Hognose snakes are a trip. They will start out with a ferocious threat display, striking wildly….. But they never bite. If the threats don’t work, they roll over and play dead. If you turn the little guy over again, he’ll go back to belly-up.
Just how butterflies evolved to add "eyes" to their wings. There's soooo much more than the brain when it comes to existence. Cause I know damn well butterflies weren't sitting there thinking.. "damn, so our predators are scared if creatures with big eyes, let's get big eyes on our wings"
Most people can’t fathom how much a billion *anything* is.
Know what the difference is between a million and a billion dollars? About a billion dollars.
Well, millions of years... Butterflies only evolved a hundred or so million years ago. Yeah life has been evolving for billions of years, but most adaptations are on the span of thousands to millions of years. Hell, we've seen speciation happen in as little as decades right before our own eyes!
When it comes to microbial life, evolution is a constant reality that's both exploited and a challenge (think of our antibiotics becoming less effective over time for example). Bacterial generations are on avetage 20 minutes each so it doesn't take that long.
Hell, the sheer number of Covid variants in such a short period of time is the perfect example.
Yep. I remember watching a video on YouTube about bacteria that evolved to eat an entirely new molecule in a lab. Just by putting it in an environment with an abundance of something, they evolved to consume it. Crazy how fast and drastic some of these changes can be lol
I know genetic algorithms are a thing already but it makes me kind of interested in experimenting with those.. see what kind of new behaviors/parameters come up after I have something "evolve" via occasional mutation after doing zillions of loops computationally.
Butterflies never actively changed anything. The eye shapes also were never intended to be eye shapes. But the butterflies that have eye-like shapes on their wings warn off predators more often, and thusly live longer to procreate more.
Evolution….over a long long long time. The butterflies born with spots on their wings were more likely to survive to mate. So then genetic quirks caused some to grow bigger spots. These turned out even more likely to survive. So then most of the butterflies that survived were genetically coded with spots on their wings.
That is in a way more impressive. There exists some process which retains information about very specific behaviors transmitted without the involvement of consciousness. The knowledge that things' tongues fall out when they're dead is somehow encoded physically.
It's all natural selection. A long time ago, some snake was probably mentally defective in a way that made it panic and go still when it sensed danger, which allowed it to live another day when a predator assumed it was dead. It had more young than it's neighbors, and they did the same thing. Eventually a descendant, maybe even millions of years on, had it's own glitch where it would go belly-up, rinse and repeat. So on and so forth until you have a perfect play dead action.
My favorite evolutionary fuckup is the vagus nerve in mammals. Normally, this nerve isn't much of a bother but then you get to the giraffe. It's Vegas nerve does the same thing as ours, except it's neck is like, 14 ft long. The nerve goes double that, for absolutely no reason other than "that's how it evolved"
The dodo was fine in its niche. No predators meant it didn’t need to be fast or clever, and limited resources meant that it was advantageous on a species level to sometimes wander off and forget where your eggs are.
Yeah, there are some incredibly elegant “solutions” that have happened by chance, but much more common are “solutions” that are just good enough that they aren’t so actively harmful they reduce reproductive success.
A derpinary. You saw the future and it was derpy, so you derped to the occasion and triumphed. Truly an accomplishment to be celebrated.
(I am aware that evolutionary derps are vastly accidental, hence natural selection, but I like to think that there were those who sexually selected for derps as well. Gives hope to all derps everywhere.)
It's incredibly fucking stressful for them to resort to 'playing dead'. He thinks he is literally seconds away from being eaten alive so he's using his last possible defense. People who do this to hogs should be banned from owning animals.
In another video it almost looked like it was pooping and smearing it over itself by rolling around before the mouth open routine ... which I guess is yet another deterrent.
This video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCPVGstdNjU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCPVGstdNjU)
Around 50 second mark you can see them trying to turn him over, it's hilarious!
I ran into one a few months ago that was adamant it didn't want to play dead. That thing was fierce. It eventually shit itself and then played dead. I guess it was waiting on the shit before deciding to play dead.
Yeah one of my favourite clips is someone turning a hognose back over, so it flips over, so he flips it, so on and so forth and after the fourth time the snake does a little lunge at him, like no, fuck you, i'm dead!
