Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/04/14/i-wonder-if-my-house-sitter-fo.html
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The problem with the snakes in a can gag is two fold. First the label never looks like a plausibly modern can of nuts. The labeling is either clearly fake/unprofessional. Containing obvious puns. Or best case scenario (like the one pictured) far to old fashioned. So even the best fake nut can looks suspiciously old. “Why does this dude have nuts from the 60’s?” Second mixed nuts don’t come in a can like that. And if they ever did its been a long time. The only time in my life I’ve seen snacks packaged in a can of those dimensions is corn nuts and beer nuts down at the gas station.
They also tend to be much lighter than a full can of nuts, making you suspicious when you lift them.
So the effect is that whenever I run into a can of that sort. I am immediately suspicious. Even if its a totally legit can of snacks. It makes its pretty hard for some one to fall for this classic gag. It needs an update. Wider, squatter can, more plausibly modern branding. If you can find a real can of snacks in that format of can you can and should switch the cans. A friend of mine did this. He’d hand you a can of mixed nuts that looked suspiciously like it was left over from the 60’s. And you’d open it. To find mixed nuts. You’d open a can of Pringles to get snaked. He’d stuffed something in the bottom to lift the floor/account for the height difference and add weight. I think there were some quarters or something in the bottom to mimic the sound and feel of chips shuffling around. It was just enough to make you think “hey there’s some Pringles left”
Opening what is obviously a can of snakes to find actual snacks is a pretty good prank on its own.
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What you do is fill it with actual peanuts. “See, it’s just peanuts”.
Leave that out a few weeks until they’ve become conditioned to expect nuts.
Then replace the snakes.
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With real snakes?
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I miss Beer Nuts, they were good. Do they still exist?
@Trent_Boyett: and peanut brittle too. Planter’s used to make the best, but I haven’t seen it in years. And I don’t want the ones from back then anyway, I want fresh peanut brittle.
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I would try it with one of these but I don’t think the lid would support the pressure. Maybe a thin layer of rubber cement around the edge?
Also it would be hard to shove snakes into something that wide.
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This is the one I grew up with:
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Use a can of Pringles, possibly the shorter can variety. Tell the house sitter she’s free to help herself to any snacks in the home and put the Pringles and a few other options on the counter. Wait for hilarity.
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Apparently.
Now making other nuts. But the package has changed.
I’ve tried the cap doesn’t stay on, and as you noted its almost impossible to get the snakes in. They tend to kink to the side, then get stuck in the can. So you’ve got to stack them tightly side to side so they can’t do that. Then press them all down at once. Some how get the lid to stick. Then if you succeed. Without stacking the snakes on top of each other there isn’t really enough pressure for them to spring out properly (dependent on the snakes). They just kind of pop up lazily.
I thought about that. Since the lid is clear you would have to open but leave the foil/paper wrapper under the lid.
It’s brilliant! When do we get paid?
Yeah i thought the same on the foil. You could glue it to the cap itself so it can take the force of the snakes inside the container 
Go in through the bottom, leaving the top intact.
Back when pudding came in cans (with the slice your tongue opening) I used one of those fancy can openers that cuts through the edge of the can lid not the top. Removed the vanilla pudding, washed, dried, filled with mayonnaise and carefully hot-glued the base back on. Reapplied the label and left it in the fridge.
Unfortunately, it was my wife (not her brother) who decided they wanted the last tin of pudding.
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Weird… it looks like they only sell to the guys who stock vending machines?
That’s the shittiest thing I’ve ever heard!
SenorSchaffer<------will try it on his kids this weekend
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A cousin of mine did this with a Snickers bar. He peeled open the wrapper carefully without breaking it, cut out the bottom of the bar, hollowed it out and filled it with mayo. Sealed the bottom back up and closed/glued the wrapper back up.
He then offered it to his older brother as an April Fools joke, though his brother must’ve seen through it because he seemed almost pleased eating the bar.
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Then one time you come home and the house if full of snakes and a single note: ‘sorry, I opened the can’
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who are you, pee wee herman?
Pro tip: Never play a practical joke on someone who has full access to your house while you’re away for several days.
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