Rubber Snake: So peaceful that it is used to treat snake fear. She is even partially warm-blooded, and therefore climbed to the north (9 photos)

If you weren't scared with a rubber snake as a child, you didn't have a childhood. Which is ironic. After all, a real rubber snake is so peaceful that it is used in therapy to treat snake phobia!





The rubber snake, also known as the rubber boa, is one of the smallest boas. If the rest of his relatives stretch to the size of a garden hose - 4-5 meters, then the maximum of our hero is 80 centimeters. This one won’t even reach one bed.



The snake makes up for its modest size with incredible vitality. The rubber boa adapts to any incomprehensible situation: it will dive into a river, climb a cliff 3000 meters high, find the right path in dense forests, and will not get lost in an open field. In general, any biome of the American continent is subject to it. The snake doesn’t even care about frost, unlike most cold-blooded reptiles. And all because this boa constrictor is not completely cold-blooded.





While others are showing off their size, the rubber kite is quietly traveling throughout America.

Unlike most snakes, whose life processes are completely dependent on the environment, our hero knows how to control his body temperature. When Dubachello hits, the rubber kite increases the heart rate. The blood flow accelerates, and the body warms up. Of course, this mechanism does not work as well as in warm-blooded mammals. But this is quite enough to become the northernmost boa constrictor in the world.



But in terms of the level of danger, a rubber snake is close to a toy snake. She has no poison, no fangs, no violent character. Therefore, everyone who is not too lazy to spread rot on the reptile: cats, raccoons, coyotes. In the event of force majeure, our hero has two options. Option number one: try to get away as quickly as possible and as far away as possible.



If option number one is not an option, the snake takes a defensive stance: it curls up into a ball, just like a hose at your grandfather’s dacha, hides its head and exposes its tail to the enemy. The fact is that the head and butt of a rubber boa constrictor look the same - the animal has no neck. While the enemy beats the boa constrictor on the ass, hoping for the quick death of his prey, the snake waits for the moment until he can finally hit the gas and leave.



But don't feel sorry for the rubber kite. After all, he doesn’t stand on ceremony with his prey either. Its diet includes everything that is smaller than it: lizards, chicks, eggs and even other snakes. But the basis is rodents. The snake takes all its victims by strangulation - a classic technique of boa constrictors. But our hero’s hunting tricks don’t end there. In hunting, he also uses the head-back to his advantage.



If a snake has found a den with little mice, little hares and other cute creatures, he will eat them without a twinge of conscience. But here’s the problem: most often such a delicate delicacy is guarded by an angry mother who doesn’t like it when her children are eaten. What to do? Show your tail!



While the head eats the babies, the tail distracts the parent and “attacks” her. The poor mother mouse, in a fit of rage, does not notice how the satisfied boa constrictor has already swallowed all her daughters and son and is in a hurry to retreat.



Snakes make their own babies once a year. Rubber snakes are ovoviviparous. At one time, a female can give birth to up to 4 babies the length of a lace - 20 centimeters. At first, the cubs will look like worms. But in general, the young animals are completely independent.

But for human children, a rubber boa constrictor is their best friend. The reptile behaves so peacefully in human hands that this species is used to treat herpetophobia - the fear of snakes. Therefore, the reptile fully justifies its name. He's like a rubber toy. Only alive.