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Nice Find

akonitony

akonitony

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Found this little guy crossing the road about a mile from my house this morning. The wife and I were taking some friends and family out on our boat for a day on the Suwannee/Santa Fe river system, and if I hadn't forgot my wallet and been delayed a few extra minutes, I probably would have either run him over or not seen him at all. He was right smack in the middle of the road as I passed him, and had me thinking he was a leaf at first. He looks to be a couple of weeks old, and popped as a male. I believe this is a southern hognose, as one can tell from the lighter tail color and more pronounced up-turn to the nose.
 

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Got him to eat a pinky scented with a nice-sized toad I found out by our dog pens... by the time the camera was ready, all that was sticking out of of his mouth was a foot. I tried a second one, but he refused that one. I guess he didn't want to make a 'hog' out of himself:rofl:
sorry - I couldn't resist.
 

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very nice find, looks like he will end up melanistic in his later life. Plan on keeping him for long? I need some for breeding projects.
-Jt
 
Getting ready to ship him to a friend of mine in NJ whose been wanting one for a while. I guess when you have over 200 Drymarchon, and are pretty much the world-leader in breeding them, a stubby little guy in camo with a piggy-nose is what floats your boat...
Anyway, before I placed him in his shipping box for the quick over-nighter, I decided to see if I could get him to eat another pinky, and sure enough, he dove right in:
 

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LampropeltisCollector said:
very nice find, looks like he will end up melanistic in his later life. Plan on keeping him for long? I need some for breeding projects.
-Jt
Click to expand...

I used to find quite a few of these guys in Spring Hill around Lake Theresa. Not sure how much of a lake is left there, but it may behoove you to check that area of Hernando county. They also frequent the Weeki Wachee area. Any place you have water for toads to grow up and sand for the hognose to dig in is where you will find them... It took me about 3 months of keeping my eyes peeled everytime I was driving on these back roads near my house, and as I'm sure you know, when you least expect one - expect it.
 
I see your point, but if you check out this website, http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/hetsim.htm, and look at the color of the tail in the first couple of pics at the top, you'll see why I am thinking it is a southern. If I still had the thing here, I could look on the underside of the tail and tell for sure, but he is now in NJ with his new keeper. There will be some people coming over Saturday to see his collection, and one of those guys is an expert in Heterodon. He had seen these pics earlier, and said he could not tell which one it was by 100% from the pics, and had to see the underside of the tail to know for sure, so we can wait until then and find out who is correct here. Personally, now that I study the patterns of the eastern vs. southern in the pics on the last post, I'm thinking it may very well be an eastern, but then again, the website I just pasted has me thinking the opposite because of the lighter tail. Either way, it still was a really nice find that happened when I least expected it. After a morning of loading the boat, having to go back to the house in a the back of a friends truck to get my wallet because we couldn't turn around my truck and boat, then finally getting underway, my wife was thinking I was crazy for making a panick stop in the middle of the road for something nobody else saw. I'm just glad the little guy didn't get run-ded over...
 
If you read the Savannah River site description carefully, you will see this:

"Southern hognose snakes can be distinguished from eastern hognose snakes by examining the tail. In southern hognose snakes, the underside of the tail is the same color as the belly (the underside of the tail is lighter than the belly in the eastern hognose)."

Southern hognose snakes have a light belly and the tail is the SAME color as the belly. Eastern hogs have a dark belly, which turns to light under the tail.

You can see the guide to Herps of Highlands County, FL on our website here:
http://www.sunshineserpents.com/Highlands.htm

Or the still-in-progress guide to Herps of Central Florida snakes on our facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.227306557300384.60307.227248730639500
 
SunshineSerpents said:
If you read the Savannah River site description carefully, you will see this:

"Southern hognose snakes can be distinguished from eastern hognose snakes by examining the tail. In southern hognose snakes, the underside of the tail is the same color as the belly (the underside of the tail is lighter than the belly in the eastern hognose)."

Southern hognose snakes have a light belly and the tail is the SAME color as the belly. Eastern hogs have a dark belly, which turns to light under the tail.

You can see the guide to Herps of Highlands County, FL on our website here:
http://www.sunshineserpents.com/Highlands.htm

Or the still-in-progress guide to Herps of Central Florida snakes on our facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.227306557300384.60307.227248730639500
Click to expand...
Well, looks like you are correct. I guess I stand in good company with my error, however. My friend in NJ I sent it too just emailed me to confirm the reciept of the animal. Here's what he wrote:

He arrived in perfect condition. I think it is a Southern. It has a white tail. Head structure looks like a Southern to me also. I will know definitely on Saturday. Beautiful little bugger. Hooded up and did the whole hissy thing when I first handled him. Plump little guy. Thanks !!!

I won't say who my friend is, and I still have the utmost respect for his knowledge in herpetology - especially when one considers his work with breeding species in captivity no one else could get to reproduce until they followed his work. Anyway, I emailed him and let him know there might be someone in Spring Hill, FL who might want to trade a southern for an eastern, but that will be up to the two of them to decide, as I no longer have the animal in question.
 
Well, The 'expert' opinion is in and it is definitely an eastern, so looks like my mistake - once again. Just nobody tell my wife - she would never let me live it down. Anyway, if anyone wants to trade a southern hognose for an eastern, I have a friend who has the eastern.
 
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