Feeding: I have observed countless times on surface during evening.

Breeding: Only ever read reports from northern states but in those areas (even with sandy deep soil) it occurred on surface and so did pairing. I'll try to see if my college's data base still has access to the study on Heterodon platirhinos pairing, courtship, and mating behavior.

Shedding: Seen 4 times on surface and my captives with soil 6 inches deep shed on surface. Most rough surfaces to help them are on surface and the local ground cover holds humidity rather well.

All the burrowing and burrows that I have seen are just enough to fit under placed rocks and fallen logs. I have found that flat pieces of broken trees (about 2 inches thick of rotting wood) and then flat-rocks are their preferred hiding areas (unless Gopherus polyphemus is present).



When I have observed burrowing it tends to be very brief, usually to just get under a surface object or to dig up a toad, their nose seems better designed to penetrate logs and harder soils whereas western/mexican and southerns are better suited to digging extensively through soil.



Also as I said this is just locals. I don't have time or money to travel, I wish I did because I REALLY want to go to the central Florida ridge - mainly because I have heard that its really great for hognoses haha.

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]