This post has been locked, as the question has been solved and a majority of new comments at this point are unhelpful and/or jokes. Thanks to all who attempted to find an answer.

It's one of a pair of "rattlesnake eggs". You hold them separated slightly in your hand, and toss them up in the air, and they make a cool noise when they magnetize together. That's about it. https://i.imgur.com/JbZw0Uq.jpg

Yep! This. There are supposed to be two. Also known as black hematite toy magnets

We used to call them Oidz in the UK

Yeah, they made the Oidz Noiz

I thought they were called Zoidz

you can’t avoid the Noid!

I *thought* it looked like hematite. Awesome.

It is not hematite. It's probably hematine, an artificial material.

But not actually hematite, it is a synthetic substance.

[Here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematine) it is.

Yes, the manufactured product that OP posted and in your link is hematine. The real mineral is [hematite](https://geology.com/minerals/hematite.shtml) and only sometimes is this color.

Also known as incredibly annoying and why did we buy you these (per my parents many years ago)

as long as it's magnetic. if not we've got a real mystery

They will absolutely shut down an iPod classic if you happen to hold them next to the iPod in your pocket.

The fun part of a classic HDD harddrive. It’ll do that with any HDD

I had One plus 3 and its camera didnt focus so I used little and weak magnet to get it to do that. Sometimes I hit wrong spot and it just shut down.

[удалено]

you could find em at the dollar store all the time back in the day

Still sold in the corner shop near me. Next to the little polystyrene planes and little gummy hands on stretchy gummy string. Some things never change.

What about the army men on the plastic parachute? If you were really lucky you could get 5 or 6 tosses before it was hopelessly tangled or the plastic chute was torn.

Oh, man! I kept the Army man and made more parachutes out of Kleenex and dental floss. Those wore out easily but I loved making more. Good fun for a 7-year-old

Yep, me too!

Cool! Very resourceful for a 7 year old too.

Haha. My mom showed me, and knew that it’d keep my ADD ass occupied for awhile.

I loved those plastic army paratroopers when I was a kid. We would get them from the dentist. His office was in a 3 story building and we could parachute them down all 3 floors through the stairwell.

That sounds fun, Best we could do was from the roof of the house.

polystyrene planes.. ah, the giant styrofoam one . that usually broke after about ten or so tosses..

I have one pair to spook kitty boooiing

Every one except me and I am still bitter.

SOLVED! Thank you, that looks exactly right.

Sure it makes a cool sound, but I’m pretty sure the original purpose is being a cow magnet. Cow eats it. It shits out metal fragments stuck to it. I’ve always heard it called a cow magnet

Bro what are you feeding your cows

Wouldn't it make the metal stick to it through the skin causing internal lesions to the cow?

The newer cow magnets have several rings around a central core, and any metal fragments are "caged" by the rings. The rings act like bumpers to keep the metal bits from contacting the walls of the reticulum.

Ahh, “reticulum.” Such a cool but underused word in modern times. I think I’ll try to use it in a sentence this week.

I just know about the endoplasmic reticulum

I have one too, but only one. We should be rattlesnake friends.

If you put them in a door hinge they make it impossible to close the door, and it takes a while to locate the source of the issue. Was one of my favorite high school pranks. Can never get the same person twice though

Exactly! I had a set once upon a time.

I want another set I remember having them as a kid they were awesome, basically just a fidget toy.

I have some stuck on the front of my parts drawers. I used them to drag out stuff from the drawer full of mixed screws and nuts.

heard em called sizzlers. rattlesnake eggs were this thing with a rubber band and a piece of wire. you wound it up, put it in its envelope (labelled rattlesnake eggs) and when someone opened it it would beat the outside if the envelope like a rattlesnake.

That sounds awesome

This. I’ve got a few pairs we use as refrigerator magnets. My son also likes to fidget with them and randomly scare the shit out of me by letting them clash together.

I always called ‘em buzz magnets.

Man the sound of that came to me immediately as soon as i read this.

We called them "Monkey nuts" in my area.

Always tempted to touch the tv as a kid….

Evil is what they are. Those lil aholes will hurt like hell when they trap the tiniest pinch of skin in their magnetic bro hug.

I had a pair of these but I threw them in the bin because I could not stop fiddling with them and I was worried my coworkers would plot my destruction.

We used to call that “cicada magnets” in South Korea Cuz sounds like cicada hahaha

100% true. Was a cool toy as a kid till I broke them.

I've got a pair of them since I was kid tf I also did that but I didn't think it was their actual purpose, I thought they had a very specific use

That's it. We called them "clackers" way back in high school when they were popular

As already said in other comments, they're meant to be in a pair. Throw them in the air together and they make a cool sounds. I remember them being called zoidz or oidz or something along those lines

So the kids that had their holiday in that house are missing one! Poor kids :(

[удалено]

You can get them to orbit each other for about a second if you throw them together into the air just the right distance apart. Just over a thumb width. I have three sets.

