Giant snake flees Mississippi floods

This photo, purportedly taken near Louisiana's Morganza Spillway, is simultaneously horrifying and kind of amusing. The snake just looks so purposeful, with its head raised like that. As though it's out running some errands, or on a morning commute.

That said, I kind of hope somebody spots the pixels that prove this image is a fake. Because the idea of giant snakes hanging out alongside American highways gives my feet a terrible case of the crawling willies.

Via Michael Pata

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

Maggie goes places and talks to people. Find out where she'll be speaking next.

MORE: News • ZOMGWEREALLGONNADIERUNHIDE

More at Boing Boing

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Hackers prepare for first "national holiday" in their honor

Anonymous

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/king-brown-snake.shtml
g0d5m15t4k3

Yeah I’m glad I don’t live near Louisiana. That is terrifying. Just stay in your car and ignore it and it will go away.
- Anonymous
  
  That’s not a snake, this is a real snake:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3FO02VLtTE#t=4m29s
  
  Sends shivers up my spine!
- Anonymous
  
  its only a little snake for heavens sake, I wouldnt even say it was poisonous
alowishus

That snake is real. I know because I’ve seen a lot of snakes in my time.
Anonymous

It is definitely real…
Anonymous

Little known fact 1: If you cut a snakes tail off it will die.
Little known fact 2:: The tail start just after the head!
defacebook

No surprise if this photo is real, considering all of the exotic snakes that have been dumped in nearby Florida over the years by overwhelmed pet owners. Stories of park rangers bagging 20-foot pythons in the Everglades has become commonplace.
Anonymous

Holy cow i had no idea snakes got that big in the US. That is insane, im never going to Louisana or anywhere near the south ever again.
- Anonymous
  
  Things like that are happening more in the South, due to pet pythons escaping (often times because of natural disasters) and surviving in the wild.
- kennegansmom
  
  There is a large breeding population of Burmese pythons as well as other large, non-native snakes people have owned as pets & have either released into the wild when they became too big for their owners or escaped during hurricanes/large storms/flooding from zoos & other exotic animal “sanctuaries” (if they can actually be called that. One Comcast cable worker was bitten by an African green mamba while leaning against a tree in Florida & cobras & other venomous, non-native, exotic snakes have gone missing during these disasters as well. http://www.invasive.org/
Anonymous

it’s a snake sculpture on the corner of uralba rd and uralba cutting road in Uralba, NSW. Several locals have commented on this on the NBN news website where this was reported as a snake at branxton in the Hunter valley.
Google maps shows the sugar cane filed and house that is just out of the shot. Apparently its an accident blackspot and the farmer created the snake to get people to slow down!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode&q=Uralba+Road%2C+Uralba%2C+New+South+Wales%2C+Australia&aq=0&sll=-35.187278%2C148.798828&sspn=2.361348%2C3.532104&ie=UTF8&hq&hnear=Uralba+Rd%2C+Uralba+New+South+Wales+2477%2C+Australia&ll=-28.86234%2C153.468103&spn=0.039539%2C0.055189&z=14
- turn_self_off
  
  Clever guy.
Anonymous

Er… am I the only one who thought “lunch!” as soon as I saw the pic?

Not that I actually ever ate a snake, but somehow I feel it would make a great dish…
freyku

the snake is apparently a King Brown snake from Australia.

http://cajunboy.tumblr.com/post/5575102699/this-prehistoric-looking-snake-serpent-found-near
- robulus
  
  That would be a bloody huge Brown snake. They normally grow to around 2 or 3 metres tops. Apparently we have a few around where I live, along with red bellied black snakes. I’ve not seen any myself but my neighbour reckons there’s an 8 foot black snake that lives in his yard, and keeps telling us to wear shoes on our back lawn.
  - owlettt
    
    You sound like you are actually used to seeing snakes where you are from. It’s the same thing that I thought, “that is way too damned big for anything in the Atchafalaya (pronounced chaf-a-liya).”
    
    We have all types of snakes down here, but the biggest generally are rat snakes and racers, which you will see at 5-7 commonly, and larger once in a while.
    
