Chilorhinophis

Chilorhinophis is a small genus of fossorial (burrowing) snakes in the family Atractaspididae, the African group that also contains the stiletto snakes and many of the so-called mole vipers and harlequin snakes. Only a couple of species are recognized, including the Congo two-headed snake, and they live in the soils and leaf litter of central and southeastern Africa. As atractaspidids, they sit among the rear-fanged and front-fanged burrowing lineages of Africa rather than with the typical colubrids people meet above ground, and they are very rarely encountered because they spend nearly all their lives underground.

Members are slender, cylindrical, and short, usually well under a foot long, with smooth scales, a narrow body built for pushing through soil, and tiny eyes typical of animals that hunt in the dark. Their most striking feature is the tail: it is short, blunt, and boldly marked, and when threatened the snake hides its real head and waves the tail, presenting a decoy that gives the genus its English name. Coloration tends toward pale bodies with dark longitudinal stripes or bands, which adds to the confusion of which end is which.

These snakes are part of a family that includes venomous species, and the burrowing atractaspidids are best treated with caution rather than handled. Reliable details on the venom of Chilorhinophis specifically are limited because the animals are so seldom found and studied, so the honest framing is that they are small, secretive, and not known to be a serious threat to people, but they are not something to pick up. Like other small fossorial snakes in this family they are believed to feed on other small, elongate burrowing animals such as other snakes and worm-like reptiles, and they are thought to lay eggs. If anyone is ever bitten by a snake they cannot confidently identify, do not handle it; contact emergency services or, in the US, Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.