Its common name refers to its hooked snout, which it uses to dig burrows, and to its reddish-brown dorsal coloration.

It has a shortened skull, as with all beaked snakes, giving it a clear distinction between its head and body, as well as a dark brown eye stripe running down the side of its head.

Its back ranges from grey to yellowish-brown to reddish-brown, and its belly is cream or yellowish-white.

[7] The rufous beaked snake's range includes north Botswana, north Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan, It primarily inhabits bushveld and thornveld (bushland) habitats.

[7] The snake's venom, one of its components of which is a neurotoxin called rufoxin, causes hypotension and circulatory shock in small mammals, but is not dangerous to humans.