed to get my arm up just in time & it bit me right in the forearm. It was about 6 foot long & left some nice scratches plus a tooth in me that I finally got out a month later. Even though it wasn't the snake's fault, I've been a little leery of carpet pythons ever since.

So there's no reason to believe the picture in fake because he's biting the face. Carpet pythons are arboreal and/or the snake is being held by either the person in the photo or someone else.

[franjava]

Agreed, Smallpotatoes. Even "pet" snakes bite. Especially when they are in busy situations and being handled by lots of people, or startled as was in your case. The "odd crinkling of the snake's head" is probably because snakes don't bite straight. One side of their jaw can be open wider than the other (watching them yawn is hysterical!) This can cause their skin to look weird. Real pic. Inaccurate description.

[Gavida]

When seeing the pciture I first thought it was Dr Mike Leahy from the National Geography show "Bite me!", but after scanning photos on google for some time, I am not so sure anymore, the nose doesn't seem to fit Dr Leahy.

Gavida

[crocoduck_hunter]

Originally Posted by franjava

Agreed, Smallpotatoes. Even "pet" snakes bite. Especially when they are in busy situations and being handled by lots of people, or startled as was in your case. The "odd crinkling of the snake's head" is probably because snakes don't bite straight. One side of their jaw can be open wider than the other (watching them yawn is hysterical!) This can cause their skin to look weird. Real pic. Inaccurate description.

To expand on this, snakes have jaws that aren't fused- each side of the jaw can flex independently of the other side. This is how they're able to swallow prey that's larger than their entire head. And that is the way a python's head actually looks when it strikes. For examples of this, recent shows like Speed of Life on the Discovery channel have been recording snake strikes using high speed cameras; I strongly encourage anyone who's got further interest in checking it out.