An appealing upturned nose and tendency to occasionally pretend-play as dead! No wonder, Hognose snakes are trendy exotic pets in the pet trade industry.
Add to that the fact that they are effortless to care for provided a proper setup. A perfect recipe for a whimsical pet snake!
If the wild hognose snake is mutated for different color combinations, body patterns, and other physical changes (in some cases) primarily for trade purposes, those snakes are Hognose snake morphs.
Natural morphs typically occur in the wild, whereas Designer morphs are produced in captivity through selective breeding.
To create morphs, breeders will couple snakes with the desired traits. But that’s not so easy! It may take several generations of meticulous breeding to achieve this.
We’ll review some of the most familiar hognose snake morphs and describe how they look to help you decide which mutation appeals most. Do they have more aesthetic appeal than corn snake morphs?
Table of Contents
Hognose Snake Morph (Price and Color Chart)
| Morph | Price | Color Chart |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Hognose Morph | $60-$80 | Black, brown with yellow spots |
| Albino Hognose Morph | $250 – $350 | White, yellow, and oranges |
| Axanthic Hognose Snake Morph | $60-$80 | Earthy tones |
| Toffeeconda Hognose Morph | $300+ | Toffee color |
| Red Albino Anaconda Hognose Morph | $500 | Peachy yellow with orange spots |
| Shadow Hognose Morph | $500+ | Cream |
| Pistachio Hognose Morph | $1,500 | Light earthy color |
| Superarctic Hognose Morph | $850 | Pink, brown, grey, tan |
| Eastern Hognose Snake | $60-$80 | Brownish |
| Western Hognose Snakes | $60-$80 | Brownish |
| Granite Hognose Morph | $500 | Granite color |
| Snow Western Hognose | $500+ | Grey or cream |
| Coral Hognose Morph | $350-$3000+ | Whitish with orange spots |
| Jaguar Hognose Morph | $350+ | Jaguar pattern |
| Lemon Ghost Morph | $350- $500 | Yellow |
| Pink Pastel Hognose Morph | $200-$500 | Pinkish orange |
| Lavender Hognose Morph | $1000-$1200 | Purple |
| Anaconda Hognose Morph | $175-$500 | Black, tan, and brown |
1. Normal Hognose Snake
The most popular hognose morph is normal, also known as the wild type. These common morphs come in various colors: brown/yellow, brown/green, and brown/red.
A normal hognose’s belly is either solid black, brown, or yellow-spotted. These patches can even be orange at times.
A normal hognose snake pattern consists of larger blotches on the back and smaller blotches on the sides.
2. Albino Hognose Snake
Breeders enjoy breeding the albino morphs, either its hognose or corn snake. Albinism is a recessive gene that drastically reduces the amount of melanin pigment in snake translucent scales and eyes.
Albino traits in hognose snakes lead to white, yellow, and orange scales and pink eyes and are frequently used to improve other morphs and produce two-trait snakes.
These pretty hognose snake morphs can be encountered in natural habitats. Albinism is one rare morph that did not arise due to selective captive breeding.
3. Axanthic Hognose Snake
Axanthism is a recessive mutation that prevents animals from producing yellow pigment.
Axanthic Hognose Snakes, as expected, lack the brown colors and earth tones that characterize this snake’s pigmentation.
Axanthic mutation results in an all-grey snake with the typical pattern of blotches and saddles. Though it may not sound magnificent, it is highly unusual when seen in person.
This is possibly why Axanthic Hognose snake morphs are so fashionable, like the Axanthic morphs of many other popular pet snakes.
4. Toffeeconda Hognose Snake
Toffeeconda Hognose snake is a snake for nature lovers. It is endemic to the western United States and has a light brown skin base mimics toffee, thus the catchphrase!
Toffee Morph has a slightly squeezed upward nose, more homogeneous patches in a toned rectangular shape, and a darker brown hue.
The Toffeeconda Hognose is smaller than its snake cousins, with a top length of 12 to 15 inches and a width of about 2 inches. They are also voracious tree climbers.
5. Red Albino Anaconda Hognose Snake
The Red Albino Anaconda Hognose snake is a western Hognose snake with a peachy-yellow body.
The Albino anaconda morph body is covered with spots that begin out light tan orangish and darken as it evolves. As the snake grows, these specks will begin to resemble spectrums and extend out.
The Red Albino Hognose snakes will likely grow to be 15-20 inches long. Its nose is slightly elevated, as with most western Hognose snakes.
6. Shadow Hognose Snake
Shadow hognose snake is distinguishable due to denser pigments on large square-shaped back patches.
With a cream-colored body, most Shadow Hognose have a blush line that resembles a shadow.
7. Pistachio Hognose Snake
The pistachio morph is tricky to characterize. Pistachio hognose snakes have a very light earthy color with light brown dorsal patterns due to a simple recessive gene.
