Dean Qiongxiu, 66, said she discovered the reptile clinging to the wall of her bedroom with its talons in the middle of the night.
“I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw,” said Mrs Duan of Suining, southwest China.
Mrs Duan said she was so scared she grabbed a shoe and beat the snake to death before preserving its body in a bottle of alcohol.
The snake – 16 inches long and the thickness of a little finger – is now being studied at the Life Sciences Department at China’s West Normal University in Nanchang.
Snake expert Long Shuai said: “It is truly shocking but we won’t know the cause until we’ve conducted an autopsy.”
A more common mutation among snakes is the growth of a second head, which occurs in a similar way to the formation of Siamese twins in humans.
Such animals are often caught and preserved as lucky tokens but have very little chance of surviving in the wild anyway, especially as the heads have a tendency to attack each other.

*snip*

Mod. Edit: Removed a link that contained nudity.



[edit on 1/19/2010 by seagull]

I said it just a few days ago in the photosynthesis fish thread. Watch for much more of these bizarre mutated creatures being found in increasing numbers from here on out. Mankind has tainted the ecosystem, and it's all going to get much stranger this century.

Originally posted by unityemissions
I said it just a few days ago in the photosynthesis fish thread. Watch for much more of these bizarre mutated creatures being found in increasing numbers from here on out. Mankind has tainted the ecosystem, and it's all going to get much stranger this century.

So true! It will mostly occur in countries that do not attempt to mitigate/stop environmental pollution....like China.



[edit on 19-1-2010 by Aggie Man]

Looking at the lump in the area of the foot, I would say that the snake swallowed a lizard. The lizards sharp claws pushed through the side of the snake, allowing a leg to pop through. Just a theory, but look at the picture again, then think about it.

most larger snakes have little spurs near the anal scale that are the vestiges of limbs but I have never seen one with an actual leg. Very strange. I wonder if it was simply genetics gone array or catalyzed by polution in the ecosystem?

Cheers

Originally posted by butcherguy
Looking at the lump in the area of the foot, I would say that the snake swallowed a lizard. The lizards sharp claws pushed through the side of the snake, allowing a leg to pop through. Just a theory, but look at the picture again, then think about it.

The snake was using the claw to climb on the walls before it was killed. It's a vestigial limb...they occur on rare occasion...

Originally posted by Aggie Man

Originally posted by butcherguy
Looking at the lump in the area of the foot, I would say that the snake swallowed a lizard. The lizards sharp claws pushed through the side of the snake, allowing a leg to pop through. Just a theory, but look at the picture again, then think about it.

The snake was using the claw to climb on the walls before it was killed. It's a vestigial limb...they occur on rare occasion...

When I see the lump in the middle of the snake, I see something that it has fed on. Just looks like a possibility that it is a leg of a lizard. It would be interesting to see how agile the snake was using said limb to climb a wall. Most vestigial limbs are not articulated. A number of species of snakes have spurs used in mating that are thought to be the remains of limbs that disappeared on the evolutionary trip through time.

[edit on 19-1-2010 by butcherguy]

This foot didn't grow out of the snake, it was still attached to the lizard the snake ate. Not every meal goes down willingly.
I've watched a black rat snake swallow a big toad only to be torn apart by our dog. Covered in slime the toad hopped away to live another day.

Originally posted by thebulldog
most larger snakes have little spurs near the anal scale that are the vestiges of limbs but I have never seen one with an actual leg. Very strange. I wonder if it was simply genetics gone array or catalyzed by polution in the ecosystem?

Cheers

Quite right, snakes do have spurs (for mating) however this foot is nowhere near the ass end of that snake.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
This foot didn't grow out of the snake, it was still attached to the lizard the snake ate. Not every meal goes down willingly.
I've watched a black rat snake swallow a big toad only to be torn apart by our dog. Covered in slime the toad hopped away to live another day.

Thanks, I was afraid that I was seeing things other people couldn't. I have seen photos of snakes whose prey was too large for them, even though they swallowed it, the stress split their sides open.

Stupid foot n snake.
2nd line.

Sigh... So instead of trying to capture it without harming it, she decides to grab a shoe and beat it over the head with it. When will people learn to think before they act?
On topic, even though it is an old story, it still is pretty interesting. Just when you think you've seen everything, you find a snake with a foot crawling up your wall.

Originally posted by TheDragonLord
Sigh... So instead of trying to capture it without harming it, she decides to grab a shoe and beat it over the head with it. When will people learn to think before they act?
On topic, even though it is an old story, it still is pretty interesting. Just when you think you've seen everything, you find a snake with a foot crawling up your wall.

I'm sorry but if i saw a snake with a freaking foot - it's own or a foot of something it ate, i'd beat it to death too. That **** is messed up. gives me the heebie jeebies.

That is just one big hernia after eating a lizard.

Why be upset with a lizard arm poking through? just use it to climb yeah!

Snakes are fast learners and not as dumb as humans in 2010...


[edit on 19-1-2010 by Jinni]

i love how people still claim it is a "just a mutation" when the link to the previous thread discussing this came to the conclusion that the snake had swallowed the lizard. it may have appeared to be using the foot to climb, but how well could anything climb with one foot?

and yes, they have discovered snakes with tiny "legs", or places where legs used to be - so it could be some kind of reverse evolution, but bet is on it swallowed the lizard and the lizard poked a way out - the lizard might have still been alive and that is why it appeared that the snake was using the foot to climb.