    Those big vipers you see more rarely, but they are still around. I killed a big one when I was about 16. It was about 6 1/2 ft. We do get a lot of cotton mouth water moccasins, which only get about five feet tops, but are as big around as a bowling ball. people don’t think girth when they think “big snake,” but in Louisiana, “girth” = biggest snake.
    - robulus
      
      Yep I’m Australian. I’m in a semi-rural area now, and I think most of the snakes my neighbour fears have actually headed for less populated areas. Nothing came scooting out of the wood pile when we lit it up last week, anyway.
      
      I really want to go fishing with you and fry up some fresh fish. I haven’t eaten fresh line caught fish since I was a teenager, I’ll never forget the taste.
jowlsey

This pic made the rounds on reddit recently. The good folks over there are of the opinion that it’s an Aussie king brown snake. No idea if it’s shopp’d though.

http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/h8vrq/hey_hunny_you_mind_stepping_out_of_the_car_and/
mack

I don’t care where it was spotted. Nature is effing gorgeous.
- GreenJello
  
  Nature is effing gorgeous.
  
  Right up until the point it tries to make you lunch, and which point we go back to the more traditional view of Mother Nature, red in tooth and claw.
- Anonymous
  
  I agree…nature is awesome here in the deep south part of Louisiana…that is why we are called “Sportsman’s Paradise”!..we have critters that no one else has ever seen..nothing like Cajun Country!..LOVE IT!
Major Variola (ret)

Its obviously doing its best to signal a right turn.
- Felton / Moderator
  
  I assumed it was hitchhiking.
  - Anonymous
    
    Heh, hitchhiking with no thumbs? Good luck with that.
jason

Year
jason

Sorry to spoil the fun guys but I’ve been watching this image do the rounds on the net for a little while and I have to say something. This is a wooden snake that is on the side of the road near my parents place in Northern NSW, Australia. In the background you can see sugar cane growing which is very common. Although I am sure there are snakes this big in the world this is not one of them.
- turn_self_off
  
  your the second person on here claiming it is from NSW so i guess that may well be the case. Too bad the Google streetview cut of around the claimed section of road mentioned earlier.
holtt

Clearly out looking for longcat.
- Anonymous
  
  Let’s just hope there are no lightning storms moving into the area and no pool’s of anything stagnant nearby.
owlettt

I am from Louisiana. I spend almost EVERY weekend in the very basin that the Morganza is currently flooding, and have since I was, I dunno… 5. This snake is not from Louisiana.

I am also from the modern age. I spend a lot of time on the internets. This picture was around BEFORE the Morganza was opened.

So:

1) No, this is no snake that lives in the atchafalaya and is making a run for it.

2) To the guy making yet another hackneyed comment about how stereotypically stupid us suthenurs is: we can take pics off the internet and fool people with them too. So thar.
Rob Cruickshank

Don’t they prescribe Adderall for snake phobia?
Anonymous

Snakes will often flee tumultuous waters — they flee floods, and they will go ashore ahead of Tsunamis – they somehow know it is coming and it alerts people of the coming disaster.
Glippiglop

I’m reminded of the video game Snakes, which taught me well as to the dangers of having too long a tail. Just shepherd it into an enclosed space and wait for his head to run into his own tail… game over!
SomeGuy

A) It’s real
B) It’s looking for its daddy
Anonymous

Let’s consider the possibilities of an anaconda, and, Southern Louisiana climates nearing those of The Florida Everglades. Also, note the swamp and marshlands of Louisiana. Compare the anaconda’s known habitat.
Let’s take a closer look at the reptile. The head of this reptile is bulged. The length and girth of this reptile would match that of the anaconda. A closer look for colors and you will notice a darker colored back, lighter colored side, and some white and darker spots along the side of the reptile, which become a little difficult recognize in the sunlight’s reflection across the reptile.
TheEvilJeremy

Once, on a cross country journey in my teenage years, I had to pull over with an overheated engine somewhere in Nevada. With no recourse but to wait it out, my girlfriend and I put out a blanket to sit on, and when she returned to the car to get the boom box and some cassettes, I realized there was a very unhappy family of rattlesnakes about six feet from where I was sitting. We abandoned the blanket, and sat in the broiling car until a cop showed up. When my girlfriend told him about the encounter, he replied “oh, yeah, ’round here… I’m surprised you didn’t get bit!”

