Eastern hoggie..

[croteseeker]

Took these photos today and I thought that maybe you guys might enjoy them. This is Heterodon platyrhinos, the Eastern Hog-nosed snake.





Thanks for looking, guys. Hope you all enjoy.

[reptile]

Do they always spread a tiny "Hood"? The first picture shows the snake really well, awesome stuff!

[Ruan Stander]

Looks like a bit of a porker
Probably just because it was grumpy.

[croteseeker]

Thanks for looking, guys. I'm glad you enjoyed.

Predator, these guys are known for being quick to hood. I've heard that the young hood up and hiss immediately upon hatching. While I couldn't say for sure if that's true or not (I've never seen these guys hatch), I can say that these guys have one of the most elaborate threat displays that I've ever seen. If their hooding and (extremely) loud hissing doesn't work, they'll roll over on their back, mouth agape, smear themselves in feces, and play dead. If you turn them back upright, they just flip back over like they're hoping you didn't notice. I've never taken video of something like that (seems unnecessarily stressful), but there's a lot of clips on youtube that show it. If you haven't seen one of those videos, I highly recommend it. Very interesting behavior.

[Eyelash]

Thanks for sharing ! Very cool snakes indeed. I'd love to get some of these !

[Westley Price]

Great stuff as always Croteseeker.

Interesting that the scales are fairly uniform coloured, while the interstitial skin has colour and pattern variations.

Probably just to make the threat display even more effective.

[croteseeker]

Thanks, guys.

Wes, I'm not sure what research there is on the subject, but I'd wager that you hit the nail on the head. I've noticed that many of the more plainly patterned snakes around here have this trait. When they're huffing and puffing, the flashes of color sure get your attention.