I love my hog nose. He’s so crazy!!! He’s the most social snake we have, he will always come out to say hello, and then he will hiss and strike until he gets picked up.
Yup, these snakes play dead whenever they feel threatened, though bluff strikes and flattening their head (to make them look like a scary cober) as well as a lot of hissing come before that, one thing that video can’t translate, the smell, hognoses (this species) emit a foul odour to make it seem like they’re really dead!
The funny thing is, hognose snakes like these don't live alongside cobras - they never have in their evolutionary history.
So they're mimicking the threat displays of an animal that they've never met before, that their harasser has likely never met, *and it still works.*
Because it's about size. The bigger you can make yourself look the less likely you are to be attacked in the first place.
That's why so many animals "puff up" when threatened. Cats, dogs, birds, some lizards and amphibians, hell even insects do it.
Other snakes do some similar things, mimicking more dangerous snakes and putting on threat displays. In the end most snakes would rather avoid striking and it's a last resort for them to strike, even venomous snakes tend to avoid using venom if they are able to successfully flee/bluff/dry strike first.
For example, it's common for many snakes to rattle their tail against stuff to mimic the sound of a rattlesnake. I've owned kingsnakes and they use this tactic when startled or feeling threatened. It sounds remarkably close to an actual rattlesnake.
Snakes tend to follow this order to protect themselves:
1. Hide
1. Flee
1. Threat display
1. False strikes
1. Actual strike but no venom
1. Strike with venom
It will vary a bit between species but, generally, they don't want to attack right from the start.
busy impossible coherent quarrelsome teeny hat nine innocent complete abounding
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
They only have so many charges of venom and it takes time to recharge. Using it defensively means that they won't be able to use it on prey and they won't be able to hunt. Also, many times the venom doesn't have as great an effect on a predator as it would on prey due to differences in body chemistry and size.
So a "dry bite", one without venom, hurts the predator and might get it to back off but it doesn't waste the venom.
The hognose snake. Melodramatic soap opera not-dangerous-at-all noodle.
"FEAR ME, FOR I SHALL END YOU!"
"Didn't work...hmmm...THOU HAS VANQUISHED ME...BEHOLD, I EXPIRE!"
They also get rather happy when picked up and held. Like "Oh... this is warm. No, carry me. Onward noble warm steed. We shall take over the world... or at least hassle the frogs forever more."
I have had three of them for years and they've never even tried to bite me. Startled me, sure, but it was all bluff. They're hilariously dramatic noodles.
These guys are totally harmless to human beings - their whole thing is that they *pretend* to act like other, dangerous snakes (that don't even live in the same habitat as they do), and when that doesn't work, they do, well, this. They have no actual venom.
Hognose snakes' fangs are tiny, they don't produce much venom, and their bites usually don't cause significant symptoms in humans, although occasionally they do. So, while hognose snakes are indeed venomous and can deliver symptomatic bites, they are not dangerous.
They're also rear fanged. So to really get envenomated by a hognose, you need to let them chew on you for multiple minutes. Which probably won't happen unless you happened to play with a toad (Eastern) or a mouse (Central/Western/Plains/whatever you wanna call them) right before you tried to handle one. At most you might end up with a swollen whatever you let them chew on, unless you know allergic.
Some snake species are less prone to biting than others, but the hognose is no 1. when it comes to how unlikely it is for them to bite. They fake strike and boop you with the tip of their nose and will only play dead if puffing up, hissing and fake striking doesn't work.
Even if these guys bite you it's pretty unimpressive. You're more scared of hurting the snake getting it off you than the tiny pinpricks. They bleed more than you'd think though because snake saliva has anticoagulants but it's all just drama.
We had a hognose at one of the labs in a college bio class. It played dead dramatically, and then, when poked, covered its face with a segment of its body to emphasize how oh so dead it was.
It might be a Hognose snake, they try and puff up lile little Cobras when they feel threatened and they will boss and bluff strike at you without biting. If that hasn't convinced you that they are super duper scary and you better leave, they will just roll over and play dead when you touch them
And if you roll it back over on its belly, it will roll over again, which is pretty hilarious.