The moral of all this, I suppose, is that snakes do indeed hang out next to highways all over the country, and that there should probably be a national awareness campaign, or at least some signs or something.
- turn_self_off
  
  I suspect reptiles like the roads for their ability to store up some serious heat.
  - Anonymous
    
    Actually, those sized snakes are NOT uncommon here in Louisiana, or MS., though LA has many more bayous and swamps. During flooding, all the animals DO FLEE the waters, including BLACK BEARS, crocodiles, alligators, all sorts of poisonous and non-lethal snakes. (It it’s head is diamond shaped…AVOID!) otherwise, pretty safe in unless rattles ..but they, too, have diamond shaped heads, as do most poisonous snakes. Sorry, but whether it is real or not, IT COULD BE.
- Anonymous
  
  They make a sign that says “Warning, there are snakes following your car”.
  
  http://www.ricesigns.com/buy/slippery_when_wet_signs.htm
  - Anonymous
    
    “There are snakes following your car”?
    
    Really? I’d been led to believe that sign warns, “Snakes will eat your tires.” Perhaps I was misinformed.
Anonymous

Pseudechis australisare large venomous snakes growing from 2.5 metres to 3 metres in length.
Anonymous

I bet the Cajuns have a recipe for it.
jc
Anonymous

Oh Whacking Day Oh Whacking Day !
Flaminica

No reason Nature can’t be both red in tooth and claw *and* gorgeous. Om Kali Ma.

Nice snake.
Anonymous

In my opinion that’s a coachwhip, because of the way it holds it’s head up while moving. I’ve seen a few of them over the years here in Florida. The camera angle is probably exagerrating the size, though. The snake in that picture might be around 6-7 ft, long but not supernatural, and certainly not dangerous. Coachwhips are very timid and I’ve never heard of one even getting close to a human, much less causing any trouble.
Anonymous

Its is not a King brown snake:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudechis_australis

and in response to the earlier poster it is not a Black Mamba “from Australia” (they are african!):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_mamba

Neither snake is more than 3-4 metres long as appears in this photo. Fence posts in australia on rural properties are usually 4-5 metres apart so I would estimate this snake (or wooden snake) over 10 metres… too long to be a King Brown!!
Tim

I love that the Reddit comments immediately begin with “Call the Honey Badger!”

The snake is beautiful, but also makes me glad I don’t live anywhere near wherever those things live.

Yet another reason to never go anywhere near Australia. God made a nice little continent and placed everything that can, will, and wants to kill you there, isolated from the rest of the world. Why should we go against God’s will and try to live there?
- Anonymous
  
  Yeah everything in Aussie wants to kill you (people included), I should know i live here lol. But honestly it is a very dangerous place if you dont know hat to look out for seeing as we have the most deadliest snakes and spiders not to mention Kangaroos with 6 packs (seriously I saw a family of roos and the main male had a six pack), and blue ringed jellyfish as well. Looking back on all that just now, I think i dont wanna live here anymore lol
- Pete!
  
  I find it amazing that Americans are so scared of Australia. We’re scared of you guys. Here in Aus my most life-threatening concern is getting hit by a car – in America people shoot bullets at you.
  - Gulliver
    
    Ah, reciprocal stereotyping. Good modern egalitarian bigotry.
    
    P.S. Australia’s awesome and Americans only shoot bullets at each other recreationally in a few cities like Detroit, which we’re in the process of depopulating anyway.
  - Sam
    
    Here in Aus my most life-threatening concern is getting hit by a car – in America people shoot bullets at you.
    
