Does a grass snake have poison?

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The grass snake is one of the most famous snakes in Germany and can often be spotted in the wild. If you are one of those people who panic when sighted, you can now breathe a sigh of relief: the snake Although it has a very small amount of poison in saliva, it is absolute for humans and pets harmless.

Grass snakes are non-toxic and can be easily recognized.
Grass snakes are non-toxic and can be easily recognized.

The appearance of the grass snake

The grass snake comes predominantly in Europe and Asia before. It prefers to live near bodies of water as it feeds on fish, frogs, toads and lizards in the water.

  • In appearance it is a long, narrow snake, the main body of which can range in color from reddish brown to olive green. Short, dark vertical stripes can sometimes be seen along the back. The lower abdomen is light in color.
  • The males are approx. 80 cm smaller than the female, which can grow up to 140 cm in length.
  • The most distinctive feature of the grass snake is its head. In the neck area it has one or two yellow plates, by which the snake can be clearly recognized. Furthermore, it has a round eye shape in contrast to other (poisonous) snakes, which always have a vertical slit shape.
  • The snakes are diurnal and can therefore often be seen while hiking. To discover them, you have to look into the water, because these snakes are very good swimmers.
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The venom of the snakes

Dangerous poisonous snakes have a poisonous tooth with which they bite into their prey and spray the paralyzing poison. This kills the prey and can then be eaten.

  • This tooth is missing in the grass snake and can therefore be assigned to the strangler snakes. It eats its prey alive, in the case of small animals it bites firmly in the rear and gobbles it up down, in the case of the larger animals she wraps her body around them after the bite, thus tying them up Air off. When the prey stops moving, it will be devoured.
  • Despite this, scientists have discovered a very small amount of venom in the grass snake's saliva. They assume that this will only achieve sedation for the small prey animals. The poison is definitely not poisonous for humans or their pets such as dogs and cats.
  • The grass snake stands in Germany under nature protection, it may not be hunted or killed. Unfortunately, it has come to this point because many people still believe that snakes can be deadly to humans and that they simply kill animals if they are sighted.

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