What kind of snake? (2 pics)

featherbottoms · #1 04/12/12, 01:05 PM

We saw this out front today.

What kind of snake? (2 pics) - Homesteading Questions

and here's a better picture of the head

What kind of snake? (2 pics) - Homesteading Questions

It appears to have been hurt, it kept trying to open it's mouth but wasn't very strong. We think the people that showed it to us had hit it with a stick. You can sort of see a bruise at the base of it's skull.

He said it was a puff adder but it doesn't look like any pics we could find.

We are in south central Georgia, and it has been dry for a while now. There's a small pond across the road, and a river about 1/2 mile to the east. We know we have a black snake that lives here. This is the first of any other kind we've seen in the yard area.

Edited to add: It's an Eastern Hognose and is non-poisonous. They eat toads.

dunroven · #2 04/12/12, 01:16 PM

It won't let me paste a picture, but if you google puff adder snakes, that snake in the second picture looks just like the one you have a picture of. It says they are definitely venomous and I would probably destroy it if you haven't already. Course I'm not a snake fan, but the patterns on them are neat.

yarrow · #3 04/12/12, 01:20 PM

isn't that a hognose snake???
http://www.bugsinthenews.com/Texas%2...R%20Holley.htm

susie, mo ozarks

Danaus29 · #4 04/12/12, 01:22 PM

It's so pretty. I hope it survives it's encounter.

grandma12703 · #5 04/12/12, 01:33 PM

nm I read the edit. I thought it might be a hognose of some sort.

CarolT · #6 04/12/12, 01:46 PM

Hognose snakes are very defensive. First they try puffing up to look bigger, they can also hiss like a blown tire LOL If that doesn't work, they try playing dead, roll over, tongue hanging out and all. Roll it upright and it flips back over!

Hopefully yours had puffed up enough to make his mouth have trouble.

My DFIL called hognoses puff adders and killed them on sight. Some hognose snakes have a very mild venom but they are rear-fanged (meaning the fangs are in the back of their mouth and you can't get envenomed without shoving a finger down it's throat. Seems to me that that would be asking for it anyway... Hope he was able to go on his merry way...

ETA The actual puff adder is native to Africa, so you're not likely to run up on one. Not saying impossible, just unlikely...

fishhead · #7 04/12/12, 02:09 PM

Here's a good site. Just rest your cursor on the name on the right and a picture will pop up.

Snakes of South Carolina and Georgia | SREL Herpetology

featherbottoms · #8 04/12/12, 03:44 PM

Thanks everyone, for the info. It was a Hognose. It puffed it's neck up to appear larger, so maybe that's where the "puff" comes from when people mistake it for a puff adder. I just checked and it's dead. I'm sorry the guy felt he had to kill it, but that seems to be the way things work for about any kind of snake.

EasyDay · #9 04/12/12, 07:20 PM

People sometimes mistakenly say puff adder instead of Spreading Adder, which is what this snake is. I hear the locals call them puff adders quite often. But, the truth is... puff adders, the venomous snakes, do not live in North America.
Spreading adder is just another name for the Eastern Hognose, and are NOT venomous.

As for the OP, sorry the snake had to die, but if I'm unsure and it's around my home or critters, I kill it. Though, I definitely try to identify them before doing that.

o&itw · #10 04/13/12, 10:31 AM

Hog-nose snakes AKA "puff adders" aren't not venomous. If you get bit and it breaks the skin, one could get an infection like from the bite of a black snake, a mouse, a rabbit, or a horse, simply because animal mouths aren't particularly clean.

We have 4 venomous snakes: copper heads, rattlesnakes, cotton-mouth water moccasins, and the small coral snake found around the Southeaster states, which doesn't have fangs, but does have cobra-like venom

salmonslayer · #11 04/13/12, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by o&itw

Hog-nose snakes AKA "puff adders" aren't not venomous. If you get bit and it breaks the skin, one could get an infection like from the bite of a black snake, a mouse, a rabbit, or a horse, simply because animal mouths aren't particularly clean.

We have 4 venomous snakes: copper heads, rattlesnakes, cotton-mouth water moccasins, and the small coral snake found around the Southeaster states, which doesn't have fangs, but does have cobra-like venom

I didnt think we had cotton mouths here in the central Ozarks but darned if we didnt turn up a nest of them not too long ago when we were fighting a brush fire; agressive boogers too.

fishhead · #12 04/13/12, 10:52 AM

From what I read they ARE venomous but the fangs are set far back in the mouth so unless you deliberately stick your finger in it's mouth it can't reach you with the fangs AND the venom is mild.

Snakes eat a lot of mice so I like to see them in my yard.

o&itw · #13 04/13/12, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by salmonslayer

I didnt think we had cotton mouths here in the central Ozarks but darned if we didnt turn up a nest of them not too long ago when we were fighting a brush fire; agressive boogers too.

They are usually quite easy to identify as they are short, fat, and dark. In the Midwest, there is a species of water snake that get much longer, don't know the exact name, but they are common in ponds and lakes. They aren't poisonous, but they are the meanest, nastiest snakes around. Flick at them with the tip of a rod and they will come right in the boat at you.

o&itw · #14 04/13/12, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishhead

From what I read they ARE venomous but the fangs are set far back in the mouth so unless you deliberately stick your finger in it's mouth it can't reach you with the fangs AND the venom is mild.

Snakes eat a lot of mice so I like to see them in my yard.

Since I am not a frog, I don't think I will worry.

just_sawing · #15 04/13/12, 12:05 PM

We call them Spreaden anners (miss spelled) Good snake to have because they tend to keep others away

Bret · #16 04/13/12, 12:56 PM

It's alive. All I need to know.

But I'll try to learn.

Bearfootfarm · #17 04/13/12, 01:24 PM

Quote:

From what I read they ARE venomous but the fangs are set far back in the mouth so unless you deliberately stick your finger in it's mouth it can't reach you with the fangs AND the venom is mild.

Hognose snakes are not venomous, and mostly eat toads

They will "play dead" if "puffing up" doesn't deter you.

I see a lot of them around here, mostly light brown with darker spots, but some are nearly all black

Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos)

What kind of snake? (2 pics) - Homesteading Questions

The Eastern Hognose Snake

What kind of snake? (2 pics) - Homesteading Questions

EasyDay · #18 04/13/12, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by o&itw

Hog-nose snakes AKA "puff adders" aren't not venomous.

Don't really don't mean to sound snarky, but your post immediately followed mine, so I guess it bears repeating:

Hognose snake = Spreading Adder = found in US = NON-venomous

Puff Adder = NOT in North America = Venomous

YuccaFlatsRanch · #19 04/13/12, 06:15 PM

Puff Adder = possibly kept as a pet by some idiot and let go = just like the non indigenous snakes overpopulating the Southern Florida areas. One never knows what some idiot will manage to import, nor what the same idiot will do to get rid of it. Georgia is close enough to Florida for my money.

EasyDay · #20 04/13/12, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuccaFlatsRanch

Puff Adder = possibly kept as a pet by some idiot and let go = just like the non indigenous snakes overpopulating the Southern Florida areas. One never knows what some idiot will manage to import, nor what the same idiot will do to get rid of it. Georgia is close enough to Florida for my money.

Sure, that could happen (probably has, and will again), but that's true with any critter not indigenous to the US.

But, the snake in the OP is the hognose, AKA as Spreading Adder.