





Moderator: Scott Waters
I've been given a couple of big clutches in the past (1990s), so there is a high reproductive potential. One came from a sawdust pile. All of the recent south Louisiana records from about the past eight years are juveniles except for a small adult that I trapped earlier this year.They are pretty common throughout the state. They lay large clutches of eggs so it's not unusual to see a dozen or more young ones in the fall.
Bill, nothing known. Fire ant predation on clutches is an easy guess, though they have seemingly disappeared from areas with few if any fire ants. Another fleeting theory is that there has been a shift in abundance of toad species, with the Gulf Coast toad becoming dominant in habitats previously dominated by Fowler's and Southern toads. Perhaps hognoses eventually succumb to a diet solely of GC toads. A couple of nature center folks have told me that they can't keep hognoses alive for more than a couple of years on a diet of GC toads.Jeff, any idea of their decline in LA?
Hmmm... from visits to east TX I got the impression they were doing just fine in areas completely dominated by GC toads. Of course in those areas maybe GC toads have always been the dominant species? I don't know. Maybe someone local with more knowledge than me could pitch in?Jeff wrote: ↑October 17th, 2020, 5:02 pmAnother fleeting theory is that there has been a shift in abundance of toad species, with the Gulf Coast toad becoming dominant in habitats previously dominated by Fowler's and Southern toads. Perhaps hognoses eventually succumb to a diet solely of GC toads. A couple of nature center folks have told me that they can't keep hognoses alive for more than a couple of years on a diet of GC toads.
Yes, that is very strange. Two years ago, a friend of mine in Louisiana who was hoping to one day see a hognose went to Houston and found five in one morning. In the 1930s George Meade rated the hognose as one of the most abundant (top 5) snakes in the Gramercy, LA, area, but the last record from that parish (St.James) is from the mid-1960s. In southeastern Louisiana during the past 40 years the Gulf Coast Toad has expanded its range and habitats to become the dominant toad species. Perhaps local hognoses have lost the arms race on a finer scale than the one mentioned by Kelly.from visits to east TX I got the impression they were doing just fine in areas completely dominated by GC toads