• In case most of you have not noticed, I made changes to the donation amounts as well as the durations for all of the paid membership levels. Things are winding down here, and this seems to be the most prudent way to deal with the "end of life" period of this site.

    Contributor level members - $10 per 30 days
    Sponsors - Eliminated
    Benefactor level members - $25 per 30 days
    Endowment level members - $50 per 30 days

    Account Upgrades Page
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Hognose venom and fangs

D

Dwellsinshells

New member
Joined
Aug 17, 2013
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Seattle, WA
I dug up some specific information about their anatomy. It's a little bit scarce, but it's available, and because I know there's a lot of confusion and debate on the subject, I thought I'd post it here. Basically, their fangs, which are located on the top rear of their mouths, do not channel venom at all. They're just solid enlarged teeth, used to cut and tear the skin of the toads that they catch. The venom, which is produced by small glands near the back of the jaw, is secreted into their saliva, which seeps into the wounds created by their teeth.

Their venom is classified as type 1 on a scale of 1 - 3 in rear fanged snakes with these glands. 1 being fairly harmless to humans and 3 being potentially deadly. The severity of a person's reaction depends on the amount of venom that gets into the bite, and the person's sensitivity to it, but in the bulk of cases it is harmless. Most people will experience some swelling, some people don't react at all. A couple of people have been temporarily hospitalized, but no one has been killed by even a severe reaction. This does mean that if you're bitten, it is unwise to allow the snake to remain latched on for any length of time. The longer it is attached, the more exposure to the toxins.

I wrote it up and kind of simplified it here:
http://dwellsinshells.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/western-hognose-snakes/

I thought it would be handy for people who are new to hogs, but worried about the bite.
 
Back
Top