Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do you tell the difference in hognoses, like western and mexican? Just wondering as my male western hog seems to look alot like the mexicans
thanks Wayne

The main scalation difference is in the number of azygous scales (small irregular scales) behind the nasals. I believe kennerlyi has 6 or less (usually 3) while nasicus has 9 or more. These can be hard to see and count to the unpractised eye.

There is a general gestalt difference as well. Mexican Hogs tend to have less distinct edges to the dorsal blotches than you see in Western (Plains) Hogs. It is hard to describe, but if you can post a pic of your snake, someone here could probably give you a tentative ID based on it's appearance.
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Chris Harrison

I don't have any pics yet hopefully I will get a camera in a few weeks and then try and post pics of him. also what is a gestalt difference thanks for your help
Wayne

gestalt is technically defined as "A physical, biological, psychological, or symbolic configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that its properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of its parts."

In this case, it means that Mexican hogs have a certain "look" to them that, with experience, you can learn to recognize. It is hard to quantify exactly what it is that makes them look this way, but I am pretty confident I can look at a hog and tell if it is a kennerlyi or a nasicus. So rather than saying I recognize them by characteristic A, B, and C, I recognize them by their whole "gestalt".

If I had to quantify it, it is something to do with the contrast between the background coloration and the blotches, plus how distinct the blotch edges are, plus some other stuff I can't really describe.

So this snake is an adult female Plains Hognosed from Hudspeth county TX -

while this snake is a young Mexican Hog from about an hour south of the previous spot -

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Chris Harrison

Mexican heads look like the one in Toms post below.(large anvil shape pattern on head)