do snakes hear

[Python Regius]

Can snakes hear?? and if: HOW
I mean really hear not through vibrations on the ground.
I also read somewhere that the tongue of the snakes is sometimes replaced.
Can anyone bring some light on this.
Thanks

[LILCREEP]

NO snakes do not have ears they only sense vibrations

[lilyskip]

when you say that the tongue is replaced, what do you mean? like, a tongue transplant?

[Gregg M]

snakes cant hear nor can they replace thier tongue...... They can replace fangs though......

[Linds]

Snakes are -nearly- deaf. They do not have outter ears, but they can faintly hear very low pitches.

[snakehunter]

they feel and translate vibrations from their lower jaw.

[Python Regius]

Well a friend of mine has a Egyptian cobra “Naja haje" which is housed in a heated terra in the garage. He was in the garage busy with some stuff. At a sudden moment he looked at his cobra and the animal was in his typically threaten position, so standing up about 0.5metres above ground and facing him. At that moment his brother slammed the door of his car, which was parked outside and more than 15 metres away from the garage.
The cobra immediately turned in the direction of the sound.
He found that very remarkable because it is a house that stands alone, there’s no passing traffic there and it was at night.
How would I have to understand that.

I read that just like the teeth of a snake also the tongue is sometimes replaced. I don’t know if the mean that there’s a tongue waiting behind the other or that it is like with humans. That the tongue is renewed layer after layer, like with the skin of humans.

What do you guys think of that.

[marisa]

I believe a Cobra can feel vibrations from VERY far away, something like hundreds of feet....so it most likely did not Hear the car, but feel it.

I once knew someone with a deaf dog, who was trained to respond with the vibrations in the floor, or hand/foot signals. It couldn't hear us calling its name from the back porch to the dog house nearby but it could feel us stamping on the porch and come running :)

Marisa

[Invictus]

I can stand at the door of the room I have my corn snakes in, and call out to them lightly, and they start popping their heads out of the hides. Are you saying my voice has enough vibration in it for them to feel it through glass from 10 feet away, when I talk no louder than I do in normal conversation?

[marisa]

No but your feet coming towards the room do.

Are you joking with your post or are you saying you believe snakes do in fact have ears and can hear sounds that most people believe they cannot? HAHA Sorry but your true intention was lost in type, thats why I ask. :)

Marisa

[Wrath]

Before I knew anything about snakes (not that I know sooo much now) I had a roommate who had a very neglected snake. This guy also had ferrets for less than two months before getting rid of them, yes he has problems. Anyway, he did not want his snake in his house anymore and he resorted to keeping him in his band's rehearsal space, eventually he got rid of him, but I have a distict feeling that he just let it loose. :(

I'll get to the point. He used to keep it in his rehearsal space and of course there was a lot of noise in there, booming from the rock band's musical equipment. I wondered at the time if it disturbed the poor snake and I'm sure now that it was extremely stressed, especially if snakes are that sensitive to vibrations. If I lived then where I live now, I would have taken him in. He was a red tail boa of some sort.

[Invictus]

Originally posted by marisa
No but your feet coming towards the room do.

Are you joking with your post or are you saying you believe snakes do in fact have ears and can hear sounds that most people believe they cannot? HAHA Sorry but your true intention was lost in type, thats why I ask. :)

Marisa

No joke at all. When I walk into the room (or up to the door), they don't come out of hiding at all. I can stand there for hours, they won't come out... until my gf or I start talking. Then their heads all pop out of their hides, and they begin looking around.

I'm not saying that my snakes are miracle snakes, and they can hear when no other snake can. I'm saying if they are that tuned in to vibrations, I should start turning my music down.

[fateamber]

Originally posted by Python Regius
Can snakes hear?? and if: HOW
I mean really hear not through vibrations on the ground.
Thanks

What do you think we hear if not just vibrations in the air?

[Infectrix]

Snakes can "hear".. But they don't listen for crap..;)

Seriously though, snakes can "hear" sounds in the range of low hundred hertz.. A human voice can range anywhere from 100hz to 10Khz (Mariah Carey or something). The lowest audible sound that can be heard by humans is 20hz.. So scratching your head can be at least in the hundreds.

Like snakehunter stated, the lower jaw is sort of like an antenna which receives the low freq. waves and translates that into what the snake "hears".

I don't think it is but I apologize if any of my input is wrong.:w

[Bryce Masuk]

Invictus do your snake live in cages where glass is present?

[Invictus]

Yes they do. Well, one still does... I separated them, and now 2 are in rubbermaids. But when they were all in a glass terrarium together, that is when I observed this response to our voices.

[marisa]

My snakes also pick up on odd sounds. Although I can't say voices. They know we are in the room before we know they know if you get what I am saying. lol.

But anyways, we whack our mice when we are feeding fresh killed and it took like two weeks and all the snakes were reacting to the sound of the screwdrive handle hitting the board we whack them on. It riles them all up now. :)

Marisa

[Mr.Lizard]

I saw something about king cobras on TV,may have been Jeff Corwin,but I'm not sure.
There was speculation about the king cobra being capable of hearing sounds as they do have something of a voice.
Actually it's sort of a low breathy roar.
They recorded the "voice" and then played it back but did not receive a response from the snake.
However it does sound reasonable that some species(perhaps all) may be able to hear some frequencies. Perhaps the recording wasn't exact enough to elicit a response,I dunno.
Fact is,ears are an extension of the jawbone in all vertebrates,so even though snakes have lost all external hearing apparatus as well as their legs perhaps there remains a trace of the organs as in the spurs in pythons and boas (vestigial hind legs).

[snakelover111]

no ears

[Scales Zoo]

I beleive snakes may have some ability to recognize sound, and definitely vibration, and that it varies with species. The larger the snake, the more response it seems to show to certain sounds.

Sheila

On another note, our dog behaves like he has no ears sometimes, until the vibration of the can opener gets his attention

[Lisa]

Originally posted by Scales Zoo
On another note, our dog behaves like he has no ears sometimes, until the vibration of the can opener gets his attention

Heh, our old dog, Lexx, used to respond to processed cheese wrappers.

[XxRachxX]

I saw something about king cobras on TV,may have been Jeff Corwin,but I'm not sure
it was Mark O' Shea! :) how dare you get them mixed up;)
i was really disapointed when they'd spent all that time getting a king cobra, and nothing happened!:D
the recording wasn't exact enough to elicit a response,I dunno.
i thought that..... there seemed to be quite a bit of interference on the tape and it was kinda muffled/fuzzy?

my mother talks to my snake all the time :rolleyes: and to prove to her that hes not listening i have to shout at the top of my voice.... no response...

i DO think they can feel vibrations through the ground or something because theyre touching the thing thats vibrating and can pick it up.
but dont you need ear drums or a membrane of some kind to be able to pick up air born vibrations?

[Python Regius]

So generally opinion is that snakes can not hear but do feel vibrations through the ground via the lower jaws.

But like I said the Cobra lower jaws were not in touch with the ground.
By hear I mean picked up frequencies through the air.
Like Invictus and Marisa said they can pick up sounds. So if you were to tape that and played it for them. They should be some kind of reaction.

[HerpHannah]

na....they a more-or-less deaf but they r extreamly good at sensing vibrations but cannot see red light