Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is a snake i saw outside my friends house. I have included a picture of it after his dog got finished with it. I have never seen this type around here before. Any ideas as to what it is?

Here is the other picture

That's an eastern hognose snake(Heterodon platirhinos). It's perfectly harmless. 99% of the time they can't even be made to bite. If you were able to take a pic of it curled up, not bothering anyone, WHY did you let the dog chew it up? Or was it your friend? Next time, just take a pic and let the snake go on its way and keep dogs away! If I'm preaching to the wrong person, than I apologize.
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Matt Kauffman

Thanks for the reply, We tried to stop the dog but not knowing if the snake was venomous we chose to stay back.

nothing personal but you and your friend suck
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http://www.simply-sober.com/him.html

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

Yeah, this is the wrong place to be posting pics of snakes of any kind, that have been mauled by dogs. I don't think you will get much sympathy here for your ignorance.
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Matt Kauffman

A belligerent, arrogant, or name-calling response is completely uncalled for and does absolutely nothing to educate people who come here for help.
Non-judgemental replies are far more effective and open minds to further inquiry.
Please bear in mind that if you know NOTHING about snakes except what you've been told (like many who post on this forum for the first time), you are considered ignorant in the matter, not stupid, offensive, or mean.
Also, the snake does not look badly harmed. Hognoses often expel blood and smear themselves with it during the "death" display.
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Jack Jeansonne

im not trying to be mean by saying this, but that doesnt look like defense. there appears to be a bite on the snake, near the tail that could easily be fatal. also that is possibly the easiest snake to identify. the pic also says they had time to leave it alone and be on their way. it just seems like a straight cruelty thing right there. itll be funny to watch the dog rip the snake apart. if you hve a shot like the first one, theres no need for the second pic, or the story. finally, those snakes never bite. ive run into many of them in the wild, and theyre some of the easiest wild snakes to work with, they just puff and blow air. nothing is excusable as to not trying to restrain the dog, especially since that snake couldnt have been more than 2 feet, giving them a lot of room to pull the dog off. theres no excuse for any snake to die like that, especially if it could have been left alone.

People like you should not even have dogs. If the snake was vnomous, you would have allowed your dog to get bit by it.

You chose to stay back not knowing if it were venomous or not? Were you not concerned enough to even seperate the dog from a possible venomous snake?
Nice....
Severa

Hate to say it, but they did the right thing. People who do are not able to identify snakes should not handle them -thats a very common sense rule.
Even a great dog is not worth dying for. For all they knew, that could have been a venomous snake, in which case they would have run a high rish of getting bit if they intervened. Furthermore, dogs generally have a far higher tolerance to snake venom anyways. Yes, it was only a hognose, but they didnt know that, remember?
The only safe intervening would have been verbal. If any of you have ever tried to get a dog off of a wild animal, you would understand that is not always easy.
Sometimes us "snake guys" forget what its like to really not be able to distinguish between snake species.
Now if they said they had made their dog attack it, that would be different, but they did not say that. They said nothing to indicate that they purposely harmed the snake.
So, in my opinion, you only suck if you made the dog attack the snake

I would agree if they only had pic of the snake after the dog attacked it, but it seems to me they spent some time messing with it, maybe even going to get a camera. If they had time to get close enough to take such a good picture, than they had time to restrain a dog. There were two of them. Point is, they weren't to scared to get a close picture, but they were to scared to hold onto their dog. I'm done.
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Matt Kauffman

THEY STILL SUCK
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http://www.simply-sober.com/him.html

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

If your dog (or friends dog) is messing with a snake, you should seize the dog's collar and pull it away as quickly as possible, minding the snake's position of course. This can save your dog from receiving a very dangerous bite if the snake is venomous. A bite to a dog's face can cause long-term damage even if treated by a vet.

Once the dog is restrained, snap a few shots of the snake and then move away. The snake, after being frightened by the dog, will find cover the instant you back off and will likely not be seen again anytime in the near future (or at all).

I don't fault you for letting the dog attack the snake. You didn't know what to do because you didn't know about the snake. But in the future, could you please try not to allow your dog (or your friend's dog) to further damage the local ecosystem? Too many snakes are killed out of ignorance, fear and hatred. But if a few people at a time are educated to the matter, it will make a world of difference.

Hope this helps yous out. And remember, if you give the snake a chance to get away, it will take the opportunity to make itself scarce.
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Now that is how you respond to the above post. Well thought out and will probably save the lives of snakes in the future!! Well done.

I wish it would have been a venomous snake...dumbass...

I love my snakes and my dogs...If you werent sure if it was venomous or not, you should have tried to keep the dog away from it.

Everyones attack on an obvious non-snake person. This may never get read but... that snake is not dead in the pics. Can't tell whether he's been bitten fataly or not. But that is nature at work. Obviously it wasn't hurt enough to quit playing dead, and if they left it alone at that point no doubt it crawled off to try and recouperate. I've seen snakes with scars from wounds far worse. What should have been brought up immeadeately was the amazing defense mechanism of the eastern hognose, truly something you need to see in person to believe. And perhaps the fact that there was no way that snake was going to bite anything, when striking in self defense a hognose always has it's mouth closed. What should have been an opportunity to inspire at least a minimal interest if not respect at least for this particular species and it's amazing display, turned into a bashfest. Had someone perhaps just given him the info he was asking for, and informed him that after all that snake went through, it was showing off and the minute they left him alone he went on his way, he might be more inclined to watch them from a distance or at least pull the dog off next time.
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Primeval-Beauty
"Finding beauty where other's fear to tread"