The Eastern Hognose Snake occurs throughout most of the eastern United States including the eastern half of Texas. Even though it is harmless, this unique snake puts on an extraordinary defensive display when they feel threatened. When alarmed, they will inflate their bodies with air, hiss loudly, flatten their heads and necks in a cobra-like fashion. Sometimes they even roll onto their backs, go into what appears to be convulsions, then lie still as if dead. But this is just "a lot of hot air". If you flip the snake back upright, it will quickly roll back over again. This unique behavior has earned this harmless snake a bad reputation. In some areas, uninformed people believe that they "must" be venomous and dangerous and often improperly call them by such names as hissing adders, blow adders, puff adders, blow vipers, hissing sand snakes and spreadheads. The Eastern Hognose Snake feeds almost totally on toads and it has a unique up-turned snout that it uses to burrow into loose soil in search of its favorite food. Adults are generally 20 to 33 inches in length with the record length being 45½ inches.
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