purpose of rubber snake?

[lauradi7dw]

Years ago we bought a rubber snake specifically to pack in luggage. Arthur is cleaning out the luggage part of a closet, and found the snake. What I can't remember is *why* we did it. This would have been in the 1990s, so it was before the current version of the TSA but there were baggage searches at airports then. Was it some form of protest? I'm pretty sure it was suggested to us, but I can't remember who said to do it, or why. I suddenly got a flash of a Bill Cosby routine from the "Why is there Air?" album, in which he said that everyone should carry a band-aid in his or her wallet, in case of belly button explosion. I had friends that started doing so at that time (mid-1960s). I still carry such bandages in my wallet, but not because I'm afraid all the air will leak out.
Goodness only knows what else I do because of some distant past popular culture reference.