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Some highlites from the field.

Early on observed this male crossing the road, of interested, I moved it off the road in the direction it was heated. Only to have it return to the exact spot I interfered with him and then continue exactly in the direction it was headed.

In situ, this female is the smallest yet from last years crop. What a cutie, got me, I think shes cute.

Shes is SOOOOOOO cute. There is such a huge difference in behavior, the males are bun bites and go nuts, females, cute I tell you.

THis male was found hanging out all day in the area of the nest I found 5 days ago. hmmmmmmmmmmm

These are hatched eggs, possibly from last year. They would discovered right where a bunch of neonates was located last year. Something dug them up. Actually the female above was found about 15 feet from those eggs.

These guys(Mohave rattlesnakes) share the habitat with hogs, also within 25 feet of the known nest is at least 7 of these fellas to keep me on my toes.

I found a grip of these, all females, acting suspiciously like they are preparing to lay eggs. Time will tell.

Remember, this is a study in ethology, none scientific, which means I will wait to confirm our suspicions rather then dig up and disturb normal events. So time will tell.

Anyway, making some progress and having fun. Thanks

As always when doing field work, one must be careful when our work interferes and causes changes in our subjects behavior.

One of the interesting aspects of hognose is that, what causes interference.

I visited a field forum for a while and watched as they struggled to define what interference is. That field forum was actually more of a photo contest forum using snakes, then about the snakes themselves. So they could not include anything that hindered their photo shoots. So picking up, posing, taking and placing them in coolers overnight, was all OK and not interference. Field biologist,REMOVE the animals from their habitat and known system of travel, cut them open, place a radio inside and say, they are normal the next day.(Which is both behaviorally and physically impossible) Of course then follow them daily with giant antennas.

I do have a definition, based on ethology(behavior) which is, any contact or near contact that causes the subject to alter behaviors from Safe behaviors, to risky, unsafe behaviors, is interference. Snakes practice repetition of safe movement. That becomes routine. Interference causes them to alter that and take flight to unsafe areas or routines.

Examples, with our rattlesnakes, rattles, hissing, striking etc are defensive behaviors. But if breached, that is, you still pick them up, they will often take flight and and avoid their normal routine. In studys on reptile removal, 95% or more of individuals moved over 1/2 mile perish within a year.

Of interest, hogs seem to be a bit different. They are bold, fearless and appear to be(so far) not effected by the simple picking them up.

It appears that "playing dead" actually Psycho barfing, crapping musking defensive behavior is based on being touched or picked up. (a contact behavior) So if put back down, they seem to carry on as normal. Which makes hogs a dream animal to study. Maybe real physical injury would work. Naw!!!

Related and of interest, such species I have worked with like Green ratsnakes and Rosy boas, tend to acquire lots and lots of scaring as they age. From minor, to how the heck did you survive.

Other species like rattlesnakes, do not tend to have lot of scaring even old individuals.

Hognose seem to fit the later, so far, only one individual was scared, or was going to scare. It was a male with two fresh dime size holes mid body and still bleeding. Sample size 100 plus.

Whatever that defense is, it works well. Thanks

p.s. I am apparently under the false impression that if I find snakes crossing the road, If I pick them up and mess with them, they will avoid crossing roads, so far, that's not working

Hope you can see this,

I hope you can see this, its a adult hognose track going down the middle of a long open area. It went about 60 feet in the wide open in the DAY. Every time it got close to the side, it went back to the middle.
Ever heard of hawks and such!!!! This type of behavior is why I call them bold. We see this all the time. Enjoy

Great posts, all 4 of them.

A long time ago, someone familiar with wild hogs on this forum told me that hogs were often seen right out there in the open during the day, crawling where there is no cover. Funny snakes. What were the temps like when you found the above hogs?

The temps ranged(air temps) from 45F to the high eighties. I would not be surprised to see them out in the mid ninties. It would have to be accidental, as, its too hot for me to be hiking here and there.

You have to consider, the mass temps are not the same as air temps. When it was cold out, the snakes came from a warmer mass and into the sun, so were much warmer then the 40'sF. Also body temps are not often the same as air temps or mass temps. Funny but true.

Some body temps are in the mid ninties. Of course, that is the maximum.

Whats really odd is, unlike rattlesnakes, they rarely coil up and bask, if at all. I observed a few coiled in the shade and under boards, but most bask in a slight curve. Then head out. Rarely staying out for long. Thanks