REAR-FANGED 
POISONOUS SNAKES 
BOOMSLANG 
The boomslang is a South African cannibal and may swallow a member of 
its own species almost as long as itself. A boomslang, four and one-half feet 
long, has been observed to swallow a four-footer. These cannibals also eat 
frogs, though they refuse toads. Of an intensely jealous disposition, one 
boomslang, seeing another eating a frog, will attack and devour both snake 
and frog. 
The boomslang was named for its arboreal habits (boomslang being 
the Dutch for tree snake), but when birds’ eggs are scarce it crawls about 
the ground in search of lizards and frogs. Though its venom glands are 
comparatively small, its bite is highly dangerous. Humans bitten by the 
boomslang suffer hemorrhages from the nose, mouth and bowels; black 
blotches appear all over the body, and the victims frequently die. A rooster 
is killed in approximately three minutes, a rabbit in fifteen, an ox in forty- 
five. One reptile can kill several fowl, each taking progressively longer to 
die. Venom injected in a jackal’s veins killed the creature instantly. 
The boomslang lays one to two dozen eggs in October, November and 
December, the South African spring. They are usually laid under rotting 
leaves. 
SHAAPSTEKER 
Shaapstekers (Dutch for sheepstickers) have received their name unjustly. 
The ringhals, or spitting, cobra kills a sheep and scurries away across the 
South African veldt, while the shaapstekers continue to crawl about the 
grass nearby, confident in their innocence. Ranchers seeing the dead sheep 
and the snake put two and two together and kill the reptile on sight. The 
shaapsteker makes its home near cattle and sheep ranges, because its food — 
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