Plains Hognose Snake
Heterodon nasicus • Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Dipsadidae, Subfamily: Dipsadinae, Genus: Heterodon, Species: Heterodon nasicus
North America, ranging from southern Canada through the central United States down into northern Mexico.
Look up Plains Hognose Snake in the Snake Encyclopedia →Family
Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Dipsadidae, Subfamily: Dipsadinae, Genus: Heterodon, Species: Heterodon nasicus
Conservation
Evaluated as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List, though local populations face habitat fragmentation due to agriculture and urban development.
Physical Description
Features a distinctive upturned snout used for digging, a thick-bodied build, keeled scales, and a patterned dorsal coloration with dark blotches over a gray, tan, or yellowish background. The head has prominent dark markings including a dark bar running from the eye to the rear of the jaw.
Size & Dimensions
This specimen appears to be a juvenile or subadult around 30 to 45 cm in length. Typical adult size ranges from 50 to 90 cm, with females growing significantly larger than males.
Habitat
Primarily found in dry, open areas with sandy or gravelly soils, including prairies, semi-arid plains, floodplains, and agricultural fields from sea level up to elevations of around 2,500 meters.
Diet & Feeding
Specialized feeder focusing heavily on amphibians, particularly toads, which it locates by burrowing. It uses enlarged rear teeth to deflate toads that have puffed up defensively.
Reproduction
Oviparous species that mates in spring and typically lays clutches of 4 to 23 eggs in underground nests excavated in sandy soil during early summer.
Look-alikes
Frequently confused with other hognose species such as the Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos) or rattlesnakes due to defensive behaviors, but easily distinguished by the specific arrangement of small scales surrounding the rostral scale on the snout.
Conservation Status
Evaluated as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List, though local populations face habitat fragmentation due to agriculture and urban development.
Cultural Significance
Renowned in popular culture for their dramatic and theatrical defensive displays, including playing dead and flattening their necks like cobras.
Notable Features
Possesses a modified upturned rostral scale adapted for fossorial locomotion and unearthing buried prey, coupled with complex antipredator behaviors ranging from bluff strikes to thanatosis.