| 1 | Eastern hognose snake |
The eastern hognose snake is a character that every Floridian or Georgian knows, measuring 70cm on average. Something you may have witnessed if you’re lucky is their over-the-top play dead dramatics. Hognose snakes have venom, but only through their rear fangs, forcing it to chew potential predators hoping to get a snake snack.
So instead, the eastern hognose snake begins by writhing around as though in full scale death throes. It will suddenly flip over onto its back, leaving its grey-white belly facing the sky. It will open its mouth wide and loosen its body as though completely limp. The eastern hognose snake will also release a horrible-smelling liquid, to mimic the graveyard smell of death.
Worse, as it initially thrashes around, this disgusting liquid will get smeared all over the place. By the time the bird appears with its talons outstretched, the eastern hognose snake will be unmistakable for a corpse, forcing predators to reconsider should they value their meals being fresh. These play dead skills go further than any other famous snake.
| 2 | Banded coffee snake |
A peaceful snake of rainy Costa Rican villages. The banded coffee snake lives in rainforests, but also disturbed human zones nearby, such as crop fields or people’s back gardens. This is a non-venomous snake, which loves to hang out below shelter eating worms. They’re commonly found when Costa Rican locals lift up old pieces of wood.
The banded coffee snake has been witnessed playing dead several times. They start by contorting their body, then flipping over to show their black and white checkered belly. They often loll their tongue out lifelessly as well. They can stay still for ages, waiting for the coast to clear. In one sighting on November 8th 2007, a banded coffee snake didn’t move for 5 minutes. This took place in Chiriquí Grande, Panama.
Banded coffee snakes have another defensive trick as well – spreading their ribs and flattening their upper body, to look wider than they really are. A banded coffee snake can flatten itself so much that there seems to be no room for its internal organs.
| 3 | Grass snake |
The UK’s signature snake, which actually hangs out in water more than grass. Grass snakes don’t launch into Shakespearean overacting with their play dead strategy, but the lifeless end result may be one of the most convincing. This snake goes completely limp when spooked, and nearly always opens its mouth wide and lolls its tongue out. They also curl themselves into a ball, and go so floppy that some sections cross over and they end up tied in a knot. Fortunately, grass snakes have a natural instinct for untying themselves (not like those annoying headphone cables).
The grass snake’s glassy, circular-pupiled eyes also make them particularly convincing. One study found that hatchling grass snakes never play dead, but 66% of all adults did when confronted. This is a skill that comes with age. Grass snakes can remain motionless for many minutes, and when the predator leaves, their revival always begins the same way – with a small wag of the tongue.
| 4 | Indian wolf snake |
This chocolate-brown snake is one of India’s most common by headcount. Its priorities are rather out of whack, as it’s known for invading houses, yet is utterly fearful of humans. Indian wolf snakes will react two ways, either 1) biting savagely with their non-venomous fangs, or 2) going completely floppy and lifeless. Like other snakes, they’ll flip over and show their brighter belly scales, to complete the ruse.
In one Mumbai case reported in 2011, the snake actually fooled the researchers into leaving the room, and when they returned 30 minutes later, they were shocked to see it slithering around as normal. In a 2010 tale on a rural road, the Indian wolf snake started its defence by coiling up tight into a ball, probably to protect its brain. The photographers uncoiled the snake by hand, wanting the perfect shot, and this contact was the trigger for it to go floppy and limp.
The Indian wolf snake has 2 morphs which coexist: one with simple white markings, and another with more complex markings. Scientists have only observed this death-feigning deception in the second morph, even after they severely provoked the first.
| 5 | Checkered keelback |
Another Indian species, one which hangs out by lakes and mostly eats fish and frogs. This species had one of the creepiest encounters among play dead snakes. It involved a 140cm female in captivity, which was picked up and began by snapping a couple of times aggressively. After 2 minutes, the snake slowly started going limp. Its muscle tone weakened, and the snake went floppy in the scientist’s hands, its tongue hanging out, in a complete image of death.
Yet despite the act, the snake’s eyes were still moving, following the scientists from side to side. Its body was practically dead, yet its crafty eyes were as alert as ever.
The scientists dropped the checkered keelback on the ground, and 1 minute later it reactivated. They then picked up the snake again, and within an instant the floppiness was back. This time, even the snake’s eyes stayed still. Checkered keelbacks also use the defensive skill of detaching their tail, which doesn’t grow back.
| 6 | Mozambique spitting cobra |
Most of these play dead snakes are non-venomous, having developed alternative strategies for survival. The Mozambique spitting cobra is venomous to the extreme. This snake throws everything into its desperate survival attempt (which isn’t actually as desperate as it thinks). It isn’t one strategy or the other, as the Mozambique spitting cobra can spit wildly at the “aggressor”, aiming for the eyes to incapacitate them via blindness, before suddenly flipping to playing dead minutes later.
