#snake lover

Summary

In the distant future, Earth has stretched beyond the stars. Its latest conquest: the vibrant, oceanic planet XZ-91A, nicknamed Gaia. Teeming with alien life and glittering with unmined riches, Gaia was meant to be another victory for the Initiative TerraNova.

But Gaia is not unclaimed.

Today's animal of the day is the Western Hognose Snake (Heterodon nasicus)!

Photo credit: Peter Paplanus

This adorable member of the Colubrid family can be found throughout the prairies, grasslands, and floodplains of North America. They typically grow between 15 to 20 inches long, and as their name suggests, they have an unturned pig-like snout, which helps them to dig through the soil in search of their favorite prey: toads. While they are venomous, these snakes are what's known as rear-fanged venomous. This is when their venom-injecting fangs are located in the back of the mouth. This makes it so that if a hognose snake were to bite you, it would need to continuously chew on you in order to inject you with venom. While this is effective against their preferred prey (toads), it doesn't really work on humans.

Photo credit: Phil Chaon

Even if you did let a hognose snake chew on you long enough to have venom injected into you, their venom is pretty harmless to humans. Though some people can be allergic and have more severe reactions compared to most people. However, there have been no confirmed deaths caused by these snakes, especially since these snakes rarely bite humans and prefer to slither away, play dead, or scare potential predators away by hissing or bluff striking. They can also musk, and will release a foul-smelling liquid from their cloacas to deter predators. They'll also do this while playing dead, along with flipping over on their bellies and sticking out their tongues, to better sell the illusion that they are a rotting carcass that probably shouldn't be eaten.

Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Western hognose snakes are primarily active during the day and feed mostly on amphibians, such as frogs and toads, but will also eat eggs, small lizards, and even other snakes on rare occasions. In fact, when a male wants to breed with a female, he will twitch to let her know that he's a member of the same species wanting to breed and not a snack. The female will twitch in response if she agrees not to eat him, and the two can then mate. Breeding season usually takes place from February to March eggs are usually laid sometime between June to August. Females can sometimes retain sperm from previous mating sessions, so even if she doesn't get a chance to mate for that year's breeding season, she can still lay fertile eggs using sperm that she retained from the previous year.

Photo credit: Dean Hester

Because of their absolutely adorable appearance and docile nature, hognose snakes are very popular pets. The western species is especially common since, unlike the eastern hognose, they can be trained to eat frozen-thawed mice instead of constantly needing to be fed live toads (which can be difficult to regularly source. There are a few ways to do this, one of which is to blend up a toad and coat a mouse in the toad juice before feeding it to your snake. A more humane tactic is to rub the mice on a live toad to make it smell like a toad so that the hognose will be more likely to eat it. Usually, keepers will do this with baby hognoses, so by the time they're adults they are used to eating mice and you don't have to constantly rub a toad with dead mice.

Photo credit: SATOO Reptiles + Aquatics

Hatchlings are typically kept in 5-gallon tanks with plenty of places for them to hide, since having too much open space can stress young snakes out. Smaller enclosures make it easier for you to keep an eye on your baby in case there are any health concerns. However, adult hognose snakes need much more space! Males should be kept in at least a 20-gallon tank, and females, which are typically larger, should be kept in a 40-gallon enclosure. These are just the minimum sizes for their enclosures, and adult snakes would definitely appreciate a larger enclosure if you offer it to them. These snakes love to burrow and dig using their pig-like noses, so you want to make sure you give them at least 3-5 inches of substrate to burrow in.

Photo credit: Bruce D. Taubert

Most hognose keepers use aspen shavings for substrate since it is cheap, easy to clean, and isn't toxic like some other wood shavings are (like cedar and pine). You can also create a more natural substrate by mixing a ratio of 30% sand with 70% soil, which allows the substrate to be loose enough for the snakes to burrow in but firm enough for their tunnels not to collapse. Some people use paper towels as substrate for baby hognoses, since it makes it easier to find the baby for health checks. In my opinion, as long as you provide them with some alternative hiding places and switch to a substrate that they can burrow in once they're older, then using paper towels for baby snakes is fine.

Photo credit: me

Wild western hognose snakes are usually tan with brown or black spots running down their backs and sides. This sort of resembles the coloration of rattlesnakes and is believed to be a form of mimicry to scare off predators. However, in captivity, there are over 50 different color morphs available to be purchased. The snake pictured above is an albino western hognose snake (one of the most common color variations) that I saw at a reptile expo that I went to recently. Here are some more cool hognose color morphs that I wanted to show you guys:

Lavender (photo credit: Urban Dinos)

Sable (photo credit: Outback Reptiles)

Toffeebelly (photo credit: Reptiles Pets Direct)

Axanthic (photo credit: Underground Reptiles)

I can't believe we made it to day 100!!! Thank you all for letting me yap about animals! To celebrate, here's the rest of the albino baby hognose pics:

Photo credit: me

🌸 Life isn’t about the big moments only… it’s about the little ones. The laugh of a child, the warmth of a hug, the comfort of holding a pet close, the calm in nature’s breeze. 🌿

#KaylaBroomell

Every smile, every tear, every challenge shapes us into who we are. 💕

Be kind, love deeply, and never forget that even the smallest acts of love can change someone’s whole day

✨ Today, I choose gratitude.

What about you?

@highlight