How to remove snakes from a plain?

Question

There is an African plain, there are trees, grasses, some seasonal rivers/lakes, and snakes.

Upon the plain lives a society of tribesmen (think along the lines of the Maasai Mara people)

This image used with permission: Source (Alamy)

These tribes love life, but hate snakes - they are the embodiment of the evil spirits, they cannot be eaten, they also cannot be killed (life is more treasured than evil is hated).

Of course, there's plenty of snakes around.

So the question (obviously) is how can the tribesmen get the snakes off the plain?

You mean other than picking them up, putting them in a basket and turn them into handbags later? Well. Go and breed some predators that do not have the same religious problems with turning them into lunch. You can still turn the leftovers into handbags afterwards. — Burki, Feb 28 '17 at 15:28
Came here specifically to edit your poor spelling, was not disappointed. — kingledion, Feb 28 '17 at 15:29
@Pᴇᴛᴇ yes. Evil and living as long as they are being fed regularly. Which, imho, will not happen at all. So soon you will have a basket full of not-so-evil and not-so-living handbag material. — Burki, Feb 28 '17 at 15:30
@Burki Well, I guess that's a deterrence for pick-pockets... — , Feb 28 '17 at 15:32
"How to remove snakes from a plain"... hmmm... have you considered asking Samuel L. Jackson for help? I hear he's had enough of these monkey-flying snakes on this monday-friday plain. — Z.Schroeder, Feb 28 '17 at 15:44
@Burki: it's difficult to remember that the objective was to rid the plain of snakes when you find yourself up to your a** in mongooses. — Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні, Feb 28 '17 at 22:24
@Z.Schroeder: Exactly. How is "Get Samuel L. Jackson" not the top answer already? — Ellesedil, Feb 28 '17 at 23:36
Serious question: Do you have rights to replicate that photo? If you do, please edit the question to note that you have rights to the photo. If you do not, please delete the photo. Display in a public forum does not count under fair use when you take the entire work -- i.e., a whole photo. — SRM, Mar 01 '17 at 06:00
I followed the citation. I expanded the text to make it explicit that this image is used with permission. For those who are interested, here's Getty Images permission page: http://www.gettyimages.com/unreleased-imagery WorldBuilding does clearly fall under allowed use. — SRM, Mar 01 '17 at 06:05
Every people in the world is afraid of snakes, but can't and shouldn't destroy them. We don't usually like rats as well, and snakes control rats populations. As you see, everything has a good and a bad side. Westerners think they should "correct" Nature, and that's the basis for your impossible question, and also for our destruction of the Environment. — Rodrigo, Mar 01 '17 at 16:17
@Rodrigo - There's nothing "impossible" about this question. "Impossible" doesn't relate to superstition or religion. If Hindus can hold cows as being sacred, why can't these tribes hold snakes as being the opposite. In terms of old Christianity, the snake is the devil. — , Mar 01 '17 at 16:20
@Pᴇᴛᴇ yes, you're right. That's why Christians (old and present) are the #1 in Environmental Destruction in the world. Now, if these tribesmen actually succeed in eliminating all the snakes, I can only imagine the number of ecological problems they would have right after. — Rodrigo, Mar 01 '17 at 16:29

score 54 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 28 '17 at 15:36

54

Just ask Moses

From Artapansus of Alexandria in his History of the Jews:

Jealousy of Moses' excellent qualities induced Chenephres to send him with unskilled troops on a military expedition to Ethiopia, where he won great victories. After having built the city of Hermopolis, he taught the people the value of the ibis as a protection against the serpents, making the bird the sacred guardian spirit of the city...