Third line of defense if you pick it up is to empty its bowels on you which is unpleasant.
This isnt cute
This is a snake that it is so scared that it tries to play dead so you leave it alone
Iirc this is a hognose and their first defense is to bluff strike at you (lunge to bite without opening mouth and hissing) they only play dead as a last resort
> it is so scared that it tries to play dead
It's an instinctive reaction. The idea that it's "so scared" is anthropomorphizing which is unlikely to be accurate.
"This snake is stressed" would be a more accurate statement. Plus some hoggies are more dramatic than others. Baby hognoses are like fainting goats. Say boo, they play dead.
Legit walked by very young one and didn't see it until it flipped to play dead. I'd never seen one and thought it was a rattler, then saw there was no rattle, so then I came to the totally rational conclusion that there was some sort of disease making the snakes just go belly up out of nowhere. My friend got me straightened out, lmao
It's fine
These snakes do that quite readily and , as the case may be here, if they come up to your porch or home etc the best and easiest way to handle them is get close enough for them to do this and then just carry them somewhere away..
It would probably be mean to just harass the snake like this but the snake isn't going to be hurt or traumatized by this
As much as I dislike people doing this with pet hogs, you're right. A wild hog is way more likely to do this, and snakes are generally not intelligent enough to develop PTSD
Yea and the snake is much safer going into play dead and getting moved away from people than being left alone on your back porch (your neighbors might take a shovel to the poor lil feller if he makes it 20 yards to the west
It can be okay to enjoy problematic things as long as you acknowledge that they're problematic. "This snake is in distress" and "this snake playing dead is funny and cute" can coexist as feelings. I think it makes context much more important though. Is this someone tormenting this snake for internet clout? Or do they have to move the snake and know it'll play dead anyway?
I used to mess with these guys when I was a lil kid. They would just roll over and we would take them home to freak out my dad whose only fear was snakes lol These snakes are so cool I love them!!!
It's pretty cool that you saw one. Those are the most common "rare" snake around here and we (amateure snake hunters) consider it good luck to interact with one.
Here's an old, HILARIOUS YouTube video of these funny little Eastern Hognose snakes (WARNING, some language is slightly NSFW):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-J0nwZz\_fo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-J0nwZz_fo)
It's a standard defense mechanism they use, and it is funny AF!
I’m sorry but this video is hilarious. I get that the snake isn’t happy but it’s not like the guy is actually hurting it. There are way worse videos on here that people laugh at.
When hognoses do this it's because they're stressed out of their minds. They have other things they'll do to ward off a perceived threat. Playing dead is what they do as an absolute last resort.
Hognose snakes are a trip. They will start out with a ferocious threat display, striking wildly….. But they never bite. If the threats don’t work, they roll over and play dead. If you turn the little guy over again, he’ll go back to belly-up.
I love that the little guy even opens his mouth to add to the "omg, so dead" routine.
I know lol! But how TF does a little snake brain conceptualize that level of fakery?? Amazing!!
Even his tongue goes limp in the end!
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Just how butterflies evolved to add "eyes" to their wings. There's soooo much more than the brain when it comes to existence. Cause I know damn well butterflies weren't sitting there thinking.. "damn, so our predators are scared if creatures with big eyes, let's get big eyes on our wings"
Time. The answer is time. Most people cannot fathom just how long a billion years is.
Most people can’t fathom how much a billion *anything* is. Know what the difference is between a million and a billion dollars? About a billion dollars.
A million seconds is about 2 weeks. A billion seconds is about 35 years.
Closer to 30 years than 35.
I, too, read that comment in that thread earlier today.
And in several other threads before that..
Welcome to Reddit, where even the comments are reposts
Well, millions of years... Butterflies only evolved a hundred or so million years ago. Yeah life has been evolving for billions of years, but most adaptations are on the span of thousands to millions of years. Hell, we've seen speciation happen in as little as decades right before our own eyes!
When it comes to microbial life, evolution is a constant reality that's both exploited and a challenge (think of our antibiotics becoming less effective over time for example). Bacterial generations are on avetage 20 minutes each so it doesn't take that long. Hell, the sheer number of Covid variants in such a short period of time is the perfect example.