The observations of this deception have only come from the last 30 years. The Mozambique spitting cobra is apparently less advanced: it just goes floppy and limp, and doesn’t bother to turn fully over, only flipping its neck area.
Nevertheless, the Mozambique spitting cobra holds its nerve well, and can be picked up by a steel snake hook without breaking its death-feigning act. After a Mozambique spitting cobra was moved to nearby rocks by researchers, it stayed still for another 4 minutes, before subtly flecking its tongue.
| 7 | Colombian long-tailed snake |
A shy Columbian snake with a very white head. This non-venomous snake sticks heavily to forested regions, commonly making a den inside a rotting log. It’s rare for this snake to appear in villages, although they’re sighted in overgrown banana plantations occasionally.
Columbian long-tailed snakes (Enuliophis sclateri) have an extremely long, yet fragile tail. This often snaps off as hungry eagles seize them with their talons, but keeps moving for hours afterwards, to draw attention from the living snake trying frantically to escape. Playing dead is another of their deceptions, and this snake tends to flip over fully, showing its creamy white belly to the sky. They also fold themselves into a series of loose coils. Enuliophis sclateri doesn’t convulse like the hog-nosed snake, but they do open their mouths wide. They’ve been witnessed staying still for 2 minutes before.
Enuliophis sclateri also has the special feature of fluorescence, which scientists discovered while prowling the Panamanian jungle for scorpions. At 22:00pm, they were swinging a bright torch around, which landed on a long-tailed snake and made it seem unusually bright.
| 8 | Queen snake |
The grass snake plays dead in a high percentage of encounters (66% in one study) but the queen snake is exceptionally patient. This is a watery snake of eastern America, which always lives in flowing water bodies rather than stagnant swamps. It’s a snake which eats 90% crayfish, particularly newly moulted crayfish which lack pincers to defend themselves with.
Queen snakes are docile and mainly thrash around and bite when picked up. Sometimes though, an obscure snake instinct is set off, and they launch into a fully committed play dead performance. In 2017, researchers were tracking and recapturing queen snakes along riversides. When they picked up two juveniles, they flipped onto their backs, went floppy, and stayed motionless for 10 minutes. Queen snakes are a similar metallic grey all over, and their bellies barely look different to their backs, but queen snakes are determined to convince predators that all life is extinguished from their bodies. Scientists captured pictures here, and the snake’s eyes were invisible, facing down into the cold rock of the riverbank.
| 9 | Brazilian smooth snake |
The largest play dead snake on our list. The banded coffee snake only has 60cm to go limp with, but the Brazilian smooth snake (Hydrodynastes gigas) is responsible for 2 metres of snake, occasionally 3. This snake lives in rivers and marshlands, staying away from the densest rainforests. It’s also called the false water cobra, for copying the traditional cobra’s flaring hood, usually while staying flat rather than rearing up.
When gripped, the Brazilian smooth snake’s first move is to bite and thrash, in a determined attempt to escape. But the more pressure you apply, the more likely it is you’ll active death-feigning mode, where the snake goes completely limp. Brazilian smooth snakes sometimes loll their tongue out lifelessly, although not always.
One study searched for the snake in Brazilian wetlands, and found that 5 of 13 played dead when harassed. However, Brazilian smooth snakes have very inconsistent personalities. Some are docile, and will probably resort to death-feigning, but others are savage and aggressive. Expect anything when you enter the jungle.
| 10 | Dice snake |
The dice snake (natrix tessellata) is the grass snake’s eastern European cousin. Consequently, they too have an automatic-death faking instinct, although they use it slightly less commonly. Dice snakes live in the rivers of Serbia, Austria, Hungary and more, and when picked up, they’ll usually go completely lifeless in your hands (their average length is 1.1 metres). Their mouth will open and their tongue will loll out, all similar to a grass snake.
However, the dice snake is also able to fill its own mouth with blood. This forms small red bubbles, which trickle from its open mouth in a bloody foam. A dead snake would never actually have a bloody mouth, but it still works, as the mere sight of blood causes some predators to assume they’ve found a corpse. Like grass snakes, juvenile dice snakes hardly ever fake death, whereas adults do so more and more as they age.
A dice snake’s first strategy is to hiss. Stage 2 is widening its neck slightly, and when picked up they bite and thrash, but never bite. Feigning death is their last ditch attempt.