An Amazing Milk Drinking Snake!
64The Brown Snake and the Milking Cow
"How Now Brown Cow" well not really but this saying could be loosely construed as being a variation on a theme! Or even the expression "tickling the ivories" could be applied but read on and you decide.....
My sister-in-law from Sydney, was having dinner with us on Christmas Eve and she told me this story from her childhood growing up in Bermaguie - a far South Coast Fishing Village located in N.S.W., Australia. For the Americans amongst us this particular fishing village was made famous by people who came here to deep sea fish. The first person to come to mind is one Zane Gray - the American fiction writer who has a popular Bermaguie Caravan Park named after him and also Bob Dyer of "Pick-A-Box" television fame, who spent many a happy and profitable time deep sea fishing with his wife Dolly, on fishing trawlers off this spectacular piece of the Australian Coastline.
The story I am about to tell you happened back in the forties when Bermaguie was not so tourist minded and dairy farmers (and piratting) were among the main industries of the area.
It seems that one of Jenny's forbears was walking through his pastures when the oddest thing caught his eye - it was a brown snake rearing up under a dairy cow nigh on milking time - seems the udder of the cow was dripping slightly in preparation of its' milking and the snake being smart enough to take advantage of the situation; was reaching up to the udder and drinking the droplets of milk as they were further tickled out by the tongue of said brown snake!!!
The cow was in fact was also very smart, because it seems that it knew its' very life depended on it being completely still and she did not move a single muscle.... could have been a statue! The snake drank its' fill and slithered away but the thought that remains to this day is .... was it serendipity on the part of the snake or had it done this before? seemed a bit practised in it's methods for this little cameo to just be a one off!
copyright: a.a.gallagher 2008
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I believe there is such a thing as a milk snake that is known and named for just this sort of shenanigans. I don' t know if they are poisonous or not, but I think not.
Hi,Ajcor..I have heard similar stories like this here in India,but I have always presumed it to be 'old wives' tales' .But, then,I have seen villagers pour milk in snakepits saying that the snakes come to drink it..Also I have heard that some people keep bowls of milk for snakes as they consider it as God!Ofcourse all these happen only in the rural parts of the country as the cities are too developed to have snakes!I'm terrified of snakes tho'!
BTW,Ajcor..I just remembered..my grandmom used to say that snakes were fond of milk and nursing mothers too had to be careful as there were old wives tales snakes and nursing mothers.I really dont know whether these are true ,but in those days, there were more fields and dense shrubs and snakes were everywhere!
I am definitely tripped out by this Hub and Laila's comment. I would have thought the cow would go on a stomping frenzy!
Thanks Cris - I am with you - totally fascinated and terrified all at the same time - but I love hearing the stories that seem to come up regularly, particularly here in our area of the country where snakes are a regular feature between October and March. Re the How Now Brown Cow I am not sure how long the term has been around but it has been used as an elocution tool for uite some time...
justmesuzanne i have never heard of a milk snake- and how clever is that??? - but am definitely going to look for any information out there! amazing isn't it? but our brown snakes are most defiinitely poisonous and dangerous so I think the cow was very smart keeping so still... cheers and thanks
Hi Laila - amazing stories about snakes - we find that regardless of the build up of our cities and villages the snakes still come - most of the time they are just passing through - but they are mainly looking for water and also love hen's eggs - haven't seen a black snake here but a couple of times the browns have been in our garden (the browns are far more dangerous and poisonous than the black) Somehow I don't think that I would be putting out bowls of milk for them to be be attracted to.....we had a brown in our kitchen last year!
Your comment about snakes and nursing mothers makes me feel quite ill - maybe it was the milky smell that drew them - imagine that - those poor girls would have been totally freaked out!!!!
goldentoad - thanks for your comment - the fact that the cow knew to instinctively stay still blows me out also.... an amzing story really.... cheers
Hi aj to coin another old phrase "I'll be darned"?
I'ts times like that when you need a camera!
Funny thing on "Vets in the Outback" last night they showed a small snake had swallowed a whole bird and they had to operate on the snake to save it's life.