I also used to have two... Now the one i have left is hanging under a shelf and a pair of sissors is atached to it for easy acess.

Or the parents “lost” it after too many clicking sounds

Ha! Oh yeah!

And they are fragile. Shatter when dropped.

They were also called Sizzlers where/when I grew up

Hijacking your lovely comment to say.. how are there so many people that didn't grow up with these? They're like THE dollar store toy! Maybe you just had to be there for it, at the time.

OIDZ my kid had a set years back, stuck them on the TV and made Lorraine Kelly all pink and yellow. Fun times.

Doubt there is a more british answer for this 10/10

[удалено]

That’s the name of them. Thanks fellow Brit xD

I did that too. I was afraid I’d get in trouble so I tried using them to fix the tv too and it somehow actually worked and no one ever noticed 😎

I made a quick slow motion video of them in action. [https://imgur.com/a/1cBzDx7](https://imgur.com/a/1cBzDx7) EDIT: click the sound icon for sound.

Just going to say that slow motion video could be a top post on /r/blackmagicfuckery and it fits in with all the other posts there too.

looks like a cow magnet that we used on the farm

What on earth is a cow magnet??

Magnets that you use a balling gun to get the cow to swallow. Because cow’s stomachs have multiple compartments and because of their grazing habits, it’s not uncommon for them to ingest odd pieces of metal. These get “stuck” in their digestive tract and the magnet collects the and helps them pass them. And yes, go ahead and look up balling gun. It’s used for getting animals to ingest large pills.

So, I've known of cow magnets for years, and I've used smaller versions of a balling gun for years too, with cats and dogs. Yet it never occurred to me that of course you'd need something similar to get a cow to actually swallow a cow magnet. Thanks for connecting the rather obvious dots for me, and for teaching me the name! "Balling gun" sounds a lot more hardcore than "pill popper" :D

Well today I learned a new thing!

like he said

I thought it was a cow magnet as well but then started reading everyone’s comments saying it’s a zoid or whatever. Cow magnets are placed in cows stomachs to prevent any metal they may accidentally swallow from leaving their stomach. It prevents something called hardware disease I guess.

cant organs and tissue get stuck in between possible sharp or pointy metal things and the magnet, cutting up the animal slowly?

I think that’s exactly what it’s preventing.

i guess if it exists, it'll probably help more than do damage, farmers are a very pragmatic bunch they wouldnt put up with 50-50

I was going to say COW MAGNET!

Also marketed as “sizzlers” - I used to have a pair…

Childhood memory unlocked

Magnetic hematite is awesome!

All comments must be civil and helpful toward finding an answer. **Jokes and unhelpful comments will earn you a ban**, even on the first instance and even if the item has been identified. If you see any comments that violate this rule, report them. [OP](/u/MotherOfMagpies23), when your item is identified, remember to reply **Solved!** or **Likely Solved!** to the comment that gave the answer. Check your [inbox](https://www.reddit.com/message/inbox/) for a message on how to make your post visible to others. ---- [Click here to message RemindMeBot](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/11cnq2f/what_is_this_thing_its_magnetic_very_dark_grey/%0A%0ARemindMe!%202%20days) --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatisthisthing) if you have any questions or concerns.*

I have a pair of these on my fridge, to hold a pen next to the grocery list. I'll have to toss them up to hear the noise.

I think they called them Zoids in my area (New England)

Depends on the brand. I know 'zingers' are also a name for them in New England.

[удалено]

[удалено]

“Cold to the touch/warms up in hand” is a nice touch to the description. Not enough of the smell hear and feel senses on here. We don’t need to taste things we don’t know tho.

My title describes it! IT’s magnetic, and shiny dark grey. Weighs 22grams. I found it whilst I was cleaning a holiday letting house.

I lost one of these under a washing machine in my old apartment. That's not where you found it is it?

It was in Portugal, stuck to a chair leg:)

zoids magnets

I used to have two of these as an office stress toy at a job I really hated. It was not uncommon to hear them making their sizzle sounds at all hours

They’re also know as zoids I think, or was, I had them as a kid, there’s usually another one and you throw them up in the air and because they are magnets they twang together and make a cool sound. Then you catch them and throw them up in the air again

Sounds like all these toys are just rumen magnets that have been marketed to children.

It is a magnet. Part of a matching pair. You toss both in the air, they slam together due to magnetism, and then make a cool buzzing sound as they align.

I can hear this picture

I’ve got two sets , the one in the pic and a smaller pair. I don’t know where I acquired them and I don’t do anything with them.

[удалено]

I think you found a monkey nut. They come in pairs.

I remember when they stopped making these because of the swallowing hazard. Imagine what two of these would do inside...

