Fun Hognose Snake Facts For Kids
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Hognose snake (Heterodon genus) of order Squamata, family Colubridae is the collective name for all species of the family. This is the largest snake family to exist with hundreds of genera in it.
They get the name because of their upturned snout. The eastern hognose snake is also called puff adder because when it feels threatened, it acts like a cobra by raising its head.
Hognose snakes are endemic snake species in North America. Although a large number of subgenera are present under the Colubridae family of hognose snakes, most of them have similar patterns in habitat preferences.
Hognose snakes used to exist in large numbers but now are threatened by human activities. If you are interested to know more about the different species of hognose snakes, then continue reading these wonderful western hognose snake facts, and eastern hognose snake facts.
Check out the articles on green anaconda and rattlesnake facts too
Hognose Snake Interesting Facts
What type of animal is a hognose snake?
Hognose snakes are all the snakes that belong to the Colubridae family and genus Heterodon.
What class of animal does a hognose snake belong to?
Hognose snakes are reptiles with upturned snouts. Hence, they belong to the class Reptilia.
How many hognose snake are there in the world?
The overall population of western hognose snakes is fewer than 100,000 but it is not evaluated in the case of eastern hognose snakes.
Where does a hognose snake live?
The different species are found in various parts of North America. For example, the eastern hognose snakes (Heterodon platirhinos) are distributed in places like eastern and central Minnesota, Canada, southern Ontario, Wisconsin, southern Florida, western Kansas, and from west to east in Texas.
The range of western hognose snakes extends from northern Mexico to southern Canada and from Colorado in the west to Illinois in the east.
What is a hognose snake's habitat?
The most preferred hognose snakes habitat includes areas with sandy soils. The reason behind choosing sandy soil is that they can dig burrows to search for food. Other than that they are also found in North American farmlands, woodlands, prairies, and coastal areas.
Who do hognose snakes live with?
Single hognose snakes are found alone in burrows while in captivity they live with their masters.
How long does a hognose snake live?
In captivity, hognose snakes can live for a span of 15-20 years while in the wild they live for nine-19 years.
How do they reproduce?
Male snakes approach a female to mate by scent marking. They reproduce by internalized fertilization. The western hognose snakes mate between February to March June and August while the eastern ones mate between April to May April and July. The former ones lay fewer eggs than the latter.
What is their conservation status?
Both species the eastern hognose snake (Heterodon platirhinos) and the western hognose snake (Heterodon nasicus) are enlisted as species of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List.
Hognose Snake Fun Facts
What do hognose snake look like?
The upturned snout helps hognose snakes to dig into the sand to find food. The colors in hognose snakes vary a lot.
Some of the common colors that are observed in different species of the snake are yellow, brown, and black. Sand-colored species have black and white markings on its body. The upper jaw contains strong teeth also known as rear fangs.
Female eastern hognose snakes have a tapered tail which has a blunt end in the case of males. The female tail is also a bit longer than the males.
How cute are they?
Among all snakes, hognose snakes are a bit different looking because of their upturned snouts. This is also a reason for being a favorite cute morph of so many people.
How do they communicate?
The snakes mainly communicate by hissing. They raise their head and neck before hissing. This phenomenon of raising the head and neck has gained them the name puff adder.
How big is a hognose snake?
The eastern hognose snake is longer than a western hognose snake. The length of the former is around 17.7-41.3 in (45-105 cm) while the latter's length ranges from 14.2-36.6 in (36-93 cm) from the head to the tail.
How fast can a hognose snake move?
Hognose snakes crawl with their body to move and they rarely swim. They can move fast or slow according to their choice and do not have any particular speed range.
How much does a hognose snake weigh?
The western hognose snake's weight varies from 2.8-12.3 oz (80-350 g) and the eastern hognose snake also weighs under 1 lb (453.6 gm).
What are their male and female names of the species?
The species of hognose snakes do not have any specific name for the males and the females. All of them are called hognose snakes.
What would you call a baby hognose snake?
Like all snakes, the hognose snake's babies will be called snakelets.
What do they eat?
The favorite meal of hognose snakes is toads. They also eat other animals apart from toads like frogs, mice, eggs of birds and lizards, and bugs. They catch toads, frogs, and others animals using the rear fangs.
Are they poisonous?
Hognose snakes are not harmful so they are taken to be nonvenomous. Mild venom might pass if bitten.
Would they make a good pet?
They make excellent pets among the snakes. Hognose snakes are playful and good companions.
Did you know...
Hognose snakes are diurnal in nature.
The practice of playing dead is also a very interesting feature about them.
Eastern vs. Western hognose snake
The eastern and the western hognose snakes show very little dissimilarity. Some of them are like differences in their ranges and eating habits. The eastern one can perform thanatosis (playing dead).
Having Your Own Hognose Snake
Hognose snakes are easy to handle and handling a western hognose snake is one of the easiest. These picky eaters will easily adapt to the domestic environment once they start eating regularly. Hognose snake bites are also painless and only result in scratches.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other reptiles including the frilled lizard and the coral snake.
You can even occupy yourself at home by drawing one of our Hognose snake coloring pages.
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Sources
https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/hetpla.htm
https://www.britannica.com/animal/hognose-snake
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hognose
http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_hognose_snake.php
https://nhpbs.org/wild/easternhognosesnake.asp
https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/hetsim.htm
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