Reptile & Amphibian Forums

http://www.herpnet.net/bite/

If you have read the site, you will see that the person tricked the hognose into biting him (it was a feeding error, not an aggressive bite)and them allowed it to chew on him for three to five minutes!

It is no surprise that there was some swelling and localized pain. Yes, hognosed snakes (and many other harmless species) produce mildly venomous salivary secretions. But can you infer from this that hognosed snakes are dangerous? No.

What is really lucky for the "victim" and for the rest of us is that this idiot wasn't allergic to the hognose saliva/venom. If he had been, he could have had an anaphylactic reaction and died before he was able to reach medical attention. Had that happened, many jurisdictions would have banned the possession of hognosed snakes in a knee jerk reaction to what was little more than a stunt.

I suspect if you let a dog chew open a wound and then proceeded to let it chew on you for 3-5 minutes, you would see inflammation associated with the injection of the dog's saliva as well.

I have kept eastern, southern, and western hognosed snakes for years and have never been bitten by a hog.
-----
Chris Harrison
Central Texas

I have been bitten twice during feed responses with nothing more than the normal bleeding associated with any non-venomous snake bites, no swelling or excessive bleeding. I wasn't stupid enough to let it chew for a long time. I agree that if you let anything chew on you for a long period of time your going to get swelling and much bleeding its you bodies normal reaction to trauma. If someones want's they can experiment with this take your finger and hit it a few times really hard with a hammer I bet it swells up and starts pulsing.

There has been some discussion about the purpose of hognose 'venom' since it seems to be slow acting and slowly delivered (it's why letting it chew on the guy for 3-5 minutes had an effect). Since hognose snakes do not constrict their prey it has been argued that their venom is simply meant to subdue and relax the prey. This seems to be especially important for eating toads because it relaxes the toad so that the air can be expelled as the snake works its way up the bloated toad.

So totally agree with Chris here. Hogs are some of the safest and most charismatic snakes you can own. Even in a threatened situation they typically only strike at you with a closed mouth and sometimes may resort to death feigning. Usually the only bites are feeting bites (I have had one feeding bite) and is absolutely nothing to be concerned about beyond what risks of infection any normal snake bite may present.

Curtis