Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I ran into this guy next to my driveway in Massachusetts today. Can't find it on any of the identify-this-snake web sites. What struck me was the hood, and the whole coiling/hissing act it did (I've never seen that in real life before, all the snakes I see are tiny little wusses that just want to run away). It didn't show me any fangs so I assume it was bluffing (well I got bitten by a garter snake once so I know even being gummed on is worth avoiding so I was respectful anyway) but I'm all curious! It looked more than one foot long but less than two, and when it got tired of looking at me it went back to nosing around in the leaves, but didn't seem that interested by all the rodent holes so I'm guessing it was looking for something smaller. VERY pretty skin... And I liked how it would swell up from one end to the other when it was inhaling for the next hiss. I can't imagine how snakes must work inside (where's the diaphragm?).

Rudely following up to my own message just to show the other picture, the hood's still spread but the lighting's different so you can see the pattern better.

Thats one of them there blowing adders. Its a eastern hognose
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http://www.simply-sober.com/him.html

http://simply-sober.com/blog1/

Thanks lep1pic1 and chrish for the ridiculously fast answer! Yeah the picture on Wikipedia looks just right, now that I know what to ask for, and I'm waist-deep in toads here so no wonder. Now I can't shake the "Black Adder" theme song but that's my problem. Good to know about fangs -- I didn't mean to say I thought I could correctly tell venomous from non but anyway I'm in no hurry to get bitten by *anything* no matter what it would or wouldn't do to me. It's fun having numerous fingers and no consuming diseases and I'd like to keep it that way. Anyway thanks!

The worst thing that will come from pestering that snake is a really REALLY REALLY bad musk.
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0.1 Banded California kingsnake - Zorro
1.0 Betta fish - Billy
0.0.3 White Cloud Fish
1.0 RES - Chopstick
0.1 Australian Shepherd - Jet
2.1 Domestic Shorthair Mix Cats - Robert Bob, Nimbus, & Pirate

Yes, I've always liked those cute little dudes..LOL!

I captured a melanistic(solid black) form of Eastern a while back, on the way to my friends house in central Florida. I had everyone there thinking it was a deadly cobra until I let them in on the reality of what it truly was..LOL!

The little guy was as tame as could be, and would just sit in my hand for minutes on end.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

when my younger brother caught a hypo broadbanded watersnake, he told our mom that it was a copperhead. I thought she was going to kill me.

Misleading friends is always so much fun.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

Yes,...I'm sure that went over real well with your mom!..LOL!

It was funny, my friends kept telling me to get further back from the Hognose than I was!,....they couldn't believe I was getting so close to the "cobra" with such a care-free attitude..LOL!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

The hognose I caught was also solid black, but the dogs happened to follow me, and the snake didn't like them. He wasn't about to pose for a picture either.
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0.1 Banded California kingsnake - Zorro
1.0 Betta fish - Billy
0.0.3 White Cloud Fish
1.0 RES - Chopstick
0.1 Australian Shepherd - Jet
2.1 Domestic Shorthair Mix Cats - Robert Bob, Nimbus, & Pirate

Yes, I can certainly understand that!..LOL!

What state/county did you catch the melanistic one in?. Mine was found in extreme southern St. Lucie County in the Ft. Pierce area.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I caught it in Wilkes County, NC.
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0.1 Banded California kingsnake - Zorro
1.0 Betta fish - Billy
0.0.3 White Cloud Fish
1.0 RES - Chopstick
0.1 Australian Shepherd - Jet
2.1 Domestic Shorthair Mix Cats - Robert Bob, Nimbus, & Pirate

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

as far as i've seen in 20 yrs of chasing snakes around charleston,sc,the melanistic hogs seem to be the prevalent morph in the area.i've probably caught 40 hogs or so over the years,and only 3 or 4 were patterned.maybe it's just the areas that i happened to be in,but the capture sites are over a fairly large area,4 or 5 counties across.
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1.1 cb spotted turtles (parker(f),stinky(m))
0.0.1 cb red cheek mud (pickles)
0.0.1 cb chiapas musk (chomper)
0.0.1 cb ally snapper (gamera)
1.0 cb homo sapien(kaelan,5)

"my name is inigo montoya...you killed my father.prepare to die."