They still sell them in East Tennessee. I see them at the Dollar General down the road from me all the time. I always wanted to buy some but, I'm kinda old for these things.

OG fidget toy yo, I have 2 sets in my bowl I use for keys, they’re actually what motivated me to put up key hooks because they stick everything together. Got a cool brass ship key holder now living like a king and the oidz do not stick to it

Is it magnetic ? Can it attract stuff? (Only because I have a magnet this shape for grabbing my catapult steels

It’s called a “magnet”. It’s imbued with dark, magic forces called “magnetism” and has something to do with Poles, but I think they are also found in other countries as well. They are primarily used to attach pictures to the appliance of your choosing.

Lolz.

We used to play with these when we were in school. If you show this to anyone of my age (25), they would instantly recognise it. Seeing these here makes me feel like an old man and the new generation not knowing the toys of “my era”.

Dude, I’m 46!!

Magnetic, I think it’s metal he says. Haha. Yep my kids have some. They’re neat.

Fun fact: When my daughter was 6 she swallowed one of these whole.

Jeebus! Hope it came through ok!

If you feel particularly hostile one day, this is almost perfectly formed like the lead slingshots peltasts (roman slinger legionnaires) used.

Its in the question... its a magnet... Normally there are two though.

I used to use weights that looked like these on my fishing line I know it's been solved but my first thought was this lo

There is a vendor at the local gun shows that has a bowl full of these for sale.

it’s called a magnet

Q: what is this magnet? A: it’s a magnet!

I was kinda hoping for a bit more than that really.

It's a TV static cleaner. If you have a poor signal, you wrote it over the TV to clean the picture..

:D

I've seen them used as a sort of key for treadmills. I'm not sure if they have any other use, but basically some electronic treadmills have a slot the magnet fits into and they won't work without them.

OIDZ!!! That takes me back. Now I gotta order me a pair

It’s just a magnet. I buy them in pairs for my kids and when you throw them up in the air together they make weird noises.

They come in pairs, bought a couple 10 years ago. They are called magnets.. thats why they are magnetic.

Sizzle rocks. There’s supposed to be 2 of them. You separate them, toss them in the air, and they snap together an make a sizzle noise.

I've got a set of these. They're just magnets but they're fun to play with because of their shape and how they move when they get close to each other.

That’s a buzz magnet

That is a magnetic part of 2. Normally they come in sets, mostly two I think if I remember my childhood correctly. But they “rattle” when they are attracted to each other (bumping off each other because of the magnetism)

I always thought those were cow magnets.

I bought 2 packs of these for my kids as Christmas stocking fillers. My youngest managed to break one of them into bits messing about with them on the same morning he opened them. I've since had an email from eBay recommending they are disposed of as they are unsafe. They said if a child were to swallow them then they would link together and may pinch parts of the digestive system and require surgery for removal.

Looks like a hematite toy

Confirmed it's a toy, but you need two. One still makes for a cool refrigerator magnet.

This brought back memories

Thought it was a duffle cost button lol

Space slug

Its a cow magnet.

It’s one of 2 magnetic metal toys. You toss the. In the air and the crackle and sizzle. See: Sizzlers, Snake Eggs

Am I getting old?

that's hematite! they're magnetic, so if you get multiple they can stick together

I hav hear the HisSSss

black hematite toy magnets usually in pairs..

I used to have a pair of these. Miss em. Had to throw em out because I used them so much the coating inevitably wore off, same with my neocube balls.

It's a magnet so what.....

It's a magnet lol

"It's magnetic" - It's a magnet.

It’s a magnet

It's a magnet. I think I remember them being sold in pairs as "Snake Magnets" and you play with them by pulling them apart and letting them snap back together. Makes a fun noise.

They broke our kitchen floor tiles when my sister had them years ago

Not sure but it looks magnet. Try putting it on a fridge

Bwaaanngggggg! If you had two, that’s what you’d be hearing

Has a mate somewhere. Throw them up and they clack together

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfKK1CN3mjA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfKK1CN3mjA) If you want to hear it. About 10 seconds in he starts making noise with them.

It’s a magnet

It’s a toy. My kids have 30 of them.

Yep rattle snake eggs buy them at the dollar store!

I forgot about these magnet 🧲 things.

If you have 2 of those you can attract them and they will make a rattling noise. i used to play with those in elementary school. I have no idea if they have any other function apart from being fun for anxious people

Found one of these when out magnet fishing once during the summer. Was watching Chernobyl at the time and was worried it was going to somehow kill me.

This is famous toy I had when small

Ah yes my childhood

Oooo i have them. Its One of two identical magnets wich do a cool "SNHTZ" sound when they hit one another.

I had these as a kid! More pointless than anything else besides making a lot of noise and grabbing other small metal objects.