Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Have any of you happen to look at the post made on the Indigo forum regarding an unindentified snake (thought to be a young Eastern Indigo) in a YouTube vid?!

If not, here is the link to it: http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1599008,1599008

All of the people so far have thought it to be a Black Racer, Water Snake, or (from a guy who lives in Florida) a young Eastern Indigo!

I'm guessing that I am the only one of us Hog guys who has seen it so far because the answer (at least to us) should be very obvious.

I just made my reply stating the correct ID (Black/melanistic Eastern Hognose).

Anway, I figured some of you guys would get a laugh at this.
I would think that people posting on the Indigo forum would at least know enough about what they look like to not confuse it with an Eastern Hognose! (OR be so sure that they were looking at a water snake/racer)

Yeah, it doesn't take much to amuse me...but it gets me through the day.

Later,

Alex

its a nerodia....check the close up again the light is a glare,makes it tough....but that ain't no heterodon....the rostral scale is smooth...not pointed or upturned.....besides eastern hogs are daytime prowlers.....youse hogheads know that.....this snake was on the move

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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

n/p

I'm laughing even harder now...
I can't believe that so many of you think that it is a snake that looks almost nothing like the one in the vid.

Now, I won't waste my time for very much longer on this topic (if you want to think it's a Nerodia) then whatever...but think about a few of these basic observations:

1. The snake is very heavy-bodied from head to as far as you can see (not just the middle section).

2. It is JET black as far as I can see, and I've never seen any water snake from Florida that didn't have some pattern.

3. It has white under its chin (never seen a water snake from Florida with distinct white under its chin either).

4. It eyes are large and buggy, and situated somewhat on the top of its head (not characteristic of Nerodia at all).

5. The area behind and under its eyes is flattend (very characterisic of a hognose).

6. AND...IT'S ROSTRUM IS UPTURNED! (At around 4:12 the light really shows where its head stops and the upturned rostral scale begins).
Like I said in my first post, I know that Eastern Hognoses have the least pronounced curve on their snout of any Heterodon...but if you pause the video, it should be plain as day.

Oh, but I suppose since it was found at night that I should just ignore all that and call it Nerodia.

If you really want to convince me that you are right, post a picture of a Black phase Eastern Hognose and a Nerodia that occurs in Florida that looks more like the snake in the video than the hognose.

I have no problem with being wrong, but in this case I firmly believe (unless you post a picture of a Nerodia native to Florida that looks totally different than anything that I have ever seen) that I am right.

~Alex

don't matter.....we ain't got the snake in hand....all we got is a poorly lite video...the rostrum is not upturned...nerodia does have large buggy eyes.....yea there are very dark h2o snakes in fla and they are thickly built..the eyes are situated towards the dorsal area of the head..aquatic adaptation...how often have you seen an eastern hog active at night...yea, behavior can be important in ID in some cases....but.......you wanna call it a hognose....go on ahead....everybody can laugh at each other...

You guys are killing me! I'm 95% sure the snake is Nerodia the eyes alone gave it away to me from the get-go. The 5% comes from the thickness of the neck, the possability of a up turned rostal(again the lighting doesn't help)and no form of pattern(wich isn't saying much as all snakes can be highly variable).

I'm sure I could identify all NA snakes in good light, at least 75% by Taxonomy, but without good light I can't say 100% what this snake is thats my .02's.

Oh and I posted this in the watersnake forum as well, and I can't spell LOL.
Nate

After talking with one of my friends and looking through a bunch more pictures of the two species, I'm going to agree with you guys.

When I considered all of the factors again, the most logical decision that I can reach at this point is that the snake in the video is a Nerodia and not a hognose.

I'm sorry if I came off as aggressive towards anyone...I just went with what my first instinct was on the ID of the snake and didn't leave much room for convincing otherwise. (Not very professional of me.)

The ID of some snake in a low-quality video from YouTube is definitely nothing to get fired up about.

So, I think that this thread has come to an end, and that it is agreed that the snake is most likely a water snake.

My apologizes again for being so hard-headed.

Take care,

Alex

thang but a chicken wing....debates among friends are healthy....

You guys gotta start listening to old man Bob. He made some good points. The guy's got like 80 years experience in the field!

Take it from the hognose expert...NERODIA!
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