    Hah, I live in New Orleans and I’ve been hit by cars twice but I’ve never been shot at. (Not with bullets anyways. I got shot by an arrow once. And lots of rocks.)
hoaxbuster

I did a search on the max.length of a king brown snake and found the same pic. of this snake in Australia. They think it is A Black headed python.
Rich Keller

@ freyku and jowlsey:

The snake is a lie?
Anonymous

Looks legit to me.

http://errorlevelanalysis.com/permalink/b95b6e2/
Anonymous

I smell a fake. Here’s an aussie news story about a giant king brown snake from April. http://www.nbntv.com.au/index.php/2011/04/12/giant-snake-spotted-in-the-hunter-valley/

Click the video in the link to see the same picture at a different angle.
- Anonymous
  
  You’re right – it’s the same picture.
knobtheunicorn

I think those are eucalyptus trees in the background. Plus, weren’t there some major flooding near Brisbane recently?
Anonymous

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rat_snake
Anonymous

Teeth-to-limb? I mean toe-to-toe.
Jason Rizos

The most startling nature experience I ever had was interrupting a giant Cottonmouth from hunting a squirrel in Florida. It was about this big. And smart. And pissed.
Anonymous

While I was in Florida on my way to KSC (tourist, not an astronaut… sigh…) I saw several rather large gators along the side of the road… I would not be surprised to see a large snake out there also… and, do remember that people sometimes get exotic pets, and then abandon them…
Major Variola (ret)

@Tim
>>placed everything that can, will, and wants to kill you there, isolated from the rest of the world. Why should we go against God’s will and try to live there?” <<

Maybe they have oil?

@turn_self_off
They also appreciate the being-cleared-of-obstacles aspect for serious cross country
evacuation.
Anonymous

i live near Barksdale AFB I’m more afraid about the cast of true blood being real vampires and shivesport is just across the red river
triscuit

It has to be shopped. The king brown snake only gets to about 3 meters, and this snake appears to be longer (perhaps 5 meters?) given the landscape context. From the little I know, the longest snakes are always much thicker- this lovely reptile doesn’t have the girth to measure up.

Still cool looking though. I take comfort in knowing there are things out there that will eat the neighbor’s children.
bwcbwc

Based on size alone, there’s no reason it can’t be real. There’s a known breeding colony of anacondas in the Everglades, and they can get that big (10-12 feet if picture scale isn’t distorted?).

But I go with the Australian theory. The terrain in the background looks very dry for bayou Mississippi.
gellfex

Jeez people, it’s just a snake. If it was actually in Louisiana, it would clearly NOT BE POISONOUS! You all know what our poisonous snakes look like, big fat pit vipers like rattlers with big wide heads. The only exception is the little coral snake with bands of black, red and yellow. Slim beauties like this simply aren’t poisonous in N America.

So many beneficial, pest eating non-poisonous snakes are killed by ignorant hysterics.
- Maggie Koerth-Baker
  
  Look, all they have to do is grow some legs and this vendetta can end. I have nothing against skinks. They can even be stubby, vestigial legs. I’m willing to meet the snakes halfway on this. I think you need to ask them why they refuse to compromise.
  - forgeweld
    
    A good therapist can help you with your problem. Because the snakes, they got no problem (except for the damned human race).
    - Gulliver
      
      > Because the snakes, they got no problem (except for the damned human race).
      
      So you’re their problem then. That’s gotta bite.
      
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64
Anonymous

Another southerner, here – Central Mississippi. This particular picture was making the rounds in our office this morning. An inquiry with the radio station (or was it TV station?) that released the picture was met with confirmation that it wasn’t authentic.
snakepunk

It’s fake. Giant snakes, such as anacondas, Burmese and rock pythons don’t carry their head up. They are ambush predators that wait for prey.

The snake in the pic, a smaller species that actively hunts, has been photoshopped to look larger.

Wouldn’t surprise me if this originated with someone from peta or hsus, considering all of the lies they’ve spread about giant snakes in Florida.
Anonymous

In fifty years as a professional photographer, this snake is in the top ten of the worst Photoshop jobs I’ve ever seen.
jcyber

wow, that’s shocking. I’m from California so for me to see something like this it’s amazing. I can’t imagine the person holding the camera.
arielturnip

I used to volunteer at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. While I was there they had a >10 ft. python. He had originally been found (at the length of about 6-7 ft.) wrapped around a dog on Magazine Street in New Orleans before being brought to the zoo by animal control.
Anonymous

If you zoom in on the photo a few times in Photoshop, there is a clearly visible halo of lighter pixels surrounding the snake. Not conclusive, but indicative of a shop-job. I didn’t notice anything else in the photo with the same haloing which would lead me to believe the snake is not native to the photo, (and given the additional info in the thread, not native to Louisiana ;)
Anonymous

This is the biggest snake in the world
Anonymous

actually based on the size & markings it looks more like a reticulated python; which can easily grow over 20ft in length. the king brown snake tops out at a measly 10ft reticulated pythons are usually imported as pets and because of their huge size & appetites are often abandoned to the wild where they pretty much eat anything they can catch.
pt68

Lobster,
Thanks for the wonderful observation that manages to unnecessarily malign the people of an entire state.

