Leave Zombie Snakes Alone
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The warnings concerning a "Zombie Snake". The Eastern Hognose snake are popping up again. The Eastern Hognose snake is also known as the spreading adder, because of what it does when it feels threatened. It puffs up to make you think you have walked up on some kind of cobra. Any type of snake will send me running screaming, While the mildly venomous bite will send you to the hospital, the bite is only capable of sedating small prey like a toad or a mouse. So, snake experts aren't too worried about a snakebite from a "zombie" snake.
Why are people all of a sudden so scared of this snake? It plays dead when it feels it's in danger earning it the name of "Zombie Snake". Truly, the name is what freaks us out. Don't reach for the "dead" snake. It's hoping you walk on by and let it be.
No, the snake does not die and come back to life. The nickname for the puff adder should have been an opossum snake. That way no one thinks 2020 brought us another plague and people realize it's just a snake that plays dead. First murder hornets, now zombie snakes? Just like the murder hornets, these snakes shouldn't be that big of a deal in the South.
According to the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory at the University of Georgia, the Eastern Hognose snakes are "NOT aggressive and rarely bite people." Don't take your chances, leave the "Zombie Snake" alone.