Rattlesnakes are not alone in making distinctive sounds when trying to ward off threats.
A Phoenix-based snake relocation expert on Saturday shared footage of a wild Chihuahuan hook-nosed snake making popping sounds as a defense mechanism. (See footage below.)
“A farting snake. Not kidding,” Bryan D. Hughes of Rattlesnake Solutions explained via X. “The Chihuahuan hook-nosed snake is one of two snakes in Arizona that expel air from the cloaca under force to make a sound that may be meant to avert predators.”
A farting snake. Not kidding.
The Chihuahuan Hook-nosed Snake is one of two snakes in Arizona that expel air from the cloaca under force to make a sound that may be meant to avert predators. pic.twitter.com/TxnEmZKaq2— Bryan D. Hughes (@rattlesnakeguy) August 10, 2024
In the footage, Hughes repeatedly touches the snake he encountered, prompting several escape/fart responses.
According to Reptiles and Amphibians of Arizona, the Chihuahuan hook-nosed snake is mostly nocturnal and typically spends its days in burrows. Rare daytime encounters occur mostly in “cloudy or mild conditions” or after heavy rain.
The field guide added: “When threatened it exhibits several defensive behaviors including jerking the body from side to side, striking with mouth closed, and making a popping noise by forcefully everting the lining of the cloaca.”
Wikipedia elaborated: “During a laboratory experiment carried out by Bruce Young, a morphologist at Lafayette College, the snakes only farted when they felt threatened, and some farted so energetically that they lifted themselves off the ground.”
The Chihuahuan hook-nosed snake, also referred to as the Western hook-nosed snake, is nonvenomous and preys mostly on mostly on spiders and centipedes.