Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with snake

Gifts for snake collector?

orthogonality — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:58:55 -0800

Help me find a gift for a snake fancier or amateur herpetologist. I need a gift for an experienced keeper of pet snakes, or amateur herpetologist. Recipient collects snakes, probably has most of the common tools for doing so, so I want something that is not essential but will add to his joy. Perhaps a basking rock (???) for a snake? A nice terrarium/aquarium?

No kitsch please: no snake mugs, or "Snake Master" aprons. And nothing live; I don't know what he has now.

Gifts in $50-$100 range would be best.

Thanks!

One Day in the Life of Ivan Desnakeovich?

256 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:07:37 -0800

YAWTBF (Yet Another "What's That Book?" Filter): I'm trying to find a book that I loved as a child (early '80s). The book was written from the perspective of a garter snake as he slithered around a little chunk of wilderness bordered by a road. The story showed us one day in this snake's life. The snake encountered several other animals during the day including a skunk and a bunch of other snakes. The book was somewhat remarkable for how little it anthropomorphized the animals. The snake did have a human-like internal monologue, but all of the behaviours and interactions of the animals were strictly animal-like; no Beatrix Potteresque waistcoats-and-tea business.

As I recall, the book was maybe 80 pages long in hardback and was intermittently illustrated with simple line drawings.

I know that's not much to go on, but I've been regularly surprised at the hive mind's book-ID powers in previous askmes.

Kitchen drain maintenance?

exhilaration — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:35:21 -0800

How do I keep my kitchen drain from clogging? I already have a good strainer, but I keep getting these grease clogs. Is there some safe chemical or homemade concoction I can use on a regular basis? After living in my house for 4 years, my kitchen drain clogged, then again 6 months later (last week) - not a total clog, but like 30 minutes-to-drain slow. Drano etc. didn't work, neither did a snake - it went right through the gunk, I even rented a motorized one from Home Depot! What did work was this crazy, dangerous chemical (417841 on the Home Depot website) that I have to go into the basement, unscrew the pipe, and carefully pour in with a funnel and tube (wearing eye and hand protection). I let it work overnight and my drain is perfect in the morning. So I guess it's a grease clog - how can I keep it from coming back?

What kind of snake are you mister?

joe vrrr — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:11:16 -0800

Help me identify this snake we found on our deck in Bloomington, Indiana? We found the snake's skin this morning wrapped around the deck railing. The skin wasn't there yesterday. It measures just shy of 52 inches long. We didn't see the snake until midday, but now it's basking on our elevated deck. We just moved to Indiana, so we're don't know the local snakes. Close ups here and here.

Extra credit for tips on how to co-exist with this snake, but keep it out of our house.

Because I want to enjoy my patio

delladlux — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:10:45 -0800

Critter identification filter: Anyone know what kind of snake this is? It's the second time I've seen a snake in this location on our patio. What kind of snake is it? What can I do to make sure I never see one there again? I really don't care how harmless it is, they really creep me out.

I'm in NW Austin, Texas.

another pic

Plumbing fail - clogged kitchen sink

wongcorgi — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:28:50 -0800

Clogged kitchen sink, what can I try next? I have a clogged kitchen sink. I've snaked the drain starting under the sink with a 6ft length and a 25 footer with no luck. I've done it about 5 times with some chunks coming back but still have 0 flow, each time filling the drain up with boiling water. The last two time using drano, waiting a few hours then the water.

My plan is to get a longer snake, but how long do I need? I'm thinking that if I can just keep pushing, the clog will just fall into a larger pipe (?) If my thinking is wrong, please let me know. I just don't want to have to keep buying progressively longer tools (I bought the 6ft and 25ft so far).

Or if anyone has any other ideas...? I've also tried a wet vac blowing as well as vacuuming with no luck as well as spirited plunging of the above drain.

I'd rather not call the a plumber ($$).

Help me find a giant, not too expensive snake. (please. thanks)

niles — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:03:31 -0800

Help me find the most cost-efficient giant [fake] snake, please. Ok, I need to get a giant toy/plush/otherwise fake snake. The problem I'm finding is that different people have different ideas of giant, and that giant-ness doesn't scale well price-wise. I can get a 6 foot snake here for ~$10, so that's about $1.67 a foot....but at the other end of the scale is the $100, 18-foot snake at a staggering $5.55 a foot. I'm hoping that I can find a pretty ridiculously long snake for under $20, and in my mind, that should get me at least 12 feet or so. Is there a secret store people go to for giant things?

Id the beastie

koenie — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 07:22:14 -0800

Can anyone identify this snake? I encountered it during my hike in Sequoia/King's Canyon last summer.

"This is going to require a serpentectomy."

XMLicious — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:27:29 -0800

Is the x-ray the doctors are looking at in this advertisement fake? It looks like someone with a snake lodged in their pelvis. I can't imagine what it could be if it was real.

