The head is very small and pointed with tiny eyes. The top is brown or pinkish-brown, with younger snakes being a darker brown than older snakes. The belly scales tend to be somewhat translucent so it may be possible to make out some of the snake’s internal organs while looking at its belly. Location in Ohio: most of Ohio except for the far east and far south most common in Lucas and Hamilton countiesīoth of the wormsnakes below have pink bellies the color may vary from light pink to coral pink. Photo courtesy of Todd Pierson, license: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Ĭolor: The back is brown or gray with large, dark spots on each side the belly is reddish with smaller dark spots running down each side.
The upturned nose that gives the snake its name is used to dig up its prey, usually toads. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has a nice photo of the snake playing dead here. It releases a foul-smelling musk and may have a bowel movement.
To make its act as convincing as possible, it even tries to smell like a corpse. Some people who feel threatened by this play-acting end up killing the snake, so in those case the strategy sadly backfires.Īs a second line of defense, the Eastern Hog-nosed snake will play dead by flipping over on its back with its tongue hanging limply from its open mouth. When alarmed it flattens its neck, puffs out its body, coils and strikes aggressively at the perceived threat. I am singling out the Eastern Hog-nosed snake here because it does such a convincing job of behaving like a venomous snake. Pretends to be Venomous, but it’s not Family Colubridae
The venomous water moccasin or cottonmouth does not occur in Ohio.
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Location in Ohio: eastern half of state (excluding far north) plus the southwest corner of state Two Northern Copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen) Photo courtesy of Mike Van Valen, license: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
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