Photo by J.W. Beck
The histrionic Eastern Hognose puts on a good show
There aren’t Academy Awards for reptiles; but if there were, the hognose snake would win every year. The Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos) is wonderfully theatrical and puts on quite a show if accosted in nature. That is, if you are lucky enough to find one.
Known as the spreadhead, hissing adder, blowing adder, pine puffer, or sand viper, this non-poisonous snake is found in the eastern half of the United States and throughout Louisiana (except in swamplands). Hognose snakes prefer dry habitats with sandy soil such as mixed woodlands, fields, and coastal areas.
Hognoses are heavy-bodied snakes that can reach lengths up to three and a half feet. They have an upturned snout, which helps them to dig up buried toads in the sand and leaf litter. Hognoses can have a pale gray, tan, or brown background with several rows of black spots down their backs and sides. Depending on the locale, some are black or dark brown overall, with no visible spots. Hognoses found near the coast have a reddish background. Hognose colorations vary quite a bit, though once you’re familiar with their “look,” they are easy to spot.
Eastern Hognose snakes are active during the day. Their favorite prey is toads, but they will eat frogs and salamanders. Hognose snakes do not seem to be affected by the toxins produced by toads.
Hognose snakes breed in the spring and are oviparous, laying anywhere between fifteen to sixty eggs in sandy soil under rocks or logs in June or July. The eggs hatch in about one to two months. Baby snakes are between six and nine inches long and are sometimes mistaken for the venomous pygmy rattlesnake.
In cold weather, hognose snakes hibernate by burrowing into the soil or by making a den out of an old skunk or fox burrow.
Like most snakes, hognoses just want to be left alone. They are timid and would prefer to bury themselves into the leaves than to be confronted. They are also not easily angered, only becoming irritated when they are stepped on or handled. (I do not advise picking up any snake!)
Nonetheless, when hognoses encounter people or predators such as an owl, hawk, kingsnake, or fox, they do have to defend themselves; and this is when they summon their acting abilities.
A hognose’s first response is to intimidate with size. It sucks in air, flattens its neck, and lifts its head off the ground to hiss—like a cobra, if Louisiana had them. (We don’t; there are no wild cobras in North America.) If that cobra act doesn’t sufficiently intimidate, a hognose will feign a strike, though it almost never bites (unless it smells prey). The hognose’s final resort is to flip onto its back and start writhing uncontrollably. After a moment or two, it’ll curl up its tail, let its tongue hang out of its mouth with a few droplets of blood, and play dead. Oftentimes it will emit fecal matter with a foul musk smell. If you turn the hognose over, it will roll back as it was, insisting on its death pose; and when you look away or finally walk off, it immediately “resurrects” itself.
One time I found a hognose in the piney woods at my cousin’s place in Sun, Louisiana. When I started to pick it up, it regurgitated a toad, its favorite prey, before starting the cobra act.
For a reptile, a quick getaway could mean the difference between life and death, so a full belly in the face of danger is a problem. One of its “fight or flight” responses is to quickly ditch the last meal.
The interesting thing about the hognoses’ Broadway act is that they don’t perform in captivity. Several years ago I caught two hognose snakes for my son, who kept them in a glass aquarium in his room. They gave their cobra act when I initially caught them, but after one or two performances in the aquarium, they gave it up completely. No one wants to believe that snakes are smart; but when the snakes knew they couldn’t escape, they curtained their theatrics.
If the weather is warm, you can catch toads to feed to a hognose; however, once the cold weather starts, toads hibernate and are hard to find, making the Eastern Hognose Snake a difficult pet to feed. My son loved having them, but we let the hognoses go when the weather warmed up between cold snaps. I just know those hognoses are back to their theatrics—on the natural stage.
If you want to see a hognose’s theatrics from the safety of your favorite indoor chair, google Eastern Hognose Snake on YouTube; there are plenty of videos to watch.
