Life History: Eastern Hognose snake

One week for herpetology lab, our class to a field trip out to Dixie Plantation, a large forested area down highway 17 in Hollywood South Carolina. Once there, we began exploring for herp species starting in the woods across from the plantation area and then around the plantation houses themselves. Down the road from the main house, under a log, our master herp finder Chris found an eastern hognose snake. The eastern hognose, Heterodon platirhinos, is an average size snake found within the Xenodontidae family. This snake species has keeled scales, a pointed snout, and can sometimes have spots, although solid black or gray species are common in some areas. The species is distinguishable from other hognose by looking at its underbelly, which is lighter in color than the rest of its body. The sex of a snake can be hard to determine without probing the snake and since we lack the tools for this, the sex of the one we found is not known. The eastern hognose can be found throughout most of the southeast with its range extending far west a Kansas and as far north as Michigan and Wisconsin. This species posses some unique behavior which they employ when they feel threaten. When a predator first approaches, the snake will flatten out its head and produce a hiss like noise. If the predator does not leave, the snake will then roll onto its back, throws out its tongue and plays dead. The species that we found did exactly that when we first caught it and placed into out bucket but, not before vomiting all over our TA Kevin. When we let the snake out of the bucket, we witness it in its death throes before flipping it right side up to see what would happen. Overall this snake did not seem to bright but its behaviors must work since it was the only one that we found.