Deadly Florida Cobra almost got me!

[JoeR]

Look at this vicious beast! I reached behind my chainsaw when I heard what sounded like an air leak. I reached again, and realized that it was not an air leak but the hiss of a snake. Talk about needing a change of underwear! He stood up like a cobra and hissed at me! We decided to catch him and put him into a trash can thinking we would make a fortune on the first Florida Cobra every captured by selling it to Gatorland Zoo. We realized we caught an imposter, after hours of torture, he confessed to being an Eastern Hognose snake. We asked him over and over again where the cobra was, but he wouldn't talk so we shot him! Just kidding! Don't call PETA! We let him go in the pasture, then a hawk swooped down and nailed him! Just kidding again! He is roaming somewhere ready to scare the manure out of somebody else!

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MikePA: Replaced oversized inline image with a link to it here

[Pat]

Joe, The hognose can put on a pretty impressive show with the distortion of its "neck" to simulate a cobra and all the hissing. A pretty good defense but not quite flawless. The eyes are wrong and no matter how hard they try they don't guite get the triangular head shape nor the heat sensing pits of a pit viper.

One of the neatest things I ever saw in this sort of defense tactic is that when fully ignored the snake rolled over on its back and played dead. The illusion was somewhat spoiled by the fact that if you turn the snake back right side up it would roll back belly up as if to say, "didn't you get it the first time, I'm dead!"

While handling the hognose carefully can be pretty safe, there is a general comment that applies to snakes in general that I will pass on from my aunt who taught highschool biology for 40 years. "They don't brush their teeth and though non poisonous can give you a nasty infection."

Now for a little something that is "underdocumented", an apparently little known TRUE FACT regarding the hognose.

It is venomous! It does not have folding fangs (hypodermic needle like) up front like a typical venomous snake nor does it have venomous saliva like a coral snake. It envenomates (sp?) you with its teeth located at the rear of its mouth. That is why human poisoning is rare with this species. If however, you are dumb enough to stick your finger in its mouth and let it get its rear teeth in you, you could get a dose.

A PhD biololgist friend of mine has a friend who was "playing" with a hognose. Yes, he stuck his finger in its mouth and took some venom and it made him sick. I haven't delved deeply into this subject but suspect the snakes gets venom into rodents or whatever that it is trying to eat.

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[Fishman]

Yep, I almost stepped on a hognose about a month ago on the edge of my yard. I didn't know I could levitate. Got some pictures of him too. They sure do make a big scary sound.

I hurried him along before the wife found him. That would have been bad for him . . . and me. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]