Also, yes, when I grew up (in Louisiana, but my family was from Mississippi), we were taught to run over the poisonous snakes (mostly copperheads and cottonmouths), but not the non-poisonous. Cruel? Perhaps. But my sister and I both had near-misses with cottonmouths, I know of one kid who died from being bitten, and our dogs were bitten on a regular basis . . . so there was a very real basis for the prejudice.

America, where it’s still perfectly okay to make fun of southerners and the poor . . .
Gulliver

You suppose holograms of us periodically pop up on the interstellar internet?

â€œThat human is real. I know because Iâ€™ve seen lots of humans in my time.â€

â€œHoly cow I had no idea pack hunters got that big on Earth. That is insane, Iâ€™m never going to Earth or anywhere near the Solar system ever again.â€

“I’ve lived in Vega Sector since I was like 5 and I’ve never seen a biped walk with its head up like that.”

“The folks on stareddit are of the opinion that itâ€™s a terrestrial ape.”

â€œItâ€™s obviously doing its best to signal a hyperjump.â€

â€œI assumed it was waiting for a Vogon Constructor Fleet.â€

â€œYet another reason to never go anywhere near Earth. Almighty Bob made a nice little planet and placed everything that can, will, and wants to kill you there, isolated from the rest of the universe. Why should we go against Bob’s will and try to colonize there?â€

â€œThe most startling nature experience I ever had was interrupting a giant redneck from hunting a deer on Earth. It was about this big. And armed. And pissed.â€

â€œI’d run out with a laser, fry its brain and skin the rest for eating. That’s what I would do. I assume these humans are edible.â€

“If it’s real, and it’s a species native to Earth, then it’s a Homo sapien.”

“If it’s real, it’s probed. This is the Orion Arm, remember. There is a non-insignificant portion of the population who thinks it’d be really funny to abduct it with their saucer.”

I’ve been up too long…
Anonymous

Them there snaks r gud If’n ya grill em ya ain’t gotta skin em as skin pops off wen blakend. Jubel
grikdog

There’s no reference scale in the photo. There’s also no reason it can’t be a king cobra. You’re talking Mississippi, where we don’t comment about ethnic stupidity of dumb kids who fancy themselves herpetologists until they hafta pack up and move on to Ole Miss.
dancentury

I’d run out with a machete chop off its head and skin the rest for eating. That’s what I would do.

I assume these snakes are edible.
Anonymous

Actually, to me it looks like a black rat snake. I grew up in St. Louis and southern Illinois, where we have snakes that look just like this and can reach up to 6′ in length. They’re not poisonous and eat rats, so they’re “good” snakes, but still always made us shudder when we saw them!
Anonymous

In certain parts of Louisiana and Texas there are Indigo Snakes. A very beautiful metal shiny black, with brownish, pinkish, bluish belly. Incredible creatures. Nonvenomous snakes that hunt and eat other snakes including the poisonous ones. I personally caught a nine foot snake, with the largest ever caught was 12 foot. In those Louisiana swamps with plenty of food 15 feet is not to far fetched….
Cacogen

If it’s real, and it’s a species native to N. American, it’s an Eastern Indigo Snake.
brainologist

“Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherf*ing snakes on this motherf*ing floodplain!!”
Anonymous

Ya see, Coast to Coast will put up anything, even if it’s bunko, fakery, fraud, bullshit, made up, unsubstantiated facts… just goes to show that CTC is mere entertainment for the nutjobs out there that will believe ANYTHING they read.

Oh, and, isn’t the world supposed to end tomorrow?

