Natural History: Eastern Hognose Snake

On March 26, 2015 our Herpetology class went on a field trip to Dixie Plantation. We had just gotten out of the van and were making our way down a path where we were heading to pick up some traps that were set. I was in the front of crowd when all of a sudden I saw something slithering on the side of the path, towards us. At first I could not tell what it was, but as soon as I yelled to the class that I had found something it was clear that this was a hognose. As soon as I made a nose the Eastern Hognose (Heterodon platirhinos) began displaying defensive behavior, a distinguishing characteristic of the species. It flattened out its head (like a cobra) and began hissing and shaking the tip of its tail. This hognose never resorted to flipping over to play dead (I guess we weren’t scary enough).

The Hognose that we saw in the field was all black, this means that it was in the melanistic "black" phase, but this species can vary in color. The snake was approximately three feet long and had a thick body with keeled scales and an upturned snout. This was an adult snake but I could not tell if it was a male or a female because the snake never flipped over. Usually the males are distinguishable from the females by a bulge near their cloaca and a drastically tapered off tail. These snakes are also rear fanged which allows them to easily puncture their prey. They like to eat things such as toads, frogs, salamanders, small mammals, and birds.

Eastern Hognose snakes are mostly found in the eastern part of the United States (hence the name) and prefer to live in woodlands, coastal areas, or farmlands with sandy soil or fields. During the winters the snakes hibernate by burrowing. When the snakes come out of hibernation, they are diurnal. Hognose snakes become sexually mature at around two years old. They are oviparous and prefer to lay their eggs in the spring. They usually lay about 15-25 eggs in sandy soil, rocks, or logs and the eggs incubate for around 1-2 months.

I was extremely excited to spot this snake slithering down the path. I was surprised that it was so out in the open, but it was perfect for our class to be able to observe its characteristics and behavior. One of our classmates even got to touch the snake while it was displaying its defensive behavior. Our class was hoping that if we watched it perform its defensive behavior for long enough that the snake would resort to playing dead, but in the end it just ended up going back to its normal state and slithering off into the woods.