Considering the size of my collection and the 7 years I've been keeping/breeding hognose, it's interesting to see the differences in not only collective behavior but individual behavior as well.

In regards to collective behavior, hognose, despite being part of the colubrid family that includes many constrictors such as rat snakes and kingsnakes, hognose are not constrictors. Out of every single individual I have ever kept, and we're talking a few hundred, I have never once ever witnessed a single constriction of a prey item (always mice but never on either f/t mice or live). Perhaps this is due to several or more different factors including: territory/available prey items, overall body build (hognose are far more stout than per se a corn or a king), being rear-fanged, etc.

What is interesting about constrictors, at least from the various species of rat snakes and kingsnakes I've owned as well as ball pythons, when these snakes strike at live prey, they always seem to intentionally strike at the head and then constrict the body. Of course this is known behavior because it's preferable to neutralize the head which is the most dangerous part, what with the teeth and all, and then constricting the body to ultimately cause suffocation.

If this constricting behavior is generally used amongst various species of snakes around the world for the reason of safety (for the snake of course) in the apprehension of rodents, then why don't hognose exhibit this behavior with mice? It's probably because mice don't account for much, if any, of the diet of hognose in the wild.

When I first started keeping hognose, I tried live hopper and sub-adults with some of my adult females and it was a haphazard event at best. The hognose always seemed to over-strike the mouse which was often dexterous and fast enough to elude the hognose strikes. But when the mouse was eventually struck into, usually in the mid-section, it had a means of fighting back and sometimes getting away. It wasn't long after that I stopped the practice of feeding live mice that were hoppers or older simply because of the inherent risks to the hognose. However live pinkies and fuzzies have not shown to be a problem and are still used and preferable to those few stubborn ones that refuse f/t.

My deduction from witnessing this was that mice were probably low on the menu list of prey items that hognose were evolved into eating.

It's been mentioned that hognose have been known to eat eggs, and of that I have no doubt since most reptiles are known to be opportunity eaters, eating whatever is available and easy. However, I doubt that hognose evolved to be egg eaters for one simple fact, they are rear-fanged and venomous. From my knowledge, no known egg eating snake has/needs fangs/venom. They might have specialized teeth or bone structures to help aid in the eating of eggs, but not fangs/venom.

What other North American snakes have fangs/venom and don't constrict? Vipers such as rattlesnakes. But the key difference here is that these vipers have strong enough venom to kill it's prey and very quickly, therefore they don't need to constrict.

But hognose don't have venom that appears to be lethal to rodents, at least not in any fast acting sense. So what is the purpose of such a weak venom system? What does hognose's main diet consist of that it needs rear-fangs, weak venom and no ability to constrict? That's been the big question for many years. The common answer is toads/frogs, but nobody has ever really been able to prove that theory to any real known degree, it's just become part of the commonly accepted presumptions about hognose snakes.

Earlier I mentioned individual behavior. What is interesting to me is that there seems to be about 3 different personality types when it comes to captive feeding responses: passive, passive/aggressive and aggressive.

Passive eaters are those that don't seem to be excited when their enclosure is opened and don't seem all that interested in approaching the handler nor the food item. However, when the food item is placed in front of them, they will eventually eat it, some more quickly than others. The key here though is that there is no discernable display of action towards the food item other than the simple act of eating it. The overall process seems very controlled and subdued.

Passive/aggressive eaters are totally different than passive eaters. These snakes are often actively moving in their tubs when they are hungry and usually get excited when their enclosure is opened. However, this excitement often ranges from defensive behaviors such as playing dead, excreting feces/musk, hissing and head butting. These displays are often witnessed at not only the keeper but the prey item as well. However, once the perceived "threat" level is reduced in the hognose's mind, then the prey item usually is quickly consumed.

Aggressive eaters are the completely opposite of passive eaters and pretty much fearless when compared to the passive/aggressive eaters. Aggressive eaters are the ones that move quickly to the front of their enclosure when they view the keeper and often lunge out of their enclosure with mouths wide open to bite anything they can, whether that be the food item, the keeper, the enclosure or even themselves. These animals are so fearless and assertive that nothing seems to deter them from wanting to bite anything and everything in the hopes of getting their food item as quickly as possible.

One common thing about the passive/aggressive and aggressive eaters though is that they can be known to strike at their food items. What is interesting about this striking behavior is that with hognose, they rarely seem to strike at the head. Instead, they usually over-strike their prey item and whip around to either bite it in the mid-section or the rear. Again, this raises the question of: what kind of prey item is the hognose specialized in that it requires fangs/weak venom AND doesn't constrict but strikes the mid-section/rear of it's prey item? What other non-constrictive snakes over-strike their prey items and bite them in the middle/rear and what is it that is their main diet?

Once we learn what the prey item is that hognose are specially evolved for, then perhaps we'll learn why hognose do what they do.

Good topic!
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

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