Hognose: Venom or not

[shaggybill]

I have been researching this a little bit lately and I thought I'd ask the pros out there. Does anyone know for sure if hognoses have a slightly venomous bite or not? I was reading this one dude's account of how he got bit and it swelled up real big for a few days, but I didnt know whethere to believe it or not.

[Zoe]

Hognose snakes are opisthoglyphous (having fangs at the back of the mouth) and they may use this feature to deflate toads which may puff themselves up with air to unswallowable proportions. I mentioned earlier these snakes were non venomous, but there is some evidence that they may be mildly venomous. Although hognoses have fangs, they apparently have no ducts or grooves through which venom could be administered. They also have no venom glands but two species, the western H. nasicus and southern hognose snakes, H. simus, contain parotid glands. This appears irrelevant, however, as many cases of envenomation have been caused by the eastern hognose H. platyrhinos which lacks the parotid glands. Due to studies, it is thought that the venom is hemotoxic. It is not known whether it is an actual venom that is produced or reactions due to saliva or bacteria. These snakes can hardly be induced to bite, even in the wild, and therefore cases are rare. There are more cases involving H. platyrhinos so please refer to the account on Heterodon platyrhinos, the eastern hognose snake.


I found that paragraph that was interesting.

Sorry I cant help ya anymore!
Zoe

[reverendsterlin]

without a true deleviery system I say non-venomous but having a caustic saliva that can be considered toxic(humans possess toxic caustic saliva too I believe, one of the reason human bites so nasty)

[Zoe]

A little off topic, but I got bit by someone once. A "new canadian" kid. Let's just say it didn't do wonders for my spirit of multiculturalism.

[Gregg M]

Did you guys know that just about anything has an LD50

[SCReptiles]

I have not researched this myself, or read it in an accredited journal, but fellow herper in Chattanooga, TN once told me the hog secretes a venom-like substance that is more of a sedative then a venom. According to him, it’s designed to render the prey helpless rather then kill it. This same guy told me that the northern water snake secretes a venom-like substance that is an anticoagulant. I have yet to be tagged by a hog, but have been tagged by a water. The bite didn’t really hurt, but I bleed like a stuck pig….based on that, I assume he was correct on the water. Any one out there been tagged by a hog? If so, did you get sleepy?

[V.hb]

Ive been bit once, all it really did was inflate my hand a bit and bled, and bled. Was quite swolen, i felt semi feverish too. I would say maybe a type of sedative as well. As for venomous, i doubt that highly.. I would support the anticoagulant theory as well.


I also support that it is incredibly hard to be bitten by a hog, this one was striking for food when i was hit, but it usually stayed placid when i was around it.

[Mustangrde1]

A possible reason people have a reaction to hognose bites is the simple fact they have a love for eating Buffo toads which have toxins in their skin so I see no reason if some one was to be bitten by a hognose they would be infected by the Buffo toxins. as for them being venomous themself I would say NO unless your talking about the Giant Madagascar Hognose which is venomous.To my knowledge however no United States Hognose are venomous.