Come on Noory, get a real job. You’re just another Povich/Springer clone.
Anonymous

Indigo Snakes are great impersonators. They are used in magic shows because they can flare out there head, like a Cobra. People think they are seeing are real live person handling what they think is a cobra but in fact an Indigo snake.
Anonymous

I had a facebook posting a few days ago with the Branxton thing… but the low shrubby stuff on the other side of the fence could be pineapples… So maybe Cardwell ?
Anonymous

I’m originally from Natchez, Missippi and this pretty snake looks like a brown phase Eastern Indigo Snake. They are thin, long (up to 10 feet) and fast.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned them so far…
MooseDesign

The flora in the background of that fauna looks decidedly Australian to my eyes…
Anonymous

Not a shop. It’s a photograph of an Australian snake, in Australia. I can tell by the thread comments, and from having read quite a few internets in my time.
Anonymous

Great picture of a “Giant Brown snake”. They live in Austrailia, not Louisiana or Mississippi. This picture makes it’s rounds ever so often when there is a flooding diaster. It’s still a big snake and EXTREMELY deadly!
nanuq

I thought the chupacabras ate all the giant snakes.
Anonymous

I thought this was in Australia a few weeks ago:

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/king-brown-snake.shtml
dq72

Please let this not be real. Please let this not be real
Anonymous

That’s a Mississippi Leaf Snake
Caroline

This photo is a cropped mirror-image of one posted on Local Legends (a website that seems to be about Australian urban/rural legends): http://www.local-legends.net/home/RARE-SPECIMENS.php

The bottom of that page gives a 2010 copyright notice, but I’m not sure if the picture dates from 2010 (shopped or not). No leads on the provenance of the picture (just credited to “staffers”). TinEye returns no results on the picture, in either orientation.

The plot thickens….
- Chrs
  
  Excellent! That looks like it was posted 3 days ago, according to the Google image search for “king brown snake big”. There’s an earlier one (5 days ago) on a forum posting as if it’s his own. Australia’s also flooding quite a bit right now.
  
  http://forums.pelicanparts.com/6019211-post27.html
Nicnivian

Not to jump on the “You’re all wrong!” bandwagon; but I am actually from Australia. Use to live on a large property out in the middle of butt-f–k nowhere and snakes like this were extremely common, especially at this size.

We did our best to look after them tho, as they are not dangerous to humans, unless you purposely wrap it around your neck and started poking it in the head, of course.
Anywho, they use to eat all the rats, mice and rabbits that would get into the wheat and sorghum fields. Big plus for us.

King brown snakes, however never grew to this length. Or maybe we just didn’t let them. They are horribly venomous and death was guaranteed out there as the nearest hospital was at least an hour and half away, and that was doing 100-180km/h. We timed it when my little sister got bitten by a spider which, naturally, in Australia, we assume to be deadly. :P
Thankfully it wasn’t the case.
Anonymous

@snakepunk. You are mistaken. I live in Georgia and have personally seen big snakes move like this with theirs heads up.
fatrobot

it’s an amythyst or scrub python
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f7/im-never-going-australia-never-1669327/index4.html
Lobster

If it’s real, it’s dead. This is Mississippi, remember. There is a non-insignificant portion of the population who thinks it’d be really funny to squash it with their truck.
Anonymous

A snake that long could make a few good belts.
Daddyology

Snakes on A Shoulder … ?

Oh, and Tim at #14 is correct — Australia is where nature deposited a large amount of very dangerous things, which is the surest sign that it is best left the heck alone.
- Felton / Moderator
  
  Snakes on a floodplain.
ashabot

Whether or not this particular photo is “real” countless lives have been lost in the wildlife community. I find that extremely sad.
Anonymous

Looks like an Indigo to me before i even read the article.
Anonymous

There are very few images posted on the internet today that are not digitally altered. This appears to be an “enhanced” image.
Jungle Jim

It’s very possible that the photo is real. There have been numerous reports of large Anaconda-sized snakes around one or two of the Lock & Dams on the Red River a 100 miles or so north northwest of the Morganza Spillway! No telling what has been released in the bottom lands of LA!
Anonymous

I really hope this is the only one or,that this is a big fake.I’m like so scared….When,I meany IF I see one im dialing and saying…SNAKE,SNAKE,911
Anonymous

