Do large snakes measure or size up their prey before eating them?
No. That is an urban legend, and a persistent one, at that. I hear variations of this story on a regular basis and it simply isn’t true. First off; a five or six food long snake, no matter how thick, is incapable of eating an average sized adult woman. Second, snakes don’t really ‘measure’ their food in that way; if they notice something is much too big to eat (like a woman would be to a snake that size), they don’t even think about trying to eat it. While not stupid at all; snakes are very instinct-driven animals and their minds simply don’t work like that. If they decide something is food, they attack it immediately. No measuring or calculating period necessary. 😉 Third, how the woman is said to keep the snake should give anyone experienced with reptiles reasonable doubt. Snakes need terrariums that are temperature and humidity controlled, (unless they want to mist their carpets daily and keep their house with a basking spot of 88-95 degrees with an ambient (background) temperature
