Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platyrhinos)   Flickr   2ndPeter🐍

Photo: Peter Paplanus · CC BY 2.0

SpeciesColubridae
Reptiles

🐍Eastern hognose snake

Heterodon platirhinos Latreille, 1801

The eastern hog-nosed snake is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The venom is specifically adapted to amphibian prey and is harmless to humans. However, some people may have an allergic reaction and as a result experience local swelling and other symptoms. The species is endemic to North America. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid. This species prefers habitats with sandy soils and a combination of grass fields and forest edges. It comes in many different colorations and has the identifiable upturned "snout." It can be found in captivity, but is a relatively difficult species to keep due to a specialized diet of toads. As with other Heterodon species, it has a distinctive threat reaction of first bluffing by striking with a closed mouth and then, if this fails to deter the threat, pretending to die.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
3
Measurements
7
vs you
≈ 1/100th of your weight
Also called
Heterodon platirhinos, Eastern Hog-nosed Snake
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2007.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
0.6 kg
Body length
1.16 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
9.1 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Eastern hognose snake

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.6 kgrecord 0.24 kg · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: questionable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Body length
1.16 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
9.1 yearsrecord 15 years · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: questionable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Activity cycle
Diurnal
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Venomous
Yes
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Snout–vent length
0.66 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.6 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Eastern hognose snake yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classSquamata
  4. ›familyColubridae
  5. ›genusHeterodon
  6. ›speciesHeterodon platirhinos
Full lineage
  1. superorderLepidosauria
  2. orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
  3. infraorderSnakes · Serpentes
  4. genusHeterodon
All 12 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. superorderLepidosauria
  10. orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
  11. infraorderSnakes · Serpentes
  12. genusHeterodon
More

More about the Eastern hognose snake

In other languages
トウブシシバナヘビ (ja), Heterodon platirhinos (fr), Heterodon platirhinos (es), Heterodon platirhinos (uk), Heterodon platirhinos (vi), Heterodon platirhinos (de) … and 12 more languages
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