A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Heterodon platirhinos
This snake's most obvious feature is its pointed, upturned snout. It has a yellow to tan body color with dark blotches down its back and round spots along its sides. The underside of the tail is light and the anal plate is divided. [This specimen is melanistic and looks different than the typical Heterodon platirhinos. See the Notes section below for a better description.] Adults 20 - 40 inches (51 - 102 cm)
Wooded hillsides, fields, and sandy areas
This specimen is melanistic, which means it has an increased amount of black pigmentation in its skin. This seems to be common in the species, yet it's the only melanistic snake I've ever run across. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanism
Spotted on May 22, 2003
Submitted on Jan 9, 2012
8 Comments
Best find ever!!!!!!
Very cool about the blog. I actually read it on my lunch break today because I'm a Project Noah junkie! ;-)
Wow! What a find! Congrats.
Congratulations Aaron, this spotting is featured in the Project Noah blog today! http://blog.projectnoah.org/post/3039027...
This snake turned out to be a female. The family that shared her with me kept her for a couple of weeks, searching out toads to feed her. I got a call a week or so after this photo shoot and heard she had laid a clutch of eggs. Of course I was excited to collect them and incubate them. Sadly, they had called me 2 or 3 days after she had laid them so they were all dried out. :-(
Pretty!-they seem to be pretty common in this color here. :3
Nices shots.
nice series!