Heterodon nasicus
Silhouette: Mason McNair · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The western hognose snake (Heterodon nasicus) is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to North America. There are three subspecies that are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.
The specific name, nasicus, is derived from the Latin nasus ("nose"), a reference to the snake's upturned snout. The dusky hognose's subspecific name, gloydi, is in honor of American herpetologist Howard K. Gloyd (1902–1978).
The Mexican hognose's subspecific (or specific) name, kennerlyi, is in honor of American naturalist Caleb Burwell Rowan Kennerly. Common names for Heterodon nasicus include blow snake, bluffer, plains hognose snake, prairie hognose snake, spoonbill snake, spreadhead snake, Texas hognose snake, Texas rooter, and western hognose snake. Some authors elevate the subspecies Heterodon nasicus kennerlyi, also known as the Mexican hognose snake, to species level. Those same authors have subsumed H. n. gloydi into H. nasicus so that there are only two species (H. nasicus and H. kennerlyi) and no subspecies.
The western hognose snake is a relatively small, stout-bodied... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Badlands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Busch Gardens Tampa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Moscow Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 3 | Shedd Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | North Carolina Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 6 | Greensboro Science Center | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Abilene Zoological Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Lee G. Simmons Wildlife Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Safari Madrid | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | Cheyenne Mountain Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Phoenix Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Louisville Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Tuzoofari | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 14 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Ljubljana Zoo | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 16 | Edmonton Valley Zoo | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 17 | Zoo d'Amnéville | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 18 | Bison Prairie | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | African Village | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 20 | Paphos Zoo | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | |
| 21 | Espace zoologique de Saint-Martin-la-Plaine | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 22 | The Abilene Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 23 | Monterey Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 24 | Ueno Zoological Gardens (West Garden) | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 25 | Zagreb Zoo | 🇭🇷 Croatia | |
| 26 | Reptile Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 27 | Drayton Manor Theme Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 28 | Elmwood Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 29 | Utica Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 30 | Orange County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 31 | Siam Serpentarium | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 32 | Schramm Education Center | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 33 | Aquarium d'Amnéville | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 34 | Scales Nature Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 35 | Snake Discovery: A Reptile Experience | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 36 | Snakeroom Serpentarium | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Plains Hognose Snake sighting in Badlands National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 6th most-seen of the 6 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and July
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Plains Hognose Snake in Badlands National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April and September–December, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Plains Hognose Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Badlands National Park, in our data
Badlands National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Plains Hognose Snake sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Colubridae
The closest relatives of the Plains Hognose Snake that you can see in Badlands National Park (family Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes) are Gopher Snake (about 40%), North American Racer (about 40%) and Plains Garter Snake (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Plains Hognose Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Badlands National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
