SREL Reprint #1801

Heterodon platirhinos (Eastern hognose snake) diet

Mark S. Mills and S. Rebecca Yeomans

Department of Zoology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802, USA

Heterodon platirhinos feeds primarily on toads and other amphibians, but also has been reported to consume reptiles, insects, fish, birds, mammals, earthworms, isopods, centipedes, spiders, and snails (Ernst and Barbour 1989. Snakes of Eastern North America. George Mason Univ. Press, Fairfax, Virginia, 282 pp.).
On 7 July 1992, we captured a melanistic Heterodon platirhinos (65 cm SVL) crossing a gravel road ca. 0.4 km N of Flamingo Bay on the Savannah River Site, Aiken Co., South Carolina (for location, see Gibbons and Semlitsch 1991. Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of the Savannah River Site. Univ. of Georgia Press, Athens, 131 pp.). While performing its death-feigning behavior it regurgitated a millipede (Xystodesmidae: Sigmoria laticurvosa) and a beetle (Scarabaeidae: Phyllophaga aemula). Both of these animals are abundant in this area. This appears to be the first record of an eastern hognose snake consuming a millipede. Because there was no evidence of a Bufo sp. in the regurgitated material, we do not believe that the milllepede was secondarily ingested. Several authors report beetles or insects in the diet (Edgren 1955.Herpetologica 11:105-117; Wright and Wright 1957. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada, Vol. I. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 564 pp.). In addition, Hamilton and Pollack (1956. Ecology 37:519-526) report a centipede in the diet of H. platirhinos.

SREL Reprint #1801

Mills, M.S. and S.R. Yeomans. 1993. Heterodon platirhinos (Eastern hognose snake) diet. Herpetological Review 24:62.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).