Roger Denny, age 9, of Eugene, Ore., for  his question:

WHERE DO SNAKES GET THEIR VENOM?

A poisonous snake makes his own deadly venom. It is made in two tough wads of flesh, one at the top of each fang in his upper jaw. These are called his venom making glands. The venom is a clear yellowish liquid and he saves it until he needs it to strike a victim. Then he may have to wait quite a while before he can strike again.

    Most of the time, a rattlesnake's two long fangs are

folded backward in the roof of his mouth. When he gets ready to ready to strike, he opens his mouth wide and the fangs move to point downward. Then he jabs them into his victim. This squeezes the venom glands in the upper jaw  and the poisonous stuff runs down the hollow inside each of the fangs. As the fangs dig in, they inject the venom into the flesh. One or two bites may use up all his supplies and the snake may need a couple of weeks to make more venom.