Does breast milk pacify venomous snakes?

Thanks to Fortunate Mafeta Phaka and Angela Julian for the answer!

Fortunate - This story comes up a lot, and a lot of the stories that do come up, I can put some sort of scientific explanation behind it, but not always. Like the milking part where you spray the snake with milk entertainment, that is something I cannot explain. Typically, snakes are feared, and a lot of people want to kill them on sight. That creates a problem because the snake, if cornered, it will defend itself. And that usually ends up in a snake bite. And if it's a venomous snake, then we have a lot of problems. This is something we learned from childhood. Snakes are dangerous. But as you interact with herpetologists and people who are happy to share what they know about snakes, the perception sort of changes. And people now know that actually, if you leave a snake alone, the chance of it biting you becomes really, really low.

James - Biologically speaking, there's nothing to suggest snakes would or would not be attracted to milk. As reptiles, they can't consume it. So what's going on here? Here's Dr. Angela Julian, coordinator of Amphibian Reptile Groups of the UK.

Angela - Snakes are attracted to houses because you get rodents and snakes like to prey on rodents. So I think it's more likely that they happen to be there because there's a ready supply of food, shelter, cool places to maintain their body temperature. And the breast milk is entirely incidental. Obviously, there are venomous snakes in Africa, particularly puff adder can be found around homesteads, also black mamba. They often live alongside people for a long time and people are unaware of this. If there is an interaction, often it's very negative for the snake, I should say. In reality, unless an animal is provoked, or in the case of the puff adder, usually stepped on, it's not going to put itself out of its way to attack somebody. It's just a coincidence, not a causal relationship. Snake is there whilst the mother is otherwise engaged. And because she's otherwise engaged, she's not perhaps paying attention to the snake in the way she normally would be.

James - Angela Julian, coordinator of Amphibian Reptile Groups of the UK, and before her, Dr. Fortunate Mafeta Phaka, herpetologist at Northwest University in South Africa. So far, it seems you're not alone in having heard tales of snakes seemingly entranced by mothers feeding their babies. While there's nothing specific about milk that would play a part in interactions between people and snakes, it might be that our preconceived notions of danger mean we seek explanations for the naturally non-aggressive behaviour of these reptiles.