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Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!!!!!!!

L

laughingreptile

New member
Okay, so I'm doing training for a new job. They're encouraging us new employees get to know eachother, chat, etc. during the provided lunch.

I mention my pet snake. They gasp, blah blah blah I convince them that corn snakes are harmless. They start getting interested, ask me more questions.

Long story short: I mention that I plan on getting a red-tailed boa at some point. Then the girl next to me gives me some story about MSU's vet teaching hospital. Apparently, her friend had a burm that was "measuring" her to see if it could eat her, and the vet confirmed that this could happen.

This is soooo stupid! Why do people even think that a snake has the capacity to "measure" anything? As for the teaching hospital that supposedly said this, I'm just disappointed. I wouldn't be surprised if the vet actually told her this.

Any thoughts?
 
Snakes try to swallow things that are way too big for them, so they don't "measure". I have NO IDEA where people get this stuff!
 
Someone at work told me this just a couple weeks ago...NOT the first time I heard it!! But they KNEW the person!!!
 
What, do people think snakes go around measuring their food in the wild too?? Honestly if people would just find some logic... -__-
 
I was reading some news story the other day, can't remember what it was for except that it involved snakes, but someone made a comment on it that was like "I'm a vet tech and this person came in once with a snake that hadn't ate and it was laying next to her in bed and...etc...etc..."

I couldn't believe it, I had to call bull on her, I don't even think she was a vet tech, just regurgitating a fairy tale.
 
Whaaa?? What do they think they have built in rulers or something?People go and say whatever pops into their head. I'm pretty sure everyone, who doesnt actually know about snakes, has a bad image about them. Killing animals and humans, venom spewing everywhere, that mean hiss everytime. I serously feel like giving whoever tells me something about my snake a big ol' lesson. One so big, they never forget.
 
I've heard this one a few times. Seems to be some kind of urban myth.

I'm with Betsy on this one. I doubt snakes have the foresight to consider the size of their prey. If it smells like prey, moves like prey and they happen to be hungry, they strike and that's that. Further evidence is that snakes can and do mistake their keepers' body parts for food and only correct their mistake after they've already struck (or once said keeper has managed to pry them off).
 
laughingreptile said:
Then the girl next to me gives me some story about MSU's vet teaching hospital. Apparently, her friend had a burm that was "measuring" her to see if it could eat her, and the vet confirmed that this could happen.
Click to expand...

That's so funny!! Oprah had a friend of a friend whose snake did that, too!!
 
I would just like to note that not ALL vet techs/vets are that stupid when it comes to snakes.

Susan Willis, C.V.T. (Certified Veterinary Technician)
 
Of course not ALL. But there are enough that it seems to keep being repeated in vet related circles and techs should know better.

Where I work, at a hospital lab, I like to say, "I hate when doctors think they know what they're doing." Not all doctors are idiots, but I have a list going of doctors I've talked to, or their office staff, that I would never go to or recommend. Something like this "measuring" comment would turn me away from a vet's door.
 
Old - that one has been circulating on the Web for a while now. Amazing what people will believe, and make into their own story, lol!

I have had a number of kings of various types over the years that must not have been as smart as a Burm. They would insist on eating a finger, and would not give easily give it up, even though they never could get past just the one finger. Guess their internal measuring tape was broken, haha!
 
Does anyone actually still believe this story? It's been circulating in bull****emails forEVER!
 
ceduke said:
Does anyone actually still believe this story? It's been circulating in bull****emails forEVER!
Click to expand...

My mother did. She called me at 10:30 one night years back when I still had just the corns and told me I should never have a big snake because they'd try to eat me.

I calmly pointed out that first of all, snakes should be in cages, not sleeping in bed with you, and that none of my snakes "measure" their prey anyway.

She then called me a know-it-all (Sorry mom, in this case I really do think I know more than you) and told me if I ever got a big snake she'd never come visit me.

To which I thought "Wish I'd know that years ago."
 
Hypancistrus said:
My mother did. She called me at 10:30 one night years back when I still had just the corns and told me I should never have a big snake because they'd try to eat me.

I calmly pointed out that first of all, snakes should be in cages, not sleeping in bed with you, and that none of my snakes "measure" their prey anyway.

She then called me a know-it-all (Sorry mom, in this case I really do think I know more than you) and told me if I ever got a big snake she'd never come visit me.

To which I thought "Wish I'd know that years ago."
Click to expand...
My dad said he'd never visit me if I got a tarantula because he'd be constantly afraid it would get out and crawl on him... So now I know the first thing I'm getting once I move out.
 
dionythicus said:
Of course not ALL. But there are enough that it seems to keep being repeated in vet related circles and techs should know better.

Where I work, at a hospital lab, I like to say, "I hate when doctors think they know what they're doing." Not all doctors are idiots, but I have a list going of doctors I've talked to, or their office staff, that I would never go to or recommend. Something like this "measuring" comment would turn me away from a vet's door.
Click to expand...

Not all doctors and staff, both for humans and animals, know everything, especially when talking about something that is considered a specialty, which all exotic animals are to most vets. They, just like human doctor specialists, need additional study in their specialty field. And then there are cases where even the specialist can't identify a condition simply because all they have done is read about it and have never seen an actual case before.

A perfect example of this is scabies and dermatologists. Surprisingly, more vet staff can identify it before a dermatologist can, as was with the case my daughter had, which she got most likely because I brought a mite home with me from work. No one else in the family was susceptible to the mite, but Jennifer got a bad case. I knew what it was, but needed a doctor to prescribe the proper medicine. Her pediatrician wouldn't do it, insisting she be seen by a dermatologist. That moron couldn't diagnose it either until I told him exactly what my profession was, the history, and insisted he do a darn skin scrape to find the mite. Reluctantly, he did, found a Sarcoptes mite, was all apologetic and prescribed the lousy tube of insecticidal cream.

And then, we can't leave out the plain stupidity found at random amongst the general population. For instance, the middle-aged lady that came into the hospital with her male 8 week old puppy, concerned about the 2 small lumps that had developed on his belly between his back legs. Then there's the man who wanted to buy one of the office manager's German Shepherd pups. He was told that the male he liked was a cryptorchid with one testicle remaining inside the abdominal cavity and that he should be neutered and not used for breeding. The man didn't want to breed him but also didn't want to take that puppy because he "didn't want no homo dog"...and he was serious. And yet another case where a man brought his dog in to be neutered. Once the surgery was done and the dog was being discharged, the man asked if the dog would be recovered enough to breed his female who had just started her heat cycle as he wanted a litter ASAP. I swear to God! I don't make this stuff up!
 
After reading this I am sure that something is wrong with my hatchlings as two have tried to eat me. Can I buy them a new measuring tape at petco?
 
I guess I should never be surprised by what people say, after decades of working with the public, lol! But still..."neuter" and "breeding" hardly seem to go together, lol!

I don't have a problem with a vet or human doctor not knowing every answer in the world. I sure don't know everything about snakes - or even corns - even after studying them for decades. What I DO have a problem with is if they try to PRETEND like they DO know everything when they don't have a clue. For example, I have probably had at least a dozen customers over the years tell me that their vet insisted that their snake was too young to sex! And I have heard many other strange or incorrect ideas about snakes espoused by vets over the years. Why not just admit that it is not their specialty, and that they either need to do research, or refer them to a herp vet? And the same goes for human doctors who think they know every answer in the universe, lol!
 
You're right Kathy. Having people pretend to know everything is just insulting to those of us that do. :duck: :sidestep:
 
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