It’s real. I’ve seen rat snakes in Indiana that were nearly 9 feet long. That’s in Louisiana where the weather is better for cold blooded creatures and there is more to eat. :)

Shivery feet!
Antinous / Moderator

I’d be thrilled if I ran into a snake like this. Very few snakes will attack you unless you physically molest them. It’s a huge waste of energy for them to attack anything that they can’t eat.
- Gulliver
  
  I think it’s kind of cute. I particularly like how it’s keeping a safe, respectful half meter between itself and the blacktop as it searches for small pets. It just looks so upstanding…metaphorically of course.
Anonymous

we don’t have those types of trees in louisiana. This might be a real pic but it is not louisiana.
Anonymous

Well if that blows yer mind until you here this….last year I learned that cranes will eat squirrel….they hunt em just like they do with fish.
Anonymous

I wouldn’t be surprised if it was real. My grandfather was driving down in Arizona on some back roads and was going slow and enjoying the scenery. He looked ahead and saw a log laying across the eight foot wide road. As he got closer, he realized it was a rattlesnake and he couldn’t see either end of it (they were in scrub brush thickets). He stopped and turned around because he didn’t want to be anywhere near a rattlesnake that big.
- sdmikev
  
  I think the road was more narrow than he thought.
  Western Diamond Back from wiki:
  “Adults commonly grow to 120 cm (3.9 ft) in length. Specimens over 150 cm (4.9 ft) are infrequently encountered, while those over 180 cm (5.9 ft) are very rare. The maximum reported length considered to be reliable is 213 cm (6.99 ft) (Klauber, 1972).”
Cacogen

“Please let this not be real. Please let this not be real.”

If that’s a native N. American snake, it’s just an Eastern Indigo snake. They are harmless. Quite a beautiful snake, actually.
NoctilucentStudios

Ice Cube: They got snakes out here this big!?!?
Anonymous

Alowishus: very funny!!!
Anonymous

clearly a king cobra.
not louisiana, though. no alligators,armadillas, oilwells,or coonasses in picture.
tmccartney

A guy on another forum is saying he knows exactly where this sculpture Lisa refers to is located.

http://vichorse.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&S=e0e992e4e3628dce6a5ff121f8919ba9&th=166819&goto=2281838#msg_2281838
Anonymous

This is probably a Burmese python, the everglades are now full of them. It may have been let go or escaped somewhere down south. And yes, they do get that big, and bigger. It ain’t no fake photo either.
madmadrasi

whether it is a fake or not is not known. But here is the analysis at hoax slayer on the very same pic, incidentally on very same day.
In there, it is claimed that it was snapped in Australia

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/king-brown-snake.shtml

quote from there:
Moreover, the presence of what appears to be sugar cane growing in the background of the photograph casts doubt on the claim that it was snapped in Branxton,
Anonymous

Im from louisiana, and this is not a snake from here. This is a king brown snake. they are in australia
Anonymous

While the internets appear to have revealed that this photo is of an Australian snake, there is a snake that lives in the Southern United States that is gets as long as all the other species mentioned. The indigo snake is the longest North American Snake. It’s also non-venomous and tends to run rather than attack for all those quaking in their boots at this image.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_snake
jcnoble2

This reminds of the giant Borneo Snake, but looks waaay more legit.

See them both side by side using th.isandth.at

http://bit.ly/kcdoSS
Nash Rambler

I like a `shopped photo as much as the next guy, but I’m inclined to believe this one. Mostly because the details are correct (shadow pointing the right way under its head, trail in the grass behind it) and the `shop details which are missing (no obvious object for scale reference, snapped from a fully-enclosed-and-protected-from-giant-snake-car). The snake’s got its head up because it isn’t hunting anything, its moving quickly away from floodwaters. Maybe its a non-native species, but hey, it looks pretty healthy no matter what it is. I’m throwing my hat in the “f’reals” ring.
Anonymous

This snake is a green anaconda and it’s a fake picture! One reason the lighting is all wrong two anacondas dont run from water , you can tell by the spots on it’s back and by the size nothin more than an anaconda and king brown doesn’t get that big !
Anonymous

Is it just me, or does this resemble the Black Mamba, from Australia? it’s one of the deadliest, of the deadliest snakes in the world.
Anonymous

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1006_051006_pythoneatsgator.html
Anonymous

This could be a Blue Indigo snake, they are non venomous and actually kill other snakes.
alllie

When you look at that picture think of the Jews fleeing the Nazis, the Albigensians fleeing the Catholic Church. The animal is fleeing mass death.

