Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok, I was cleaning out my Explorer and found this snakeskin tucked back behind the double visor...me and my wife found it two years ago at Cape Hatteras (Buxton Village), put it behind the visor and it has been there ever since! lol Anyways, I was amazed at the good condition it was in. Can anyone tell me what it's from? You can't see it in the pics, but the scales have a small ridge line from left to right, like that of a cornsnake.

the vent plate appears to be two scales

another pic

Looks like an eastern hognose to me. Can you see any trace of the upturned 'hoggy' rostral?

no, the head part was pretty well intact, and I checked for that but I couldn't find any evidence of an upturned nose. That's what has me a little stumped, cause I did first think it was from a hognose (it could still be, just not apparent from the shed) I couldn't find any other snake that looked similar, unless it's from a snake not local to the islands, or a strange pattern.

I think I could call that a cornsnake. The head pattern is right as is the blotching.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

hmmm...I have several cornsnakes now, and their sheds don't look like the one I found.

well, after doing some more searches, I found pics of eastern hognoses that look exactly like this shed...I guess the upturned nose part just wasn't visible.

If you were to open and flatten the shed skin, the pattern would be virtually identical to the pic below. Also, a dead give away that it's a Hognose, and not a cornsnake is the single row of subcaudal scales past the cloaca.

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Yeah, you're right. I was looking and looking at that shed, knowing cornsnake was wrong but I didn't consider an eastern hog. DOH!
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Don't feel too bad, I also made a big "D'OH!" myself in my previous post regarding the subcaudals!..LOL!

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

ok, bear with me now...I don't exactly understand what you mean by "single row of subcaudal scales past the cloaca." I don't know if it's clear from the pics, but past the vent and down to the tip of the tail, the scales are "paired up", not one solid scale all the way across the bottom like above the vent

Please forget I ever mentioned the single row of subcaudals,....they are indeed divided on the genus Heterodon.

Yes, you still clearly have a Hognose shed skin,...my apologies!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Like others have said..It's a hoggy.
Look at the rostral, the nuchal patches, the large eye, the facial stripe..etc etc.
Wish you had found the live snake!

:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

and yes, I would of loved to of seen the snake itself! The skin was wrapped around seashells my mom has collected and piled up around the camper (aka home away from home), but no one ever saw him. I've never seen a hognose in the wild I did get the wonderful experience this spring of seeing a den of ribbon snakes coming out to bask while I was fishing along the New River...when they scattered, it looked like hundreds!