Laita did not pose or set up the snakes for these pictures. 

"They’re just beautiful, graceful creatures. If you let them free to do what they do, this is what they’d do," Laita says. 

Snakes in the mussurana genus, like the one pictured here, attack and eat other snakes. They are immune to the venom of the snakes they eat, so mussurana snakes are sometimes kept as pets to get rid of other, more dangerous snakes. 

• Distribution: Central and South America
• Habitat: Moist forest
• Length: Up to 8 feet