The geographic range is southern Canada throughout central U.S.A. and to eastern Mexico. Their food in the wild is mainly toads, small rodents, nestling birds, lizards, and amphibians. Their habitat is usually prairies, abandoned farmland, sparsely wooded flood plains, or sandy soil.
Our classroom habitat has woodchips for bedding, two rocks and a tunnel. It usually eats baby mice. Other suggestions are a substrate of dry, shredded bark or garden mulch. These are better than abrasive gravel or sand.
Their life span is generally 15-18 years. The longest life recorded was 19 years and 10 months. The length from nose to tail is generally 18 to 20 inches. They rarely exceed 24 inches in length. The longest length recorded was 35.8 inches long.
They usually lay up to 5 to 40 eggs in the summer. When the babies emerge they are 7-inches long.
When most Hognose snakes get excited or threatened they flatten their necks like a cobra. There's a myth that puff adders (which spread their necks like hognose snakes) mix poison with their breath and can kill a person up to a distance of 25 feet. If the threat persists, they turn over on their back and fake death. The western hognose snake usually does not perform this procedure.
Their hard upturned nose is used for burrowing after toads.