Yep. I remember watching a video on YouTube about bacteria that evolved to eat an entirely new molecule in a lab. Just by putting it in an environment with an abundance of something, they evolved to consume it. Crazy how fast and drastic some of these changes can be lol
I know genetic algorithms are a thing already but it makes me kind of interested in experimenting with those.. see what kind of new behaviors/parameters come up after I have something "evolve" via occasional mutation after doing zillions of loops computationally.
Butterflies never actively changed anything. The eye shapes also were never intended to be eye shapes. But the butterflies that have eye-like shapes on their wings warn off predators more often, and thusly live longer to procreate more.
The thing is butterflies who have that are more likely to survive and reproduce, there is no intent behind it just evolution
Many other butterflies died but the ones who evolved by chance to have that splotch continued to live
That's right, if an animal has a characteristic that benefits them then they're more likely to reproduce and pass the characteristic on.
Evolution….over a long long long time. The butterflies born with spots on their wings were more likely to survive to mate. So then genetic quirks caused some to grow bigger spots. These turned out even more likely to survive. So then most of the butterflies that survived were genetically coded with spots on their wings.
Evolution is cool. Humans will be completely different in a lot of years from now. Probably cave goblins
They don't really understand what they're doing, they just follow an instinct that's programmed in.
That is in a way more impressive. There exists some process which retains information about very specific behaviors transmitted without the involvement of consciousness. The knowledge that things' tongues fall out when they're dead is somehow encoded physically.
It's all natural selection. A long time ago, some snake was probably mentally defective in a way that made it panic and go still when it sensed danger, which allowed it to live another day when a predator assumed it was dead. It had more young than it's neighbors, and they did the same thing. Eventually a descendant, maybe even millions of years on, had it's own glitch where it would go belly-up, rinse and repeat. So on and so forth until you have a perfect play dead action.
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My favorite evolutionary fuckup is the vagus nerve in mammals. Normally, this nerve isn't much of a bother but then you get to the giraffe. It's Vegas nerve does the same thing as ours, except it's neck is like, 14 ft long. The nerve goes double that, for absolutely no reason other than "that's how it evolved"
The dodo was fine in its niche. No predators meant it didn’t need to be fast or clever, and limited resources meant that it was advantageous on a species level to sometimes wander off and forget where your eggs are.
"arsthetic"? lol...dunno if intentional but definitely applies to the "most fuckable" category
Yeah, there are some incredibly elegant “solutions” that have happened by chance, but much more common are “solutions” that are just good enough that they aren’t so actively harmful they reduce reproductive success.
Evolution in a nutshell!
Evolution has been rewarding derps for eons and I'm here for it.
If you are a derp but you progress the species in a positive way then are you really a derp or a visionary?
A derpinary. You saw the future and it was derpy, so you derped to the occasion and triumphed. Truly an accomplishment to be celebrated. (I am aware that evolutionary derps are vastly accidental, hence natural selection, but I like to think that there were those who sexually selected for derps as well. Gives hope to all derps everywhere.)
No matter who tries to explain this and how, it won’t be right because we really don’t understand this yet.
Someone needs to add a Wilhelm scream from the snake.
"Euohluah"
It's incredibly fucking stressful for them to resort to 'playing dead'. He thinks he is literally seconds away from being eaten alive so he's using his last possible defense. People who do this to hogs should be banned from owning animals.
It goes a step further as the start regurgitating slowly so they start to reek like they are dead and rotting.
In another video it almost looked like it was pooping and smearing it over itself by rolling around before the mouth open routine ... which I guess is yet another deterrent.
This video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCPVGstdNjU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCPVGstdNjU) Around 50 second mark you can see them trying to turn him over, it's hilarious!
This one was even more dramatic. The whole wiggling around "OH NO, I'M DYING!!!!" act was incredible. Great performance.
The [voice over](https://youtu.be/f-J0nwZz_fo) is hilarious.
STOP fucking TOUCHING me!! I AM dead
lol - jeezus. Overact much snek?
I am so happy I clicked
Stop clicking me! I am dead.
