A visiting dog alerted us to something of interest under a parked truck, and upon investigation, we found an adult Eastern Hog-nosed Snake. The top was dark in colour with definite black blotches behind the eyes, and the belly was yellow. It had the unmistakable “nose” and used its protection techniques of coiling and hissing loudly at us. It attempted to strike out when prodded with a broom handle (it wasn’t hurt in any way, by the dog or us!). It had a very thick body, and although coiled for most of our observation, it appeared to be 3-4 feet in length. Our interactions with it were captured in video on a cell phone.
Our property includes the shore of the Indian River and a marsh, so there are lots of sources of frogs, toads, voles, etc for food. We’ve never seen this species here before, so it was probably a lucky, if rare, observation.
Jane Bremner, Sawmill Road,
Eastern Hog-nosed Snake (Joe Crowley)
Douro-Dummer
