Eastern Hog-Nosed Snake, 090908, Houston, TX

This juvenile eastern hog-nosed snake was captured and photographed by Joe M. in Houston, Texas. Joe wrote: "Jerry---I am trying to identify this snake. Can you confirm that it is a juvenile hog-nosed snake?"  ME: This is, indeed, an eastern hog-nosed snake (Heterodon platirhinos) juvenile, and evidently a male as the female has a curlique tail that tapers abruptly from the vent, while the male's tail tapers gently to a point as with this specimen. These are shy and normally harmless, though their saliva is nominally venomous.  Its Duvernoy's gland secretions are somewhat toxic. However, its rear-facing opisthoglyphous fangs are too deep in their throat to harm a human through envenomation ordinarily. As with any of our normally harmless, but mildly venomous snakes, these should not be handled inexpertly or by children, as the latteer are more susceptible to their toxic saliva. The eastern hog-nosed snake spreads a hood laterally about and behind the head when threatened, as shown in this photo. This makes an appearance similar to a cobra, though the two are not related. The snake eats mostly toads, but will also eat frogs, insects and small mammals. Many ask how to keep this snake in captivity, and the short answer is to make sure you have a good supply of fresh, small toads first. If that is not possible, keeping this snake is inadvisable, as a regular diet of other prey, particularly the rodents typically supplied to other captive colubrids, leads to liver disease in this species.

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