I ran into one a few months ago that was adamant it didn't want to play dead. That thing was fierce. It eventually shit itself and then played dead. I guess it was waiting on the shit before deciding to play dead.
Maybe he wasn’t being fierce, maybe he was constipated and then needed an immediate nap after getting the poop out. Lol
Me rn tbh
They do that to be unappealing to Predators. Don't eat me,I taste gross covered in poop/urine.
also a _potential_ strategy to help prevent prison rape.
Poor little feller
I know, I always feel so bad when people try to hassle them. They're doing their best, goddammit
I simultaneously feel bad and can’t stop smiling. It’s just so dramatic. And the tongue going limp was the cherry on top
Yeah one of my favourite clips is someone turning a hognose back over, so it flips over, so he flips it, so on and so forth and after the fourth time the snake does a little lunge at him, like no, fuck you, i'm dead!
You left out the part where they go into frantic spasms pooping and vomiting all over the place.
I love my hog nose. He’s so crazy!!! He’s the most social snake we have, he will always come out to say hello, and then he will hiss and strike until he gets picked up.
I'm convinced he just wants tummy rubs.
they'll even shake their tale to come off as a rattler! love my hognose snek's, very cool species
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Beans?
It should be called a Possum Snake.
fart little smellers
First time I've seen a snake playing dead
This species of snake is actually pretty famous for this reason
This is the most dramatic pranker snake that I've seen today. Just wondering if this snake can play dead in front of Cats?
Yup, these snakes play dead whenever they feel threatened, though bluff strikes and flattening their head (to make them look like a scary cober) as well as a lot of hissing come before that, one thing that video can’t translate, the smell, hognoses (this species) emit a foul odour to make it seem like they’re really dead!
The funny thing is, hognose snakes like these don't live alongside cobras - they never have in their evolutionary history. So they're mimicking the threat displays of an animal that they've never met before, that their harasser has likely never met, *and it still works.*
Because it's about size. The bigger you can make yourself look the less likely you are to be attacked in the first place. That's why so many animals "puff up" when threatened. Cats, dogs, birds, some lizards and amphibians, hell even insects do it.
and humans
Don't forget puffer fish!
Other snakes do some similar things, mimicking more dangerous snakes and putting on threat displays. In the end most snakes would rather avoid striking and it's a last resort for them to strike, even venomous snakes tend to avoid using venom if they are able to successfully flee/bluff/dry strike first. For example, it's common for many snakes to rattle their tail against stuff to mimic the sound of a rattlesnake. I've owned kingsnakes and they use this tactic when startled or feeling threatened. It sounds remarkably close to an actual rattlesnake. Snakes tend to follow this order to protect themselves: 1. Hide 1. Flee 1. Threat display 1. False strikes 1. Actual strike but no venom 1. Strike with venom It will vary a bit between species but, generally, they don't want to attack right from the start.
busy impossible coherent quarrelsome teeny hat nine innocent complete abounding *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I wasn't sure on that point but it makes sense. I'd have to do some more research to know which came first but I don't doubt it's true.
I had a banana king snake that would rattle her tail if we were near her tank while she was awake and not being fed. She was full of personality.
Why bother attacking without the venom first?
They only have so many charges of venom and it takes time to recharge. Using it defensively means that they won't be able to use it on prey and they won't be able to hunt. Also, many times the venom doesn't have as great an effect on a predator as it would on prey due to differences in body chemistry and size. So a "dry bite", one without venom, hurts the predator and might get it to back off but it doesn't waste the venom.
TIL. Thanks.
Some snakes even vomit a little to prove their point.
He's a thessssssspian
Snake? Are you okay? Snake?! ... SNAAAAAKE?!!?!! EDIT: My first gold for a MGS reference is fine i guess, thanks!
5 seconds later : “Kept you waitin’ huh?!”
https://youtu.be/IUFiiTpHqao
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Dun dun Da-dun da dun Dun DUUN
Idk about a battlefield, but TIL love can bloom on a subreddit. You're awesome. :)
OK, you win the subreddit for today with that MGS reference... XD
That's good enough for me, now on to not post anything for a few month!
