Eastern Hognose Snake

The Eastern Hognose Snake, Heterodon platirhinos, is a species of colubrid snake native to the eastern United States. It ranges from central Minnesota to southern New Hampshire, south to Florida and west to eastern Texas and western Kansas.

Adults average about 28 inches in length, with females being larger than males. Their color patterns are extremely variable. They can be red, green, orange, brown, gray to black, or any combination of those colors depending on locality. Patterns can be blotching, checkers, or solid. The underbelly is normally solid gray, yellow, or cream colored. Its most distinguishing feature is the upturned snout, which it uses to dig in sandy soils.

Eastern hognose snakes are rear-fanged venomous, but the venom they excrete is not considered to be dangerous to humans. When threatened, however, they tend to flatten their necks and raise their heads of the ground and hiss like a cobra. They may sometimes feign strikes, but are not apt to bite. If this threat display does not work to deter a would-be predator, hognose snakes will often roll onto their back and play dead, going so far as to emit a foul musk from their anal cavity and let their tongue hang out of their mouth.

Photo by LA Dawson

The eastern hognose snake specializes in feeding on toads because they have immunities to the toxins that toads secrete. They will also consume other amphibians, like frogs and salamanders.