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I just picked up a golden hognose as part of a package deal from a guy that was getting out of the hobby. It is patternless and a has a golden yellow coloration over its entire body. I have only had pythons and boas up to this point and have been told this is a rearfanged animal. The animal is small (about 1 foot long) but I have smaller children that do like to visit my snakeroom. Just wondering if anyone has ever been invenomated, what happens, what dangers, if any are there, and are they usually docile? I handled this one and it did not have any aggressive behavior when I picked it up or when I handled it. I'm just more concerned with my kids getting hit. Thanks in advance.

This question gets asked often here. They are complacent snakes and rarely act aggressive. Sometimes they hiss and hood up, but when picked up they tend to calm down and slither around. The venom is very mild but if you get chewed long enough you could get some swelling. There's this website (lost the link) of a guy who let his adult chew him for about 3 minutes and he got pretty swollen up. However, they have a poor venom delivery system and weak venom, so unless you too want to try it out like he did you’ll be fine. I've owned several and never had a problem with striking or envenomation.
Aaron
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"Bones heal, chicks dig scars. Pain is temporary, glory is forever."
-Evil Knevel

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This sounds like a Madagascar giant hognose maybe? They're a bit different from American hognoses, but the venom still isn't that potent. The only possible problem would be if you developed an allergy to the venom from getting bitten multiple times, but I understand that they're not prone to biting so I wouldn't really worry.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

np

Sounds like you have one of the Leioheterodon species rather than a Heterodon. The difference is quite significant, Leioheterodon and all other Madagascar 'colubrids' are in the Pseudoxyrhophiinae family while Heterodon is with Hydrodynastes, Philodryas and others in the Xenodontinae snake family. The Pseudoxyrhophiines are actually 'protoelapids' in that they sit at the base of the elapid tree and are much more closely related to a cobra than to a corn snake.

In any case, from the work we've done, both types contain in their venoms similar toxins to those found in elapids but neither have appreciable neurotoxicity (but may cause decent localised swelling). I'd rate both types of hognosed as rather trivial bites under normal circumstances.

If you're interested in a bit more info, download one of the papers from the link below.

Enjoy, they are cool snakes

Cheers
B
'colubrid' venom paper

with laughter it kind of tickles !! ha ha just kidding. there no problem .

JIM