To learn more about how the snakes respond when captured, the research pair used several techniques, all of which involved lunging at them.

Sometimes the snakes were grabbed behind the head and other times they were grabbed elsewhere on the body. After each capture, the snake was held against the ground or in the air and carefully watched for 30 seconds to see how it behaved.

The researchers found that the snakes tended to coat themselves, when possible, in fecal discharge (a sign of death in many animals) and/or material from their cloacae. Several also emitted blood from their mouths. Most of them also ceased moving and would go limp.