GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

13-11-2004, 03:33 PM

(paghat) wrote:

-snip-
A North American myth is that the milksnake is so-named because it
attaches itself to cows' udders & suckles milk. Dairymen would leave milk
out for the milksnakes to keep them from bothering the cattle, & to
encourage them to stick around & eat the mice in the barn. In reality of
course snakes would become ill if they had no access to water & were
forced to resort to drinking bowls of milk. I've never seen a satisfactory
explanation for how this more-idiotic-than-average myth got started, but
it's a very old belief.
-snip-

But it becomes interesting to me because now we have reports from 3
continents that there is a benefit to putting out bowls of milk.

What might be the real [or imagined?] reason that some ancients
thought would be an easier sell as a way to appease Cobras, Pixies, or
Milk-snakes?

Is there any truth to this remedy or is it another way to get folks
to waste milk? I never had an luck with it myself, but a mid-19th
century almanac suggested leaving a bowl of milk with pepper in it on
the kitchen counter as a way to kill houseflies.

Jim