Hognose Snake

Overview

Hognose snakes are famous for their dramatic bluffing behavior - they hiss loudly, flatten their heads cobra-like, and if that fails, roll over and play dead convincingly (complete with open mouth and lolling tongue). Native to North America, they have upturned snouts used to dig up buried toads - their primary wild prey. They are rear-fanged with mild venom effective on toads but harmless to humans in the vast majority of cases.

Quick Facts

History

The western hognose was a marginal animal in the trade for decades, the kind of snake that turned up under the Miscellaneous heading of a pre-Internet reptile price list, interesting to watch but too plain to sell. What changed was a combination of better husbandry information, wider availability, and color and pattern variants that gave breeders something to work toward. Its smaller size, milder bluffing, and flexible diet made it the species the hobby settled on out of the three North American hognoses. Most animals sold now are captive-bred rather than collected.

Fun Facts