Eastern Hognose Snake

Heterodon platirhinos

Eastern Hognose Snake

EHSN

Status

The Eastern Hognose is common to uncommon throughout its range.

Description

The Eastern Hognose Snake is a medium-sized (51–119 cm), stout-bodied snake of variable coloration. The dorsum is usually brown or gray with dark blotches and varying degrees of red, orange, or yellow in the lighter interspaces. Plain gray and melanistic individuals are not uncommon, especially on the Coastal Plain. The venter is dark gray or black, but the coloration is paler on the undersurface of the tail. Heterodon have a characteristic upturned nose.

Distribution

Heterodon platirhinos extends throughout the eastern half of the United States. It occurs from Canada and New England south to Florida, and westward to extreme eastern Colorado, Nebraska, and Minnesota.

Habitat

This snake is found in a variety of habitats throughout its range. Most habitats are in friable soils with abundant ground cover or leaf litter. Habitats include mixed pine-hardwoods, bottomland hardwoods, scrub oak-pine types, and maritime forests, as well as most pine forest types. Additionally, this species is known to occur in vacant lots, abandoned farmland, and even open fields with abundant shelter in the form of surface debris, stumps and natural cavities.

Special Requirements

The Eastern Hognose Snake requires friable soils and an abundance of toads.

Breeding Habits

Courtship and mating occur in spring, with egg clutches of 6–52 eggs being deposited during the summer.

Food Habits

Hognose Snakes feed primarily on toads, but small frogs, birds, insects, and small mammals are occasionally eaten (Wright and Wright, 1957).

Management Suggestions

The Hognose apparently prefers areas with abundant stumps and cover in fire-managed pinelands, especially on the Coastal Plain. No specific management measures are thought necessary at this time.

Additional References

Blem 1981; Martof and others 1980; Michener and others 1989; Mount 1975.