image credit: Culebra Venenosa 有毒的蛇
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image credit: Pierson Hill
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The Mud Snake (Farancia abacura) is the devil incarnate. Why you ask? WHY? Why is it the devil incarnate? Well… first off. It definitely LOOKS like the devil. Black, glossy scales on the top and a flaming, fiery underside of stripes plus an eye to match – check that thing out!! Crazy, right?
Then there’s its behavior: they inhabit the edges of swamps, lurking about in the undergrowth hunting for poor, unsuspecting amphibians. Oh and get this – they use their pointed tail to poke and prod their prey out of their hiding places (MUCH LIKE A PITCHFORK?!?!) which led to their nickname of “the stinging snake.”
image credit: snakesandfrogs.comPure evil.
“Mud snakes are sometimes known as “hoop snakes” because of the myth that they will bite their own tail and roll after people.”
I rest my case.
