Southern Hognose Snake vs. Pygmy Rattlesnake

A small, stout, blotched snake in sandy pine woods is taken for a Pygmy Rattlesnake (or a Copperhead) more often than anything else (SREL). A: An upturned, shovel-like snout; round pupils in the Southern Hognose Snake; a plain snout with nine big plates on top of the head in the Pygmy Rattlesnake. The Pygmy Rattlesnake has a tiny rattle at the tail tip and small round blotches split by a rust-red stripe down the spine; the Southern Hognose has square blotches in three rows.

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

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