‹ Compare two snakes
Eastern Hog-nosed Snake vs Southern Hog-nosed Snake
Tap a part to see it on both. Tap it again to turn it off.
Adam DeHollander, no rights reserved
Eastern Hog-nosed Snake
Heterodon platirhinos
Mildly venomous(c) Court Harding, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Southern Hog-nosed Snake
Heterodon simus
Mildly venomousThe quick way to tell
Look at the underside of the tail. The Southern Hog-nosed Snake's tail underside is about the same color as its belly, and its snout is sharply upturned. The Eastern Hog-nosed Snake's tail underside is clearly paler than its belly, and its snout is turned up less.
Tail ★ This settles it
Underside of the tail is lighter than the belly; no rattle.
Short. The underside of the tail is about the same color as the belly, not clearly paler.
Head
Sharply upturned snout; spreads its neck wide like a cobra when alarmed.
Sharply upturned, pointed snout, turned up more than on the Eastern Hog-nosed Snake. A dark band crosses between the eyes and a dark line runs from the upper jaw through the eye.
Pattern
Very variable - blotched orange, brown, gray or olive, or plain black with no pattern.
Light gray, tan, yellowish brown or orange-red with large dark blotches down the middle of the back that alternate with smaller dark blotches on the sides. There is often red-orange between the big back blotches. Never solid black or gray. The scales are rough (keeled). The belly is plain or mottled with gray-brown.
Eyes
Round pupil, with the upturned snout above; no heat-sensing pit.
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Pits
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
What it does
Hisses loudly, strikes with its mouth shut, then flops over and plays dead.
A bluffer. When threatened it flattens its head and neck, puffs up and hisses loudly, and may roll over and play dead with its mouth open. It uses its upturned snout to dig in sand, including to dig up buried toads.
Where it lives
Eastern US: southern New Hampshire and Ontario south through Florida, west to Minnesota, southeastern South Dakota, Kansas and Texas.
Southeastern US Coastal Plain: southeastern North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and northern and central Florida (not the Keys or far south). Old records from southern Alabama and southern Mississippi; now very rare or gone there.