Today we have another mildly surprising one to have only one example of, since they appear throughout the eastern seaboard at least and I’ve handled them four or five times other than this. This is an eastern hognose snake (sometimes ‘eastern hog-nosed,’ but Heterodon platirhinos applies throughout the world.) Medium-sized as far as snakes go, they typically run from 60-100 cm in length and 2-3.5 cm in girth, more ‘stocky’ than ‘slender,’ but the coloration isn’t the best way to identify them, since it’s wildly variable across their range. That said, the upturned nose is only possessed (on the North American continent, at least,) by two species of hognose snakes, so that works best.
They are a remarkably docile species, but often don’t appear to be docile when you first find them, because they have two distinctive and melodramatic defensive displays, and my goal is to get these on video some day. The first is to flatten out their head and upper body to twice their normal girth, coil up, and hiss loudly, often vibrating the tail when they do this (which is a common trait of many snake species, not just the rattlesnakes.) Unlike cobras, however, this flattening is not as confined to the head and ‘shoulders’ but stretches further down the body (see here, which is the other species but also constitutes a ‘Just Once’ appearance.) This display may well protect them better even from the “kill all snakes regardless” idiots, because it looks far too dangerous to even approach.
If this fails, however, the snake turns to Defensive Display Two, which is to literally roll over and play dead, notable in that if you roll them upright, they’ll immediately turn belly-up again, similar to that garden hose that never wants to coil properly. Occasionally, as linked above, they play this to the hilt for dinner theatre, another thing to capture in video.
My subject here, however, couldn’t be convinced to do any of this even when picked up, and resolutely appeared as tame as a pet, which made my attempts to show these displays to a student fail entirely – oh, the snake knew what it was doing all right. They are entirely harmless – to people, at least, though they actually possess a venom that works on frogs and toads. Some people might still find this a reason to be wary, which is perhaps a reflection on their own self-image, but since not one of the hognose snakes that I’ve found has made the faintest attempt to bite, even the injured one, I’d say that poison ivy is something to be dreaded more than these guys. This image was taken while the student held it, mind you, and this one didn’t even shit on either of us, which is the more common defensive action of most snake species. And as aggressive as they appear, it’s only their anatomy: like many snakes, they have a protective ridge over the eyes that gives them the appearance of glaring, but snakes don’t have any expressions at all and don’t communicate in that manner, so they always look like this. Even when asleep, since they don’t have eyelids either.
Anyway, here’s hoping that I remove this species form the ‘Just Once’ category before the end of the year. Wish me luck (or skill, or observatory acuteness, or whatever works for you)!