what is a rear fanged snake?

Answer 1

Rear-fanged snakes' fangs are at the rear of the upper jaw and are different from the hollow fangs of front-fanged snakes; the venom runs down a groove at the back of the tooth. Their venom is usually weaker and is used to begin the digestion process as the prey is being swallowed. Most North American rear-fanged snakes are small, secretive, and unfamiliar to most people, but surprisingly, even garter snakes are rear-fanged and some people react quite strongly to their bites. The venom of rear-fanged snakes has not been studied well, but recent research has shown it to be much more potent in some cases than was believed. Still, you'd have to work pretty hard to be affected seriously by the bite of any North American rear-fanged snake.

Answer 2

Rear Fanged Snakes

Answer 3

Short and sweet: A rear fanged snake is a snake that has its fangs at the rear of its mouth, rather than in the front.

Answer 4

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RE:
what is a rear fanged snake?

Answer 5

Rear fanged means the snake would literally have to chew on you to give you a red spot on your skin. All colubrids are rear-fang venemous, used for digestion.

Answer 6

Opisthoglypha are snakes which have some of the posterior maxillary teeth enlarged and grooved to aid in venom delivery. The word comes from a combination of Greek terms roughly meaning 'back-grooved'.

Such venom delivery occurs in colubrid snakes

The grooves and jaw setting of opisthoglyphs are opposed to other groups of snakes, such as the vipers, which are solenoglyphous or 'pipe-grooved' snakes, with hollow fangs that work not unlike a hypodermic needle for injecting venom; or cobras which are proteroglyphs or 'front-grooved' snakes that have fangs which are so deeply grooved that the sides of the groove overlap to form a duct for the venom to flow directly through; or some species which are known as aglyphous, or completely grooveless, and thus have to chew on a victim for adequate venom delivery.

Answer 7

The four main types of venom delivery in snakes:

Aglyphous snakes (grooveless) :

Aglyphous snakes lack any groove in their teeth for venom to run down. Instead the venom drips down the teeth from any available opening essentially saturating the maxillae. In order for envenomation to occur the snake must chew on it's prey which is time consuming. Aglyphous snakes include blind snakes and some colubrids.

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Opisthoglyphous (rear grooved):
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Opisthoglyphous snakes have elongate fangs located on the top of the back of their mouths. These fangs have a groove running on the lateral side of the fang which helps direct venom into the prey. Since the fangs are located posteriorly the snake must make a point of taking a big bite into it's prey in order to assure envenomation. Colubrids make up the bulk of this group.

Proteroglyphs (front groove):

Proteroglyphs snakes are pretty much all elapids with an occasional actractaspidid like Homoroselaps (Harlequin snakes). In proteroglyphs the groove has run so deep that both sides of the groove overlap eachother forming a channel for the venom to flow. A lumen is located at the base of the tooth where venom eagerly awaits ejection while a discharge orifice lay on one side near the tip. An adductor (jaw closing) muscle is attached to the glands so that when the snake bites down the glands get squeezed and a stream of venom flows into the prey.

These snakes are "fixed fanged." That is to say they are unable to fold up their fangs when not in use so the fangs must be kept short enough so as not to puncture the lower jaw.

Interestingly enough fixed fanged elapids are known to hold onto their prey after biting. This would seem to present a potential hazard for the snake, but the predominantly neurotoxic venom works so fast that the prey doesn't have enough time to struggle, thus ensuring the snake it's meal.

Some cobra types such as the rinkhals (Hemachatus haemachatus) and many species of Afro-Asian cobras (Naja sp.) have the ability to spit their venom at predators. Their fang tips have beveled, circular (sometimes pear shaped) apertures on the anterior surface just above the tip where the venom is ejected. African spitters go one stepped further. They have spiral grooves in their fangs that (like the riflings of a gun barrel) force a spin on the venom allowing for greater accuracy.

This is only used in defense and is amazing effective as these snakes are adepth marksmen. By expending venom in these little droplets, the snake is guaranteed the maximum use of it's (normally offensive) venom when battling a predator. How often can these snakes spit before running out. Well one black necked spitting cobra (Naja nigricollis) emptied it's venom glands by spitting fifty seven times in only twenty minutes. Truly a force to be reckoned with.

Solenoglyphous snakes

Solenoglyphous (pipe grooved) snakes make up the viperidae and show some of the most specialized teeth for the job.

Viperid fangs have the groove so deep now that the outside of the teeth completely cover it forming a pipe for venom to enter. The two fangs are attached to a short highly movable maxillary bone. This bone allows the snakes to fold their fangs up in their mouths. This ability to fold up the fangs allows for greater fang length. How much greater? Well compare a 3.83-m Ophiophagous hannah's 11mm fangs to a 1.8-m Bitis gabonica (Gaboon viper) with fangs measuring 29mm. Impressive no?

Viperids have predominantly hemotoxic venom and as such, their bites take longer to take effect. Since the effect is longer, the snake can't risk holding onto the struggling prey for it would surely get hurt, but with their potent venom, quick strikes and hyperextendable fangs, these snakes are able to get in and out extremely fast. Not only can the fangs hyperextend (up to 1800) but with the separately jointed maxillae the fangs can move individually as well. So a viper can decide whether or not to move one fang or two. Inject one side or two. The amount of venom control in vipers is astounding as well as their venom reservoirs. The bulk of Bitis gabonica's head is it's venom glands.

Taken from: http://reptilis.net/serpentes/venom.html

Answer 8

hognose, coral... there are several... they're snakes that have normal teeth up front and fangs in the back... they have to really latch on and bite down hard to inject venom into their prey...

Answer 9

well i m pretty sure hognose and false water cobras are legal. their venom wont kill you just make you really swollen.