Question
snake
could you pls identify this snake and let us know if there is anything we need to be aware of its in our backyard and was slithering towards our puppy we also have small children. thanks
AnswerThis is one of the most fascinating snakes in the US, perhaps in the world. You photographed a hognose snake. (I'm not sure where you live, but it looks like an Eastern Hognose).
This snake is completely harmless. Like many colubrids (such as garter snakes), it does have a mild venom, but the venom is too weak to harm humans (or puppies), and most people have no reaction to it at all, when bitten. This snake is a very popular pet species (though the Western Hognose is more popular, as it converts to eating rodents more easily).
The snake specializes in eating toads and frogs. It has two fangs far back in its mouth, which are believed to allow it to puncture a toad that has puffed itself up with air, so it can swallow it. The fangs do not deliver venom.
What makes the hognose snake so unique, however, is not its diet, but its behavior. The hognose is one of nature's hammiest actors. That wicked, evil looking pose in the photograph is all bluff. The hognose has spread his neck out like a cobra, and rattles his tail in the leaves to sound like a rattlesnake, hisses dramatically, and strikes---usually with his mouth closed! Hognose snakes rarely bite.
If this bluff fails, he moves on to his next trick--writhing about dramatically as if in the throes of agony, releasing a stinky musk, and flipping over on his back to come to rest with his tongue hanging limply out of his mouth. The ultimate 'playing dead'. The only flaw in his act is that if you flip him over on his stomach, he'll roll back over onto his back! :)
After a while, he'll look up to see if the coast is clear, and if danger has past, he'll roll over and slink away.
So, be happy you had the opportunity to see such an interesting animal, and welcome his presence in your neighborhood.
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