Behold, your savior

Your people worship the Ibis

Not only are Sacred Ibis' great for keeping around and eating snakes, they are also native to the same plains that the Masai Mara live on, and they are easy to worship too!

answered Feb 28 '17 at 15:36

kingledion

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I'm looking at the Wikipedia entry for Ibis, and I see these references, except that it does not say that the Ibis eats snakes...? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibis – Mikey Feb 28 '17 at 20:58
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@Mikey There is no room for your so-called 'facts' here. Bow before the almighty Ibis-God, without whose grace, a serpent would be surely sinking its fangs into your heels right now! Bow! – kingledion Feb 28 '17 at 21:06
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well, it got a +1 anyway. What about a mongoose? – Mikey Feb 28 '17 at 21:40
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I have a strong desire to post "a song about birds" from youtube here, but it's rather NSFW so I won't... – Erik Feb 28 '17 at 22:21
How in the world does this have so many upvotes? – user428517 Feb 28 '17 at 22:35
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@sgroves it properly recognizes our saviors, the sacred ibis. Hail. – Delioth Feb 28 '17 at 22:35
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@mikey the Wikipedia article for the general Ibis bird doesn't mention the snake eating, but there are other sites that mention it, like http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast342.htm, https://animalcorner.co.uk/animals/sacred-ibis-bird/, and many of the individual Wikipedia pages on birds commonly taxonomized as ibis mention snakes being part of the diet. – Nzall Mar 01 '17 at 10:22
@kingledion This must be a post-fact non-fake-news article ;) – Toby Mar 01 '17 at 12:47
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@Mikey, will this do – Separatrix Mar 01 '17 at 13:52
Same thing you do when there are snakes on a normal plane, call security. – sthede Mar 01 '17 at 21:16

score 20 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 28 '17 at 18:30

20

Why do you have snakes on the plain in the first place? Rodents! So you need to find a way to control the rodent populations. If the snakes have nothing to eat, they won't hang about in large numbers.

Introduce species that will eliminate the rodents and the snakes won't have prey. This is why Bast was an Egyptian Goddess. She represented cats, which kept critters out of the grain cribs. Also weasels and ferrets and mongoose might help. The mongoose will also eat the snakes as well. Then the whole killing snakes becomes a circle of life thing.

Mammals are going to have an advantage in that they are not as affected by cold.

In a culture like you describe, though, I would think the snake might at least be respected because it does help control the rodent population without endangering the food supply. So Sam L Jackson may not be necessary after all.

answered Feb 28 '17 at 18:30

Paul TIKI

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Introduce a bunch of owls a la Futurama. – mbomb007 Feb 28 '17 at 20:37
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That wouldn't be a bad idea. Plenty of raptor birds eat snakes, in addition to eating what the snakes are there to eat, rodents – Paul TIKI Feb 28 '17 at 20:44
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@mbomb007 - well, I was about to point out that owls roost in trees (which they do) and trees seem kinda scarce, but then I remembered that the Burrowing Owl nests in, well, burrows. Or perhaps you could invent a Burroing Owl which nests on the backs of plains donkeys. Or the completely unknown Excavating Owl which is a well-known tool-using animal, preferring backhoes, bulldozers, front-end loaders, and the like. Or the HIGHLY dangerous Glow-In-The-Dark Ground Zero Owl, known for its use of practical physics when digging a new nest-hole. – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Feb 28 '17 at 22:31
There's a Facebook app called MouseHunt. Maybe the owls invented it. – mbomb007 Feb 28 '17 at 23:03
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Next question, how to get rid of your owl infestation. – Toby Mar 01 '17 at 12:48
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You know what else eats rodents? Ibis. They're an all in one solution! – kingledion Mar 01 '17 at 23:09
quite true The Ibis is a very good candidate. – Paul TIKI Mar 02 '17 at 16:18
@mbomb007 owls are pests, though. (And golden marmosets...) – RonJohn Mar 22 '18 at 03:26

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 01 '17 at 01:12

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Kookaburra roams through the plains with glee, eating all the snakes with a grin is he, laugh, Kookaburra laugh, Kookaburra full your stomach must be.

The humble Kookaburra! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kookaburra A less well known Australian bird who loves to eat snakes and small rodents (solves two suspected problems here!!)

