Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I Just baught a Eastern Hoged Nosed snake for my son on Friday. He wanted a pet and the store said this snake would not get very big.
My concern is that when I was at Petco an employee told me the snake was poisonous. My question is to know if this is true? I do not want the snake to hurt my son if the snake has Poison. My other question is to know if the Poison can be taken out so we can keep the snake and my son can play with it without being hurt? The snake has not bit anyone yet and I have postponed allowing my son to hold the snake until I find more information. The store said this was a good place to ask questions.

Any help is Welcomed

C McAdams

(P.S. My son is 8)

they are mildly rear fanged venomous. You could not easily make it non-venomous, however the bite is pretty non-threatening. Did the pet store tell you whether the snake was eating and if so, what is it eating. You will probably want to go to the hognose snake forum here on kingsnake to get more info on your new buddy. The link is below. Good luck on your new snake.
hognose forum

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sue

http://www.hognose.com/pages/care/east.htm

That's a very nice care sheet for them that will probably answer many questions for you.

About the venom issue. I've seen quite a few people bitten by heterodon hognose snakes and the most I have seen come of it was a little itching. The only thing I would be at all concerned about is if he is super sensitive to things like bee stings. If he is, then a bite may cause a problem...then again, it may not. Personally if I had a son who was 8 I would have no problem letting him own a hognose snake.

There is a lot of research going on and that has been done as far as how to classify hognose snakes. You'll hear from one guy that they are venomous with rear fangs and all. You'll hear from the next guy that he was all wrong and that actually they have no venom whatsoever. Then you will hear from the next guy that they don't have anyvenom or fangs, but just a slighty more irritating saliva than most snakes. Then you will hear from the next guy that everyone is wrong and that have venom glands and all other sorts of things. Everyone has heard something and hears other things. I am willing to bet the person at the pet store you spoke with heard somewhere that hognoses are venomous and just took it at face value.

So in the end are hognoses really venomous? A case can be made that they are. Are they venomous like a copperhead or rattlesnake? No way, not even close. Are they a risk? I'd say no. I've had hoggies for years and never had any reaction to a bite, and bites from them were few and far between.

Heterodon platyrhinos is deffinitely venomous. There is do doubt to its facilitation of venom through groved rear teeth just like your other more toxic colubrids. Should you worry about your son? I would not be conserned and if it were my son I would say he should be fine. Be aware that many snakes with rear fand delivery cannot inject this toxin so they are more likely to "chew" and hold on longer if a bite does occur. As far as the removal of the toxin, I am going to have to say I have no knowledge of a venomoid (gland/and duct removal) in any colubrid (your hognose). It would not be cheap or easy to do anyway nor would it be a necessary precedure for safe handling of this snake. (all moral issues aside) An 8 year old should always have supervision when handling snakes anyway so you would notice if there was a bite and abnormal swelling did occur. This can easily be treated at a hospital without any use of anitivenin. I have heard of cases with false water cobra bites 9much larger but same family) where the snake held on long enough to deliver a large amount of venom and large amount of swelling occured in the recipients arm. The hospital wanted to treat him with AV for a cobra and would not listen to him until they got word from their specialist at the zoo they call for such cases. He did not need any AV (nor does one exist) and giving him AV for a true cobra could have killed him. Enough of the horror story and back to topic...good luck with the snake because there is no reason to get rid of it or not allow you son to handle it under your supervision.

They do have a mild venom but it is nothing to be worried about it is practicly harmless to humans.