Practically no melanin is available on the dorsal surface, so these snakes frequently have purple ventral coloring.
8. Superarctic Hognose Snake
Superarctic morph looks like some artist was creating an artistic painting and stopped when it was about to finish. An incomplete homozygous partial dominant mutation!
Superarctic temperatures increase melanin production while decreasing other pigments, mainly background pigment.
The mutation is distinguished by a white background with pink or tanned skin and brown to gray speckles with high melanin concentrations. The head pattern of Super Arctics is restricted.
The Arctic Hognose becomes lighter in color with each shed. When babies emerge from the eggs, they are nearly entirely black.
The Superarctic morph is produced by mating two heterozygous incomplete dominant arctic snakes.
9. Eastern Hognose Snake
Eastern Hognose snakes are yet another widespread Hognose morph that can be discovered in nature.
Eastern Hognose has rich brown scales with quaint dark block-shaped specks running along the sides and back.
This morph is distinguished by its black and brown eyes and a horizontal shape that stretches to its nose. A mature Eastern Hognose morph can grow 12-20 inches long.
10. Western Hognose Snake
Wild Western Hognose Snakes of North America’s western region are simple yet adorable.
Like the Eastern Hognose Snake, western hognoses have a more “jungle” appearance. They have a tan base with brown dabs that get smaller as the pattern gets closer to the tail.
Also, this is a good choice if you’re looking for a less pricey snake. They usually cost between $60 and $80.
The leucistic Morph in Western Hognose is one of the popular morphs in most pet stores. Leucistic Hognose are created from an abnormal reduction of pigmentation.
11. Granite Hognose Snake
The granite hognose snake morph is distinguished by its unusual granite rock pattern and erratic color pattern.
Granite morphs typically have smaller but dispersed patches with higher melanin concentrations.
12. Snow Western Hognose Snake
The Snow Western morph is a cross between two recessive trait morphs, Axanthic and Albino.
These two genes’ visual expression has the bearing of completely obliterating any color. The result is a very light, almost white, background hue.
The specks and saddles that make up the dorsal sequence are faded grey or cream.
Snow Hoggies lose some luminance as they mature, but they remain a light cream color. This alone is enough to make them an incredible morph to look at.
13. Coral Hognose Snake
The hue of the Coral Hognose snake almost resembles the Snow Hognose’s light-white tone.
The subtle differences between the two forms are that the Coral form has more distinguishable and visible features than the Snow form. It’s almost as if someone applied a vivid filter to a snow morph’s photo.
Moreover, the Coral Hognose Snake has orange spots on its back. So, if you’re looking for a unique, the Coral Hognose Snake is an attractive and unusual morph that you should look into!
14. Jaguar Hognose Snake
The jaguar hognose snake morph is distinguished by its unusual patterns that imitate those of a jaguar, with morphs’ spots frequently having a discrete darker edge.
These distinct spots throughout the snake’s body make it stand out more than other morphs.
15. Lemon Ghost Hognose Snake
The lemon ghost hognose morph undergoes a permanent appearance change, not just color and patterns.
The yellow coloration becomes more noticeable on aging snakes, and the contrast between the base color and saddle spots diminishes.
These snakes have diminished belly patterns and a cloudy or dimmed appearance.
16. Pink Pastel Hognose Snake
Pink Pastel Hognose has sleek velvet milky to dark pink lines that are slightly darker, almost pinkish-orange in color.
The Pink Pastel is known as the Pink Panther because of its skin tone. As the pink morph is the rarer mutation of hognose, it might be tough to find pet stores with pink ones.
17. Lavender Hognose Snake
Dim purple scales with dark eyes and darker purple spots are the primary trait of this morph.
The abdomen scales and tongue can also be lavender. As a baby hognose becomes an adult, the shades darken, increasing the lavender coloration.
Lavender morphs are noticeable because of their unique coloring. Furthermore, this morph is used for breeding several other lines of breathtaking snakes.
A lavender morph is exotic and will be challenging to find. Good luck if this one caught your eye!
18. Anaconda Hognose Snake
Anaconda Hognose Morph has a black, tan, and brown Anaconda imprint. The base color is a light tan, with random black markings on the back and sides, and a black band flows from the eye to the jaw.
The abdomen is cream, and the eyes are brown. This snake is peaceful and easy to handle in general.
The hognose snake morphs have maintained their mainstream position as they compete for supremacy with the ball pythons and corn snakes industry.
Breeders have spent years meticulously breeding magnificent hognose morphs to meet this upsurging market pressure. There are nearly 60 morphs available now.
So, which one is your ideal pet, Hognose, sunbeam or red racer, or other breeds which are top attractions in the exotic pet market?
(Last Updated on October 14, 2022 by Sadrish Dabadi)
