Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If hognose snakes are venomous why are they aloud in pet store that "do not carry" venomous animals?

Chris

Probably because pet stores are very stupid. They either dont realize that they are venemous, or dont count them because its so mild or they are rear-fanged. But more likey because they dont know its venemous
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

...however, I have seen a couple of pet stores put a "bee-sting allergy victims" disclaimer on the display cage as a CYA precaution.

Jennifer Webb
(Jungle Gems)

Because they are technically venomous, but not at all dangerous. To put them in the same category with pit vipers and cobras would be absolutely ridiculous. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about hognoses knows they do not bite out of defense. To group them with genuinely dangerous snakes would backlash for us hog lovers. No doubt there will be some municipality out there that would try to pass some type of ordinance prohibiting these snakes all because a mother freaked out about seeing a "venomous hognose" for sale in a pet store.

I insist upon calling them venomous for people to get a better understanding of their natural history, not to scare away people who don't understand the whole picture.
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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

I would also like to refer you to another thread that is of very pertinent information on this topic. Here is the link (from Dec. 31):

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=672945,672945

Here is a link for a study on the many "venomous" species in the Colubridae Family:

http://www.unco.edu/biology/faculty/mackessy/colubrid.pdf

This is a very good paper, that delves into all aspects of the venom (uses, toxicity....). The paper is a typical scientific paper so many of the hobbyists will not read it entirely, but I do recommend use of the search function in Acrobat Reader to look for the information of particular interest to you.

I hope that this information can shed some light on this very misunderstood aspect of the Heterodon genus.

Miles Thompson
tommymx@hotmail.com