‹ Compare two snakes
Pygmy Rattlesnake vs Eastern Hog-nosed Snake
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(c) Jolieokefenokee, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Pygmy Rattlesnake
Sistrurus miliarius
VenomousAdam DeHollander, no rights reserved
Eastern Hog-nosed Snake
Heterodon platirhinos
Mildly venomousThe quick way to tell
Check the snout. The Eastern Hog-nosed's tip is upturned and pointed. The Pygmy has a blunt nose, a dark bar from the eye to the mouth corner, and a tiny rattle on its tail.
Head ★ This settles it
Small head, only a little wider than the neck, with a dark stripe through the eye.
Sharply upturned snout; spreads its neck wide like a cobra when alarmed.
Pattern
Round dark spots down the back, often with a rusty stripe between them.
Very variable - blotched orange, brown, gray or olive, or plain black with no pattern.
Eyes
Vertical slit pupil; heat-sensing pit between eye and nostril.
Round pupil, with the upturned snout above; no heat-sensing pit.
Pits
A deep heat-sensing pit on each side of the face, between the eye and the nostril.
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
Tail
Very slender with a tiny rattle that sounds like an insect.
Underside of the tail is lighter than the belly; no rattle.
What it does
Stays hidden under leaves; rattle often too faint to hear.
Hisses loudly, strikes with its mouth shut, then flops over and plays dead.
Where it lives
Southeast from eastern North Carolina through Florida and west to eastern Texas and Oklahoma, north into western Tennessee, far western Kentucky, Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Eastern US: southern New Hampshire and Ontario south through Florida, west to Minnesota, southeastern South Dakota, Kansas and Texas.