Florida Museum of Natural History’s
Comparison of the Pygmy Rattlesnake and Hognose Snake
Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake: Top of head (left), and underside of head (right).
The nose is blunt and rounded and tipped with one small scale
. 
Hognose snake: Top of head (left), and underside of head (right). The
nose is tipped with a single large shovel-like scale.
Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake: The tip of the snout is blunt and rounded; pupil
of the eye is a catlike vertical slit; and there
is a pit on the side of the head between the eye and nostril.
Hognose snake: Single large upturned shovel-like scale on the tip of the
snout; pupil of the eye is round; and there is no pit on the side of the
head between the eye and nostril.
The hognose snake illustrated here is the southern
hognose snake, Heterodon simus.
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