1/9/2024 0 Comments Boa constrictor snake fangs![]() ![]() Without this little device that usually stopped water from entering the tank when it was full, the tank was consistently overflowing, creating a constant puddle. The bubble-thing on a stick which was inside of the water tank in my backyard was broken. ![]() It became common enough that I had to actually take a minute to consider the sudden up-tick of mildly venoms snakes in the area where my kids like to hangout. More recently, over a span of a couple of months, I removed four or five different lyre snakes from my backyard where I’d find them hiding under my kids’ toys, gardening tools, you name it. Though the venom is known as weak, and my Costa Rica reptiles book says it has ‘no deleterious effect on humans,’ she felt faint and generally unwell enough to require a trip to the local hospital. A friend was raking leaves when she accidentally raked a snake onto the top of her sandaled-foot and received a bite. The first time I heard of a toboba gata was shortly after moving to the Pacific coast. Since lyre snakes are one of the more common species of snakes in Guanacaste, I’ve had several run ins with them over the years. The eggs hatch during the dry season, perhaps to coincide with a higher density of lizards. They produce clutches of up to twenty eggs which they lay during the rainy season. Lyre snakes are oviparous which is a fancy way of saying that they lay eggs. For larger prey items, like adult green iguanas, the venom isn’t strong enough to do the job, so they rely on constriction. They use this venom to subdue smaller prey items like lizards, small mammals, birds, and bats. These snakes have a mild venom which is administered via enlarged rear fangs. They are tolerant of habitat alteration and have no problem living around humans, sometimes entering homes or outbuildings looking for prey. They are nocturnal and can sometimes be spotted crossing the road in front of your car at night. Lyre snakes live in the Pacific northwest region of Costa Rica because they predominantly live in dry areas. (For those of us unsure of the definition of lyre, I just looked it up. The English name comes from the v-shaped or lyre-shaped markings on the top of its head. The Central American lyre snake (Trimorphodon quadruplex) is known as the culebra lira or toboba gata in Spanish. Which medium-sized to large snake has a slightly compressed body, large eyes with vertically elliptical pupils, and loves to show up in my backyard? You guessed it, the Central American lyre snake. ![]()
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