A lot of animals are dying as result of the spillway being opened. If you look at the map surrounding Morganza (zoom in some) there are a lot nature preserves, wildlife management areas and wildlife refuges. This will be genocide for the animals in those areas but if most humans have to choose between property and animal lives, humans choose property.
Anonymous

The first time I heard “there are snakes following the car,” it was in the episode of _The Facts of Life_ wherein Tootie studies for the driver’s license exam, notable because it was a funy line on _The Facts of Life_.

It was the eighties, and I had not figured out the “if it doesn’t amuse you, don’t waste your time on it,” rule.

Wherever the snake is, I’m glad it’s out there protecting me from bubonic plague, and I hope it continues healthy and hungry!
Snig

It’s a zither. Seriously, if we named things based on onomatopoeia principles, zither is probably closer to accuracy than snake.
Anonymous

it was waiting to cross the road and visit it relatives
dq72

I like how people are so calm and collected on the comment thread… “Oh, it’s just an Eastern Indigo Snake..”

If you saw this monster out the window of your car, you would be searching for the big red button that says “PANIC”

Snakes are bad at math. How does it know it can’t eat you?
- Cacogen
  
  “If you saw this monster out the window of your car, you would be searching for the big red button that says ‘PANIC’”
  
  No, I wouldn’t, because I don’t have a snake phobia. Not everyone does.
  
  I’m wary of animals to the extent that I think them capable of harming me. That means venomous snakes and dangerously large constrictors.
Anonymous

Hi Peeps,

This is the first time I have ever commented on anything, but for this snake I have to. I know exactly what and where it actually is because I ride my bike past it once a week. As soon as I saw it I fell off my chair laughing. It lives on Uralba Rd in Uralba, Nth NSW, Australia and it is a beautiful man-made sculpture that has been sitting on the nature strip for nearly 2 years now. Nearly fell off my bike the first time I saw it, very lifelike, not at all surprised that it tricked most of you. It is still there although its tail is a bit cracked now. Wonder if you could see it on google earth ?

See ya…………..Lisa
- Michael Smith
  
  Hi Lisa I tried to find the spot on street view but it peetered out at a likely looking place. Looks like a great place to ride though. I wonder if that snake is movable? Otherwise it would get smashed by mowers all the time. My mothers partner finds snake parts all the time while mowing his country property.
- turn_self_off
  
  If that is the case then the image above can be from a screen grab out of Google maps or such, as a large part of that road appears to have been added to the streetview feature:
  http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Uralba+Road,+Uralba,+New+South+Wales,+Australia&aq=0&sll=-35.187278,148.798828&sspn=2.361348,3.532104&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Uralba+Rd,+Uralba+New+South+Wales+2477,+Australia&ll=-28.86234,153.468103&spn=0.039539,0.055189&z=14
owlettt

The problem with the theory that this is an indigo is two-fold:

1) Indigo’s prefer dry, sandy pine woods as habitat. If you have ever been in the area that is now being flooded, you will understand why this is a problem.

2) The only place that the eastern indigo lives in Louisiana is in the eastern Florida parishes. Looking at a map will determine the problem with this.

BTW, just because the internets makes the claim that the Eastern Indigo is the longest snake in North America, don’t go believing that it is a giant among animals. Hell, the longest pit viper on record is a rattlesnake measuring 8 feet. I shot canebreak rattler measuring 6 1/2, and that sucker was bigger around than my thigh.

But, once again, I must reiterate: the snake in the photo is not from the basin. Simple internets detective work will solve your questions (the picture was posted on the web BEFORE the Morganza was opened. Just check reddit). If you still have more, then come visit, and we’ll go fishing out by Lettsworth, nearby the Morganza. We will confirm that it is not Eastern Indigo habitat, and then fry fish. Delicious fish.
Anonymous

and the idea of giant snakes hanging out on non-american roads? no heebei jibies who ever posted this?