Researchers discover surprising method to put gluttonous snakes to work: 'Pest control with fangs'

According to new research from a South African university, puff adders could help control rodent populations with incredible efficiency.

The research, led by Graham J. Alexander of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, revealed that the snakes could be much better at dealing with pests than previously assumed.

Found throughout Africa and parts of the Arabian Peninsula, the snakes tend to be quite lazy, moving slowly and preferring to ambush prey at night, per the Smithsonian. Because of their slow digestion and infrequent feeding, it was commonly thought that the reptiles were a poor choice for pest control.

However, when presented with abundant food sources, they are very greedy creatures; they will eat about 12 times more than they need to survive for sustained periods. Some of the snakes observed consumed 20 times above maintenance levels. In human terms, that's a bit like eating 57 slices of pizza at your next visit to Costco.

While such incredible gluttony is a problem in captivity, it can be an asset in the wild, at least when an animal is native to an area. Floridians are all too aware of the devastating impact of invasive snake species.

With extreme weather events caused by planet-heating pollution becoming more frequent and severe, one of the consequences is a threat to food security.

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As higher temperatures are causing rodent populations to explode, there is an urgent need to bring their numbers under control, and adders could form part of the answer.

The advantages of using snakes are clear. They'll do the work of a pesticide for free and with no risk of contaminating crops or water sources. "Pest control with fangs," as South African outlet Good Things Guy cleverly put it. It also demonstrates that the most effective measures to protect the planet often occur at the local level.

As the study suggests, adders are highly adaptable creatures, and when presented with an abundant food source, such as vermin running wild in crops, they'll tuck in with staggering enthusiasm.

"These findings highlight the importance of snakes as potential ecosystem stabilizers and for the control of agricultural rodent pests," the abstract concludes.