Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi...Does anyone know what type of snake this is? I went to nature trail today and on the side of the trail was a hissing snake! My nephew said it was a Hog Nosed Snake, but I don't know for sure. It had black on the top and orange on the bottom and it disguised itself as a copperhead, the head was expanded outward, it's nose also came to somewhat of a point and I guess it was small-medium size. What kind of snake is this? Is it a Hog Nosed Snake? Ok, thanks! I took some pics of it but didn't have the film loaded right so I have no pics to show, wish I did though.

Never mind, lol. I found out what type of snake it was in one of my books and it is a Hognose snake. It doesn't look like the one in my book but I read where it said they are occasionally black...Well, this snake was black with orange! Very cool.

I love them...great snakes. Here is a pic of one of my little babies.

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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

Cool snake! The one that I saw was black and orange, though. I like that you showed a pic of it without it's neck expanded and a pic of it with it's neck expanded. Good idea. I also read that they will roll over onto their backside and pretend that they are dead if they feel threatended. Have you ever seen this before? Really amazing stuff. I've never seen it before though. The one that I saw didn't do this. It just had it's neck flarred out and it was hissing.

A lot grow out of playing dead. I have had some that do. Most stop this behavior in captivity. They do not make good pets, but if you can get a CB baby eating mice, they are somewhat manageable. They can also produce blood from the mouth and cloaca (anus in snakes). Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

Actually I have to disagree with the statement that they make poor pets. If you get the food problem under control they can often be quite personable. I have raised many over the last 26 or so years... from Easterns to Southerns, Mexican to western. But as to easterns; the vast majority lost their defensive behavior in time and were as handleable as any good snake.
My wife was terrified of snakes when we met (she actually came to me for help as she treats people with phobia's and didn't want to have one herself). The first thing I did was to place a 5" hog into her hands. It spread and struck which scared her...Then it "died" wihich made her feel bad because she thought she hurt it. When it "Recovered and she saw it was an act, she felt better and started to get over her fear...That Xmas she gave me a baby sidewinder!(you gotta love a woman that does that!)
Frank

Easterns make pretty poor captives. I would say if you went out as you first snake and caught an eastern it would live in the area of 2-3 months tops. If you have experience with them, then you can pretty much get them to stabilize and make good pets. The trick is especially getting them onto mice. You can't have toads year round...and even with freezing them you are likley to run out. For the average keeper, an eastern is just a bad pet. Westerns, even WC, still do better than most easterns, even some CB ones. Out of my 3 that I received from a clutch of CB, only one eats period. One already died...it was a runt. Over the years I have had tons...some grew up and did great. Some succumbed in a little over a month. They just aren't the best candidate for captivity as many have a hard time adapting to the conditions. I am not going to dispute the behavioral statement. About 99.9% of the hogs I have had calmed down after their first day in captivity and never hissed, hooded, or musked after that first time. Only about 10% of all the hogs I catch even play dead at the start. They are personable snakes, it is just some aspects of their care are not the most conducive to keeping them in captivty. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

I just can't agree with your poor pet assesment! I caught my first Eastern hog when I was a rank beginner and it was with me for three years before I sold it (due to a divorce). Of course being in south Florida back in the 70's I still had an ample toad supply (hence my comment about solving the food problem). I have always found them to be hardy. The only problem I ever had with them was from purchased stock (probably due to poor treatment or stress). I have at present 1.1 easterns that I obtained from a w/c female from somewhere in the Carolinas. They both have eaten nothing but pinks from (literaly) the egg up. They are now pushing three and are in great condition (hopefully I will breed them next year).
Frank

Out of curiosity how many WC's have you kept? The general concensus in the community is that they are generally poor pets, as what I have found. I did have one as one of my first snakes and it did fine. But many don't, and some flatly refuse to eat even toads in captivity. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

kind of hard to put a finger on exactly how many Easterns...I go back to the 70's when Hogs were still common in Palm Beach county...I would have to say at least a couple of dozen w/c that I kept and a lot more that I took out of Housing projects (animal rescue)and relocated(kept the prettiest ones). I have never bred Hogs so next year will (hopefully) be the first. This is part of our local (Sawgrass herp society)breeding project. Southerns; I have only caught one-kept Five. Plenty of westerns but my first Mexican came this year.
Frank