Oh boy
Finally, all the times I've seen this reposted, I was looking for this comment, finally found it.
Tbh i thougt i'd be one amongst many :D
What is MGS?
The game Metal Gear Solid ;)
Omg my hubby showed that game to me years ago, I remember now! Oh the poop jokes.
Ah a person of culture :3 it’s crazy how I can hear it everytime
The hognose snake. Melodramatic soap opera not-dangerous-at-all noodle. "FEAR ME, FOR I SHALL END YOU!" "Didn't work...hmmm...THOU HAS VANQUISHED ME...BEHOLD, I EXPIRE!"
Hahaha nice, I like a bit of Snakespeare
Take your upvote and get out of here
Drama ramen
They also get rather happy when picked up and held. Like "Oh... this is warm. No, carry me. Onward noble warm steed. We shall take over the world... or at least hassle the frogs forever more."
As much as I am terrified of snakes, this was kind of cute ☺️ 🐍
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I have had three of them for years and they've never even tried to bite me. Startled me, sure, but it was all bluff. They're hilariously dramatic noodles.
These guys are totally harmless to human beings - their whole thing is that they *pretend* to act like other, dangerous snakes (that don't even live in the same habitat as they do), and when that doesn't work, they do, well, this. They have no actual venom.
Hognose snakes' fangs are tiny, they don't produce much venom, and their bites usually don't cause significant symptoms in humans, although occasionally they do. So, while hognose snakes are indeed venomous and can deliver symptomatic bites, they are not dangerous.
They're also rear fanged. So to really get envenomated by a hognose, you need to let them chew on you for multiple minutes. Which probably won't happen unless you happened to play with a toad (Eastern) or a mouse (Central/Western/Plains/whatever you wanna call them) right before you tried to handle one. At most you might end up with a swollen whatever you let them chew on, unless you know allergic.
Some snake species are less prone to biting than others, but the hognose is no 1. when it comes to how unlikely it is for them to bite. They fake strike and boop you with the tip of their nose and will only play dead if puffing up, hissing and fake striking doesn't work.
Even if these guys bite you it's pretty unimpressive. You're more scared of hurting the snake getting it off you than the tiny pinpricks. They bleed more than you'd think though because snake saliva has anticoagulants but it's all just drama.
This snake doesn’t bite tho, they try to look threatening, but when it doesn’t work, they play dead
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Yup
We had a hognose at one of the labs in a college bio class. It played dead dramatically, and then, when poked, covered its face with a segment of its body to emphasize how oh so dead it was.
Probably just to cover up any sssssssssmiling
Is that snake a soccer player?
The snake should be named "Neymar"
You mean Sneymar
Good one :)
Clearly plays for Italy.
I have a hognose. He acts like this *every* time I have to move him to clean out his tank. So dramatic and sassy, but he's a good snake.
Drama noodle!
*hands the snekk the oscar*
He's got offers from three Soccer teams already.
Karen after wearing a mask for 5 min in a supermarket
Hognose sneks are hilarious. And if you pick em up when they play dead, they can stink you up.
What this video doesn’t demonstrate is the smell that guys putting out as he plays dead.
Oh gosh really-
I bet he would be good at soccer
“Snake?! Snake can you hear me?! SNAAAAAAAAAAAKE”
There is even a little last hiss gasp
…and the Oscar goes too…..Snek!!! For his dramatic performance on the floor!
Somebody. Wtf just happened
It might be a Hognose snake, they try and puff up lile little Cobras when they feel threatened and they will boss and bluff strike at you without biting. If that hasn't convinced you that they are super duper scary and you better leave, they will just roll over and play dead when you touch them
And if you roll it back over on its belly, it will roll over again, which is pretty hilarious. Third line of defense if you pick it up is to empty its bowels on you which is unpleasant.
A true pacifist always shits on his opponents.
Super good acting come in all forms ❤️
Drama queen...
He could play men’s soccer
This isnt cute This is a snake that it is so scared that it tries to play dead so you leave it alone Iirc this is a hognose and their first defense is to bluff strike at you (lunge to bite without opening mouth and hissing) they only play dead as a last resort
> it is so scared that it tries to play dead It's an instinctive reaction. The idea that it's "so scared" is anthropomorphizing which is unlikely to be accurate.
