Yes they are venomous and it is a proper venom, not 'toxic saliva'. This is because venom evolved only once in snake evolution, at the very base of the advanced snake tree, long before any of the 'colubrid' snake families popped up. The hognosed snakes are in the Xenodontinae snake family, along with the Brazilian smooth snake (Hydrodynastes gigas), aka false water cobra (a totally inappropriate name since cobras don't occur in South America!).



The venom is rich in enzymes which means that it typically will cause little more than localised swelling (neurotoxins are present in only low concentrations) and it is produced in rather small amounts. Enough to help settle a toad down but not enough to cause severe reactions in humans.



Click on the link below for a recent paper by us that examined this venom as well as other 'colubrid' venoms.



Enjoy, they are cute little snakes.



Cheers

Bryan
Colubroidea snake venoms


-----
Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry

Deputy Director

Australian Venom Research Unit

University of Melbourne



www.venomdoc.com

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