Stout with a wide neck and a sharply upturned snout, they usually have 25 rows of keeled dorsal scales at midbody.

In some areas, populations persist in mosaics of overgrown pastures, dry river floodplains, fields, and pine plantation.

The southern hognose snake is found on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States from North Carolina, south to Lake Okeechobee in Florida, and west to Mississippi.

[6] Heterodon simus preys upon toads, frogs (especially Hyla gratiosa and Pseudacris ornata), spadefoots, and mice.

[10] The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has listed the species as possibly extirpated within the state.