Is the eastern hognose snake venomous?

The eastern hognose snake is only mildly venomous and not dangerous to people. Rear-fanged with a mild saliva toxin adapted to subduing toads. It is not considered dangerous to humans and bites are exceedingly rare because the snake would rather play dead. Prolonged chewing bites have occasionally caused local swelling. Still not a snake to handle.

How do you identify a eastern hognose snake?

Sharply upturned, shovel-shaped snout used for digging up toads. Nothing else in North America has this. The hooding, hissing and death-feigning routine.

Where do eastern hognose snakes live?

They are found in 35 US states, in habitats including woods, grassland, farmland and suburban.

Eastern Hognose Snake

Mildly venomous

Heterodon platirhinos · also called puff adder, spreading adder, hissing viper, hog-nosed snake

The eastern hognose snake has the most theatrical defensive display of any North American snake. Confronted, it flattens its neck into a cobra-like hood, hisses loudly, and strikes repeatedly with its mouth closed. If that fails it writhes as though poisoned, defecates, rolls onto its back and lies with its mouth open and tongue out, playing dead — and if you turn it right side up it will roll straight back over, because a corpse obviously belongs on its back.

Venom: Rear-fanged with a mild saliva toxin adapted to subduing toads. It is not considered dangerous to humans and bites are exceedingly rare because the snake would rather play dead. Prolonged chewing bites have occasionally caused local swelling. Still not a snake to handle.
Adult length: 20–33 inches (51–84 cm)
Markings: Highly variable — blotched brown and tan, solid grey, olive, orange or plain black. The one constant is the sharply upturned, shovel-like snout.
Habitat: woods, grassland, farmland, suburban
Family: colubrid
Range: 35 US states

How to identify a eastern hognose snake

Sharply upturned, shovel-shaped snout used for digging up toads. Nothing else in North America has this.
The hooding, hissing and death-feigning routine.
Strikes with a closed mouth during the bluff phase — it is not trying to bite.
Thick-bodied and often mistaken for a rattlesnake or adder because of the flattened head.

What it does when it sees you

Specialises in toads and is essentially incapable of harming a person. The whole display is theatre. Left alone for a couple of minutes it will right itself and crawl away.

What the eastern hognose snake is confused with

One test settles each of these.

Copperhead →

The upturned snout is definitive. Copperheads have a normal rounded snout and never hood or play dead.

Timber rattlesnake →

No rattle, and the hognose flattens its whole neck flat like a cobra, which a rattlesnake never does.

Before anything else

Back away and leave it alone. A snake that can see you leaving has no reason to bite. Most bites in the United States happen to people who picked up, cornered, or tried to kill a snake.
Never handle a snake to identify it. Every identification on this site can be made from a photo or from several feet away.
If someone is bitten, call emergency services now. Keep the limb still and below the heart, remove rings and watches, and go to hospital. Do not cut, suck, apply ice, or use a tourniquet — all of these make outcomes worse.
Do not try to catch the snake for identification. A photo from a distance is enough, and hospitals treat symptoms rather than species.

In the US, the Poison Help line is 1-800-222-1222. This site is a reference, not medical advice.

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