Snake breeders in Thailand say fruits and vegetables are not part of the reptiles’ natural diet. This contradicts social media posts warning that snakes occasionally bite tomatoes, leaving small holes as they inject “poisonous substances.” While the experts told AFP that the marks in the images shared alongside the posts do not appear to be made by snake teeth, one botanist said it is best not to consume fruits or vegetables with gaping holes.
“Precautions when consuming tomatoes, Finding tomatoes with these abnormal characteristics could lead many to wonder what happened to them.” read the Thai-language caption for a collage shared on Facebook on November 30, 2024.
The collage shows an image of a snake biting a tomato and images of holes in tomatoes.
The caption added that the holes may have been caused by a bite from a snake, which is said to “occasionally bite fruits when hungry.”
“Your vigilance will protect you from ingesting toxins injected into fruits by animals.”
Screenshot of the misleading message taken on December 23, 2024
Similar claims were shared on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and X, and were posted repeatedly in Burmese.
The vast majority of commenters dismissed the warning, but a few users appeared to have been misled.
“Now I know…Thanks a lot for the information,” read one comment.
Another said: “Good to know!”
But Saranont Charoensuk, senior manager and head of operations at the Snake Museum in Bangkok Siam Serpentariumtold AFP: “By nature, snakes do not bite or eat fruits and vegetables” (archived link).
“The snake in the first photo is a viper – a poisonous snake that preys on small mammals, reptiles and amphibians,” he added on December 3.
Taksa Vasaruchapong, The acting head of Thailand’s poisonous snake sanctuary also said that snakes are carnivorous and therefore do not consume fruits and vegetables (archived link).
He also told AFP on December 3 that taking snake venom orally is not as potent as when compared to exposure through the bloodstream, because “snake venom is proteins that can be broken down by stomach acid.”
Both experts said it is unlikely that the holes seen in the circulating images were made by snake bites.
Taksa added that snakebites are not easy to identify because their teeth are “as small as syringe needles.”
Teerada Wangsomboondee, professor at Chulalongkorn University’s Department of Botany, told AFP that it would be best to avoid consuming fruits and vegetables with these visible holes in any case (archived link).
“If such gaping holes are visible, the inside of the fruit would be mushy and soggy,” Teerada said on December 20.
“Whether the holes are caused by pests or worms, there would be no nutritional value left.”
