Snakes can't burp, but they do get rid of gas

Q: I found this snake in my wife’s flower bed, where chipmunks are digging holes that dry out the roots. My question: Do snakes burp? — Robert Reeves, Madison

A: That’s a fine fat fellow you have. The long swelling in the middle of this nonvenomous gray rat snake’s body is definitely chipmunk size. I have no doubt the chipmunk population is minus 1. Snakes don’t have a diaphragm they could use to truly burp. But gasses do build up during digestion, and they have to go somewhere … so snakes mostly pass excess gas through their cloaca (anus). My guess is the gas (or burp) would have a definite chipmunk taint. By the way, he doesn’t seem embarrassed to have been caught in the act. When a rat snake is under stress, it constricts and wrinkles its body noticeably.

Q: When I moved to Georgia f