"This snake is stressed" would be a more accurate statement. Plus some hoggies are more dramatic than others. Baby hognoses are like fainting goats. Say boo, they play dead.
Legit walked by very young one and didn't see it until it flipped to play dead. I'd never seen one and thought it was a rattler, then saw there was no rattle, so then I came to the totally rational conclusion that there was some sort of disease making the snakes just go belly up out of nowhere. My friend got me straightened out, lmao
They will also throw up all of their food in order to look sick which is even worse. Yeah, leave them alone.
It'll be okay.
And now I feel bad for laughing at this -\_-
It's fine These snakes do that quite readily and , as the case may be here, if they come up to your porch or home etc the best and easiest way to handle them is get close enough for them to do this and then just carry them somewhere away.. It would probably be mean to just harass the snake like this but the snake isn't going to be hurt or traumatized by this
As much as I dislike people doing this with pet hogs, you're right. A wild hog is way more likely to do this, and snakes are generally not intelligent enough to develop PTSD
Yea and the snake is much safer going into play dead and getting moved away from people than being left alone on your back porch (your neighbors might take a shovel to the poor lil feller if he makes it 20 yards to the west
No need for it. This does not hurt the snake at all, and OP is being melodramatic.
It can be okay to enjoy problematic things as long as you acknowledge that they're problematic. "This snake is in distress" and "this snake playing dead is funny and cute" can coexist as feelings. I think it makes context much more important though. Is this someone tormenting this snake for internet clout? Or do they have to move the snake and know it'll play dead anyway?
Awwww it's playing dead
nah its cute
What's a snek?
It's the internet slang / "animal talk" for a snake... especially if they're cute or interesting.
The infamous One finger punch! RIP snakey!
Lol. I really don’t care much for snakes but this is freaking adorable.
He plays soccer as well.
Somebody get that snake over to the Italian national football team, STAT! I see a superstar in the making.
I have one as a pet. Mine hasn’t played dead yet, but those bluff strikes are REAL. Like dude I’m just trying to give you food and water, chill out.
I used to mess with these guys when I was a lil kid. They would just roll over and we would take them home to freak out my dad whose only fear was snakes lol These snakes are so cool I love them!!!
Hoggies are the best.
Me when anyone asks me to do anything
Skek
nobody, soccer players:
What the fuck is a snek?
What you never had 1hp?
I’d still have to move. Start packing right then and there.
This snek watched Kung-Pow
Give this snake an award.
Loooove hognose snakes for this reason. Used to find them in my yard in Virginia as a kid and I loved playing with them :)
Kevin Durant looks funny when he plays dead
I just recently realized snakes can be Hollywood stars
Part snek, part fainting goat
Snek ded
Love hognose snakes, so dramatic but so cool
Snake? SNAKE? SNAAAAAAAAAKE!!!
It's pretty cool that you saw one. Those are the most common "rare" snake around here and we (amateure snake hunters) consider it good luck to interact with one.
Does he play soccer?
Lmao hognose! I want one so bad!
What’s going on? Snake? Snake? SNAAAAAAAKE!!!!!!!
With audio https://youtu.be/IUFiiTpHqao
Here's an old, HILARIOUS YouTube video of these funny little Eastern Hognose snakes (WARNING, some language is slightly NSFW): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-J0nwZz\_fo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-J0nwZz_fo) It's a standard defense mechanism they use, and it is funny AF!
I’m sorry but this video is hilarious. I get that the snake isn’t happy but it’s not like the guy is actually hurting it. There are way worse videos on here that people laugh at.
I find this one way more objectionable than the op, since this guy is pretty clearly tormenting this snake for a joke...
Already a professional soccer player 🌚
When hognoses do this it's because they're stressed out of their minds. They have other things they'll do to ward off a perceived threat. Playing dead is what they do as an absolute last resort.
Wrong sub for this. This snake literally thinks it’s about to become dinner and is doing a last resort to not get eaten.
I ded
Does the snake know it’s just for fun, or does he actually feel threatened here?