Why are these Hot Wheels more valued?

punkfloyd — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:42:07 -0800

Calling all Hot Wheels Redine experts. Does anybody know why the 1973 "Snake" and "Mongoose" cars that are stamped with 6969 are worth much , much more than cars with a different number? Not looking to sell, I just want to understand logic behind value.

Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?

stackhaus23 — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:10:52 -0800

As a Brit traveling to California do I need to be wary of snakes or spiders (or anything else for that matter?) In the spring of next year I'll be traveling to San Francisco but might also journey to other parts of California. As ridiculous as it sounds, bare in mind I'm British, do I need to be wary of snakes or spiders or anything else hazardous to a naive and foolish Brit?

Not a mystery, but a question

macinchik — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 10:11:20 -0800

Looking for the origin of a quote referenced by Dennis Covington in Salvation on Sand Mountain as being something he "read somewhere": "Mystery...is not the absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend." Does that ring any bells for anyone? Is it just basic Christian doctrine?

Latin for snake

Raybun — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 15:55:40 -0800

Why cant I find a english to latin translation for either "snake" or "serpent"? I have been trying to use online translators. and none of the ones that I have trried come up with a match.

How can I go after my backstabbing business partner?

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 05:56:30 -0800

What can I do about a business partner who ran off with an idea? My "friend" and I have worked together on startup ideas and other projects for three years. One of us would have an idea, we'd flesh it out together and see what stuck. There was never anything agreed-upon, but anything that was brought to outside investors/partners was 50-50 on paper.

This latest idea was his, and admittedly a hot one. We fleshed it out over two months, wrote a business plan, etc. In the biz plan we outlined ownership percentages -- his slightly higher because it was his idea.

Partner of mine managed to hoodwink some software company into looking at our stuff, and they loved it. They wanted to "buy" us -- hire us to build our product under their banner. I let partner handle the communication, because he had a relationship with them, but I led our negotiations -- meaning after their first offer (low salaries, low stock), when partner o' mine was considering it, I said "absolutely not." Then I set out our strategy for getting more out of them.

It worked. But here's the rub. Out of the blue, my friend negotiated a deal for himself, getting him 1/3 ownership of the combined company -- and left me completely out to dry.

So the question(s), finally: What can I do about this? Sue? Tie things up in red tape? Live and let go?

A big part of me is considering going tete-a-tete with my former friend and his new jackasses by starting a competing company (they're going to blow it), but I'd like to have some quasi-legal input before I talk to a lawyer about red-taping their asses, too. I assume that since they simply hired him, and we had no signed agreement or real company, I've no legs to stand on. But could I just annoy them via lawsuit threats for a while?

But maybe also someone will have some cool advice for letting go or avenging this seriously horrific backstabbing. Besides "let it fester until it eats away at your soul," because I won't do that!

Looking to bond with Smokey the Bear

vionnett — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 09:06:28 -0800

Advice needed for solo female hiker: Am I safe on my own? What should I be aware of? Can you mace a snake? For the last month I've been hiking in local parks with a friend, changes in work schedule make it hard for the two of us to get together. I really enjoy getting out and hiking a few times a week and I don't want miss out on the experience just because I'm nervous about hiking on my own. I've probably watched too many law and order episodes, but should I be afraid of the boogyman jumping out in the woods and grabbing me? What should I bring with me? Should I carry mace? It seems silly to carry it in my hand while I'm walking, but if something bad did happen I'd hate to take the time to search around in my bag for it. I hike in central Texas, in the area between Austin and San Antonio, should I be worried about snakes? If I carry mace what would the effect be on a snake? It seems odd but it is a fear of mine, should I really be worried about this? Personal experiences would be great.

How Hard is it to Use a Drain Snake?

Taken Outtacontext — Sat, 20 May 2006 12:16:58 -0800

ShowerDrainFilter: Every six months or so our shower drain clogs and we have to call a plumber to snake it out. That costs about $125 each time. We asked him the last time if we could buy our own snake and do it ourselves and he strongly cautioned us against that. Was he telling us that so we would continue to call him or is there a chance we could wreck our pipes by doing it ourselves?

If you think we can do it ourselves what should we know about using the snake to go down our drain? How much does a snake cost?

You know Snake, the criminal character from The Simpsons? What is his accent?

ssmith — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 06:26:36 -0800

You know Snake? The criminal character from The Simpsons? What is his accent - where's it from? It seems pretty highbrow for a lowbrow kind of guy. <---- This guy

How do I fix my toilet without a plunger?

cortex — Tue, 30 Mar 2004 07:42:08 -0800

My toilet is plugged, and I don't have a plunger. Sweet Zombie Jesus. In retrospect, that's not a question. Here we go:

How do I unclog this mother?