Hi ag - I agree a camera would have been good - did you read Laila's comments- very weird - now the big question for me is why did they operate? - some special snake I guess! cheers
JustSuzanne I googled "milk snake" and this is what I found - Sucking Milk Myth: Milk snakes are so named because of their ability to suck milk directly from the udders of cows. Reality: Although milk snakes are common around barns that house cows, they completely lack the anatomy necessary to suck milk (or anything else for that matter). Barns are attractive to milk snakes because they provide abundant food in the form of small rats and mice.
http://www.umass.edu/nrec/snake_pit/pages/milk.htm
Maybe the person who wrote/researched this needs to get out more and listen to those who have seen and therefore believe these weird international stories!
Aj, if you yahoo search milk snake their is a welth of information, even how to care for them, and the ideal temperatures, they also do live on rats and small rodents as google stated.
I looked it up, too. Looks like they are pretty colorful - like coral snakes. It's an interesting myth and very odd that it is apparently worldwide!
Hey! I don't see any snake movies advertised here! Where are Snakes On A Plane & Anaconda? :D
Snakes Ugh. I have had a fair share of snakes in my life. I have witten about them in some of my hubs but I really do not like snakes at all!
I am with you sixtorso - not a fan but quite fascinated by them - and the weird stories people tell really need to be passed on....cheers and thanks for commenting.....................
My apologies Just_Rodney - but somehow I only just saw your comment - I googled milk snake and they are an attractive looking snake - if you care for snakes that is - but i do wonder whether it is true that they actually drink milk!..cheers and thanks for calling in.....
Aj, No apology needed. I think that it is the case of being where the milk cows are and having the occasional leaking udders to lap from.
In return they would keep the dirty rats away, a symbiotic type of existance perhaps?
Still have to post the Goompy Christamas meal hub, however been extremely busy being busy if you know what I mean.
What a weird scene to see... This is the first time that I hear something like that!
I think that you are right just rodney - A symbiotic existence is a real thought when it comes to this type of "happening" plus of course serendipity and happenstance re. the leaking udders and the snake just passing by and the then taking advantage of the situation! fascinating stuff.....thanks for that ....cheers
ps looking forward to your hub on Goompy's Christmas Meal!
Hi Princessa - thanks for your comment - I hadn't heard of this until this Christmas when my sister-in-law told the story which she had heard was from a much older member of her family, so i don't think it happens all that often here but if you read Laila's comments above it is also known to have occurred in India also.....anywhere else I don't know.....smart creatures are they not?....cheers
After seeing the picture briefly of the boa constrictor I'm sure I'll have nightmares tonight.
Especially after being chased by a brown snake myself.
Hi Susie - not nice being chased by a brown snake but luckily the big Boa's TG, don't live here! cheers aj
Wow, great story! That must have been so odd to see.
Thanks newcapo - I think that if I had seen this I would have been slightly freaked out in all this- however apart from the smart milk sucking snake i think that it is the cow that takes honours of the day! cheers
That is a very old story. Milk Snakes got their name because they were very farmiliar with barns. Most likely because of the rats and mice that hide in barns; however people believed that they were able to milk cows (a impossible feat for a snake). Although with this story here it is quite possible to just feed of dripping utters. maybe it was used to drinking from dripping water pumps? just so happened to come across this utter and realize some tastey milk would be nice... i have a pet milk snake who is very smart and its amazing watching how he can cath bugs and escape from his tank
Thanks J-RAD for your comment - must be fascinating to watch your milk snake catch bugs and generally do clever things - I think that animals are much smarter than we give them credit for....so you don't think that the snakes got the milk part added to their names not because they drank milk from the udders but because they lived in barns etc...cheers
STRANGE THAT SO MANY REPORTS COME IN FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. I AM IN SOUTH AFRICA AND IN OUR HISTORY THERE ARE MANY SUCH REPORTS.
Thanks for your comment MESSAGE A.J, I think that snakes are such strange creatures there are bound to be many many stories come in from all over the place. Any particularly odd stories in your country that you could share? cheers and thanks for calling in...
That's the way to kill a snake! - from utube - robgil55
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Sand Boa Snake Eating A Weanling - from utube - FartherAway420
Cris A Level 2 Commenter 3 years ago
What an interesting story! I'm so fascinated with snakes as much as i'm very much afraid of them regardless of the amount of knowledge i have consumed from National Georgraphic's Predators and many other series that featured snakes. Fear really is irrational! LOL Btw, the first time I heard How Now Brown Cow was in the movie, The Avengers, it was Uma Thurman who said it.