Talk:List of largest snakes

Photo for Eunectes deschauenseei

The information that accompanies the photo that appears here for Eunectes deschauenseei (including its filename), namely "File:Eunectes notaeus (Puntaverde Zoo, Italy).jpg", indicates that it is Eunectes notaeus, not Eunectes deschauenseei (although it seems to look rather like Eunectes deschauenseei). —BarrelProof (talk) 19:02, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Morelia oenpelliensis and Liasis olivaceus barroni

Based on Murphy & Henderson, 1997 (ISBN 0-89464-995-7), page 37, Morelia oenpelliensis and Liasis olivaceus barroni should perhaps be included here. For Morelia oenpelliensis, they report a maximum length of at least 4.5 metres (15 ft) and say it may possibly reach 7–8 metres (23–26 ft). They report that a 1991 paper by Shine said Liasis olivaceus barroni can reach 6.5 metres (21 ft). Weights are not reported there, but lengths that large would imply a large weight as well. Those are big snakes. —BarrelProof (talk) 02:28, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

More on Morelia oenpelliensis:

• Breeding plan aims to save snakes, ABC News (says it grows to 5 m)
• Herpetological Safari – Oenpelli python (also says 5 m)
• Rarest Python in the World : SnakeBytesTV (the only captive specimen in the world appears at 7:53, says "almost 5 m when they're adult" at 9:05)
• Oenpelli python (says "Species avg: 350 cm", "Species max: 430 cm")

—BarrelProof (talk) 04:40, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

On the other hand, per the article, the king cobra gets up to 18.5–18.8 ft (5.6–5.7 m) in length, which is more than 5 m, so if we include Morelia oenpelliensis based on length alone, in the absence of data about weight, we might also need to include the king cobra in the list. Based on weight, the king cobra, Gaboon viper, and Eastern diamondback rattlesnake are only around 1/3 the size of the smallest one in the current list. —BarrelProof (talk) 04:57, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

The Bolivian anaconda, Eunectes beniensis, probably also belongs in the list if its taxonomic status is accepted. —BarrelProof (talk) 01:09, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

A problem with mass (as well as length)

Reports of mass and length have the same basic problem – i.e., that the sources of information vary in reliability, and all or nearly all of the measurements cannot be independently verified later by other people. The values/estimates published in sources all stem from the same few reports, and many sources do not even describe how their estimates were derived. In my view, it is clearly necessary to acknowledge the problem in the article, to allow the article to include multiple estimates, and to cite sources explicitly to that readers can see where the numbers are coming from and where they can look to dig further into the details. Whole books have been published on this question without providing clear answers (e.g., the books by Pope and by Murphy & Henderson). As one case in point, an issue that's bothering me is that it seems that the green anaconda is generally considered the most massive snake. However, we seem to have no really reliable evidence that this is true. The most reliable data that we seem to have for the mass of the green anaconda is a field study of 780 specimens captured over a 7-year period, in which the most massive individual snake was reported as 97.5 kg (215 lb). This has a glaring problem when compared with several reasonably reliable measurements for other species. Weight is not so difficult to measure (i.e., easier to reliably measure than length if the specimen is alive), and its measurement is a basic part of veterinary care, and weight does not seem quite as exciting and prone to exaggeration as length, so we should expect that a report of a weight should be reasonably reliable if it is published in a seemingly reliable source that is discussing a clearly identified specimen that is in captivity at a major institution in a well-developed country. But we have multiple reliable reports of individual snakes that are not anacondas that are much larger than the largest reliable report of weight for an anaconda. In particular, the specimens known as "Baby", "Colossus", "Samantha", "Fluffy", and "Medusa" are in the range of 124.7–182.8 kg (275–403 lb). That is much bigger than any reliably-measured anaconda that was encountered in the anaconda field study. As Rivas says, "... the largest snake that I have caught, out of 780 animals, is only a little more than 5 m. What is the reason for such a difference? Why have I not found any animal anywhere near 9-11 m?" —BarrelProof (talk) 20:44, 7 February 2016 (UTC)

Another example is "Twinkie", an albino reticulated python weighing "almost 350 lbs" (160 kg). —BarrelProof (talk) 17:34, 8 May 2016 (UTC)

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Amethystine Python in Australia

The length and weight of this snake depends on latitude. Near Cape York (11S) specimens exceeding 5.5m and 40kg are not rare. The stomach contents can often be a 150kg crocodile. Near Brisbane (30s) the longest specimens are 3.4m and 9kg.14.203.207.166 (talk) 22:45, 29 April 2018 (UTC)