My only problem would be that they would usually nest in a tree, so if there are no suitable trees around, we may have to make a hybrid kingfisher-kookaburra breed which would use the habitat of the kingfisher which is small holes in sand-mounds.

answered Mar 01 '17 at 01:12

Jake Harry

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Hmm - I've just noticed that the snakes cannot be killed. Does being eaten by another animal count? – Jake Harry Mar 01 '17 at 01:14
Yes, that's fine, it's a Circle of Life thing. Animals can't be chastised for not respecting religion. – Mar 01 '17 at 07:17
Only one problem with kookaburras: the awful noise they make. I think you may prefer snakes. – RedSonja Mar 01 '17 at 08:50
Awful? @redsonja? Have you ever woken up to the beautiful sound of a kookaburra? Ya kidding me! – Jake Harry Mar 01 '17 at 08:54
@RedSonja Kookaburras are magnificent! Their sound is one of the most beautiful in nature. – a4android Mar 01 '17 at 10:36
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There goes the local ecology. If a plain supports that many snakes, then getting rid of them will unleash the Mother and Father of vermin plagues. Don't say you weren't warned. – a4android Mar 01 '17 at 10:38
@a4android hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha – RedSonja Mar 01 '17 at 11:11
@RedSonja My point exactly. – a4android Mar 01 '17 at 11:21
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Or domesticate/breed/release secretary birds which are native to Africa. The problem is when there are only a few snakes left in an area, the birds will run out of food or turn to other prey species, so you'll never eliminate the snakes completely. An army of semi-domesticated metre-high birds would be cool though. – Chris H Mar 01 '17 at 13:54
@ChrisH Secretary Bird???? Is that pronounced 'Ibis'? – kingledion Mar 01 '17 at 23:08
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@kingledion, no, they're not closely related. The secretary bird (raptor) is considerably taller than even a large species of ibis (wader). It's like an eagle on stilts, with a beak to match, and stalks impressively rather than flying. – Chris H Mar 02 '17 at 06:51

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 28 '17 at 15:55

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Do what any human does and kill them

Look at human history, you can likely easily name 5 animals off the top of your head that humanity has hunted to extinction. Unless the animals mass breeds like insects, early man has always had dominion over animal life.

If these people truly hated and despised the snakes, to the point that they saw it their religious duty to god to kill them, the snakes wouldn't stand a chance. Humans always win.

answered Feb 28 '17 at 15:55

TrEs-2b

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Yes, but we don't really want to kill the snakes. It's a sin. And the tribesmen don't really want to meet those snakes in the afterlife. – Feb 28 '17 at 15:56
@Pᴇᴛᴇ Then I am doubting the feasibility of this, they have no way of catching them, because of their tech level and they can't kill them? It seems like the snakes might be here to stay – TrEs-2b Feb 28 '17 at 16:02
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That didn't stop the giraffe from answering.... – Feb 28 '17 at 16:06
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@Pᴇᴛᴇ giraffes are myths – TrEs-2b Feb 28 '17 at 16:32
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Why can't they practice catch and release? with a forked stick and a basket snake catching isn't much harder than snake killing, if you have the free time to play with things instead of eating them. – Feb 28 '17 at 18:08
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That would work. Catch the snakes and export them to places where owning a poisonous serpent is KEWL! You get rid of your snake problem AND you wipe out an entire generation of foreign kids who are way too much into The Latest Thing. Hmmm...a snake with every cell phone..? **blink-blink** *NAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!* – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Feb 28 '17 at 22:35
There are plenty of animals that humanity have hunted to extinction, but I can name plenty of animals that we would have loved to hunted to extinction, but have failed to: mice (Mus musculus), rats (Rattus norvegicus), rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), etc. It helps to be small, fast, and fast breeding. – Martin Bonner supports Monica Mar 01 '17 at 11:27
@BobJarvis Ireland needs more snakes... – RonJohn Mar 22 '18 at 03:28

How to remove snakes from a plain?

4 Answers4

Just ask Moses

Behold, your savior

Your people worship the Ibis

Do what any human does and kill them