Yes, it's known that there are certain large areas of these populations of melanistic forms throughout their range, but it would certainly be fun to see the exact sizes of these areas on a distribution map of some sort. But that would certainly take a lot of study/research money from somewhere..LOL!

The melanistic form is far less common in the Florida area where I captured mine, but maybe I would be thoroughly surprised as to how many there REALLY are in that area, who really knows for sure.

One thing's for sure, they are neat little snakes!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

very few of the hogs that I've seen have a distinct pattern. Almost all were extremely dark and nearly patternless. I've mistaken some for yellow bellied watersnakes until I saw the heads. I never thought anything of it until I started learning about color morphs. And of course, now all I see are those with regular coloration.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

LOL!,...yes, that figures!, huh?

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Yeah, I can't recall us ever catching or seeing one that was anything other than melanistic except for the baby that I caught back at the trailer on H.R. Rd.
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1.1.0 Hondurans Het Amel
1.1.0 Hondurans Anery, Het Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo, Het Anery
0.2.0 Pueblans
1.0.0 Pueblan Hypo
1.0.0 Thayeri MSP
0.0.1 GBK Blair's Phase
1.0.0 California King
0.1.0 California King Blue-eyed Blond
0.0.1 Speckled King WC
0.0.1 Jungle Carpet
0.1.0 Ball, Normal
1.0.0 San Diego Gopher, Poss. Het Applegate
0.0.1 Sulcata
0.1.0 Girlfriend, Caucasius Mexicana, Fiancee Phase

http://www.cafepress.com/shedz

It is an Eastern Hog, and it is all bluff. If you waited long enough, it might have rolled over on its back and played dead for you.

It didn't show me any fangs so I assume it was bluffing

No venomous snakes show you their fangs, so that's hardly a good criterion for determining if a snake is bluffing or not!
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

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>>No venomous snakes show you their fangs, so that's hardly a good criterion for determining if a snake is bluffing or not!

Not entirely true. A cottonmouth will coil up and open up it's mouth as a warning to potential threats. That's the only one I know of for sure that will show their fangs
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0.1.0 albino burmese
1.0.0 normal burmese
1.0.0 redtail boa
1.0.0 albino corn
0.1.0 creamsicle corn
1.1.0 leopard geckos
2.0.4 copperheads
0.0.1 timber rattler
1.0.0 green iguana
0.0.1 veiled chameleon
2.1.0 ball pythons
0.0.1 mexican red knee tarantula
0.0.1 emperor scorpion

Not entirely true. A cottonmouth will coil up and open up it's mouth as a warning to potential threats. That's the only one I know of for sure that will show their fangs

If you watch closely, however, you will see that a cottonmouth generally keeps its fangs folded carefully against the roof of its mouth and out of the way when doing it's open mouth display.

If their intent was to show you their fangs, I think they would actually bring them forward.

I was bitten by a rattlesnake (C. triseriatus) and I can assure you, I never saw his fangs at any time!
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

>>Not entirely true. A cottonmouth will coil up and open up it's mouth as a warning to potential threats. That's the only one I know of for sure that will show their fangs
>>
>>If you watch closely, however, you will see that a cottonmouth generally keeps its fangs folded carefully against the roof of its mouth and out of the way when doing it's open mouth display.
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>>If their intent was to show you their fangs, I think they would actually bring them forward.

Sorry, I thought they all did. The place I hunt in early wood duck season is cottonmouth country. They are everywhere. I did have one open up it's mouth at me as I stepped over a log and and I clearly saw it's fangs and it also struck at me. Luckily I wear canvas chest waders and they are snake bite proof so the fangs weren't able to penetrate. I just thought since that one did, they all did. my bad LOL

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0.1.0 albino burmese
1.0.0 normal burmese
1.0.0 redtail boa
1.0.0 albino corn
0.1.0 creamsicle corn
1.1.0 leopard geckos
2.0.4 copperheads
0.0.1 timber rattler
1.0.0 green iguana
0.0.1 veiled chameleon
2.1.0 ball pythons
0.0.1 mexican red knee tarantula
0.0.1 emperor scorpion