Why and When Do Snakes Bite? As is commonly known, snakes bite for two main reasons: to hunt and to defend. When snakes are on the offensive, they use their venom to immobilize and kill their prey.

What's it like to get bit by a venomous snake? "It's like a bee sting times a thousand," Tim Friede says. Friede would know. Over the past few decades, he's let himself be bitten over two hundred ...