Roxanne “Roxy” Flanagan didn’t plan to go viral, but she also didn’t plan to see a snake emerge from the ocean during a beach trip with her kids in Ocean City, Maryland. The snake, an eastern hognose, is not a marine snake, but it does live on the nearby sandy coastal plain. The reptile must have felt like taking a short vacation to the water’s edge, because Flanagan and her group caught it swimming through the shallow surf and slithering across the beach—much to the delight of the children watching behind the camera. (One of them exclaims: “It’s a rattlesnake!”)
Videos by Outdoors
[RELATED: There Are Snakes, and Then There Is This African Rock Python]
Flanagan posted several photos and a video of the unexpected “ocean snake” to Facebook this past weekend, and then several media outlets started picking up her story. She told local news that it was her seven-year-old daughter who spotted the snake first.
Watch an eastern hognose snake on a Maryland beach here (scroll to see a TikTok video of it swimming in the ocean):
Flanagan’s husband also posted a mashup of photos and videos to his TikTok profile, saying: “When you thought Ocean City was just about crabs and boardwalk fries . . . then THIS guy shows up!”
Header stock image by CoyStClair via Getty
