Pike County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs

Eastern Hognose Snake

Heterodon platirhinos

The Eastern Hognose Snake is greatly variable in color.  It can be a solid black, brown, or a checker board pattern with a combination of blacks, browns, tans, and olives.  Hognoses prefer a habitat of moist sandy soil.  Their name is derived from their blunt, upturned nose with which they use to dig.  Frogs and toads are their preferred diet.

Hognose snakes have a very interesting method of defense.  When threatened, they will rise up and flatten their neck.  Looking somewhat like a cobra, they will hiss and mock strike at the offender.  If the threat persists, the hognose will unflatten its neck, roll over on its back, stick out its tongue and play dead.  If the snake is rolled upright, it will return belly-up.  Left undisturbed for a couple minutes, the "dead" hognose will lift its head, check to see if the "coast is clear" then proceed along its way. 

Adult hognose snakes average about 2 feet in length.  Despite their theatrics, they are NOT poisonous and should not be killed.

A hognose with a flattened neck.  Note the blunt up-turned nose.

Hognose without the flattened neck.

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