Listen as ‘feisty’ little snake produces odd raspy hisses in Arizona desert
A tiny gopher snake with a hiss worse than its bite was caught on video in Arizona trying to intimidate someone with the raspy wheeze of a chain smoker.
Stranger still, the snake was a newborn, only about 10 inches long.
Video of the odd encounter was posted Oct. 24 on Facebook by Rattlesnake Solutions, which reports a homeowner in Phoenix believed it was a rattlesnake hiding in their yard.
“After searching underneath the A/C units, along the fence line, and alongside the back of the house, I was about ready to call it quits. It just so happens that as I lifted one of the last trash cans on the property, this tiny little Sonoran gopher snake came flying out in between my feet,” professional snake catcher Bryce Anderson told McClatchy News.
“Initially it remained calm. ... When I went to go and release the snake, it became defensive. These animals will flatten their heads and inflate their bodies, gape and hiss loudly, and do so all while shaking their tail in the surrounding leaf litter. It is not at all uncommon for them to be misidentified as rattlesnakes.”
He released the snake in a wilderness area, and video shows it had zero gratitude for the ride.
Sonoran gopher snakes aren’t venomous and don’t pose a threat to humans or pets. Their diet consists mostly of rodents, experts say.
That makes their attempts at intimidation mostly humorous, Anderson says.
“Most of their spunk can be contributed to putting on a show and making themselves look bigger than they actually are. They will bite if they feel threatened enough,” Anderson says. “That bite is nothing more than a pin prick at the end of the day though, and nothing to be concerned about.”
The video has been viewed 19,000 times as of Nov. 6 and gotten hundreds of reactions comments, including some who suggested the noise was the snake equivalent to cursing at someone. Others called the display “cute.”
“It is like a chihuahua,” David Glebe wrote on Facebook.
“Awww! He’s just a little guy!!!! Feisty as ever, though,” Rachel Marie wrote.
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 6:29 AM with the headline "Listen as ‘feisty’ little snake produces odd raspy hisses in Arizona desert."