Heterodon nasicus - The Western Hognose Snake
An adult extreme red female and an adult anaconda male western hognose.
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Introduction
This is a brief explanation of how I personally keep western hognose snakes. It should not be the only resource you rely on when researching them! It’s just an overview of the basic husbandry requirements that I employ. Western hognoses are great for the beginner-intermediate hobbyist, and their attitudes, small size, and color morphs make them appealing to a broad range of people! I do not think they make great snakes for first time reptile owners, that doesn’t mean you can’t keep one as a first time owner- you just have to be very aware of their temperaments and feeding habits before getting into them and make sure you are well prepared to deal with any issues that may arise. Overall, hognoses are some of my favorite snakes that I keep. Male hognoses reach a maximum length of 2-3 feet and typically weigh less than 200g. Females are larger and heavier bodied and can reach up to 4 feet, though this is uncommon. Females typically weigh less than 600g at adulthood. My adult male hognoses range in size from 60-130g and my adult females range from 200-500g. |
Western Hognose Distribution and Natural Habitats
Western hognoses are found throughout the mid-west of the US and Canada. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, though they are most typically found in grasslands, plains, and in forested areas. They spend much of their time digging with their upturned, shovel-like snout. They are fairly opportunistic feeders that feed on frogs/toads, lizards, and rodents.
Western hognoses are found throughout the mid-west of the US and Canada. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, though they are most typically found in grasslands, plains, and in forested areas. They spend much of their time digging with their upturned, shovel-like snout. They are fairly opportunistic feeders that feed on frogs/toads, lizards, and rodents.
Captive Husbandry
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The Basics:
Surface Temperature: 72-95F Ambient (Air) Temperature: 70-85F Cage Size (Adult Males): 20g long or similarly sized tub / enclosure Cage Size (Small Adult Female - 200g or less): 20g long or similarly sized tub / enclosure Cage Size (Large Adult Female 300g+): 40g breeder or similarly sized tub / enclosure Humidity: 20-60% Diet: Primarily mice |
A juvenile male super arctic western hognose.
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An adult female axanthic hognose.
Husbandry Details
Temperature and Heating
It’s ideal to create a temperature gradient to allow the snake to choose the temperature it needs at a given moment. It is fine to have a nighttime drop in temperatures, as long as the ambient remains around 76-80. You can provide them with heat in a variety of ways. I currently keep most of my hognoses with a hot spot (provided by heat tape) of around 92-93F, although I am experimenting with other heating methods.
IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL heating elements should be controlled with a proper thermostat or dimmer.
UTH (under tank heaters) provide belly heat, UTH work well with nearly all cage types. UTH are usually either heat pads (designed for use with reptiles) or heat tape (which is not designed for use with reptiles but is widely used in herpetoculture).
If you want to use an overhead heating element, I recommend using an RHP (radiant heat emitter), a CHE (ceramic heat emitter), or a DHP (deep heat projector). Halogen bulbs produce the most complete heating spectrum for reptiles but should not be used with albino or albino combination morph animals. RHPs, CHEs, and DHPs do not emit light so they can be kept on during the night - most reptiles have fairly complex color vision and can see the red light emitted by “night time” heat lamps. There are many ways to heat reptiles that get the job done and all are acceptable provided they are at the proper temperatures and are safely controlled- Do what works best for you and your pet!
Lighting
Because hognoses are diurnal (most active during daylight hours) it is important they have a proper day / night light cycle. Some of my hognoses are kept in racks, others in front-opening cages. The ones in the rack receive a day / night cycle from the ambient room light. I use LED lighting made for aquariums in my front opening hognose enclosures.
UVB lighting (I would recommend 3%-6%) can be provided for western hognoses and is beneficial to health but not necessary for survival (do NOT use UVB with light sensitive morphs like albinos). Whenever providing UVB or brighter in-cage lighting it's important to provide the animal with plenty of shady spots and hides to retreat from the light and self-regulate.
It’s ideal to create a temperature gradient to allow the snake to choose the temperature it needs at a given moment. It is fine to have a nighttime drop in temperatures, as long as the ambient remains around 76-80. You can provide them with heat in a variety of ways. I currently keep most of my hognoses with a hot spot (provided by heat tape) of around 92-93F, although I am experimenting with other heating methods.
IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL heating elements should be controlled with a proper thermostat or dimmer.
UTH (under tank heaters) provide belly heat, UTH work well with nearly all cage types. UTH are usually either heat pads (designed for use with reptiles) or heat tape (which is not designed for use with reptiles but is widely used in herpetoculture).
If you want to use an overhead heating element, I recommend using an RHP (radiant heat emitter), a CHE (ceramic heat emitter), or a DHP (deep heat projector). Halogen bulbs produce the most complete heating spectrum for reptiles but should not be used with albino or albino combination morph animals. RHPs, CHEs, and DHPs do not emit light so they can be kept on during the night - most reptiles have fairly complex color vision and can see the red light emitted by “night time” heat lamps. There are many ways to heat reptiles that get the job done and all are acceptable provided they are at the proper temperatures and are safely controlled- Do what works best for you and your pet!
Lighting
Because hognoses are diurnal (most active during daylight hours) it is important they have a proper day / night light cycle. Some of my hognoses are kept in racks, others in front-opening cages. The ones in the rack receive a day / night cycle from the ambient room light. I use LED lighting made for aquariums in my front opening hognose enclosures.
UVB lighting (I would recommend 3%-6%) can be provided for western hognoses and is beneficial to health but not necessary for survival (do NOT use UVB with light sensitive morphs like albinos). Whenever providing UVB or brighter in-cage lighting it's important to provide the animal with plenty of shady spots and hides to retreat from the light and self-regulate.
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Cage Size
Cage size is probably the most important factor in getting your hognose feeding properly besides temperature. This is what has worked best for me when working with hognoses. Many people recommend keeping them in small tank sizes permanently but for MOST individuals this is not necessary. Unlike a lot of other snake species, it REALLY is important to keep these guys in tight quarters until feeding reliably, and it's not usually feasible to put a baby or juvenile hognose directly into an adult enclosure size- no matter how "cluttered" and well decorated it is. Hatchlings (less than 30g) I start my hatchlings in Reptile Basics I80 tubs. These are usually referred to as "pencil boxes" and are roughly 13"x3"x2". I keep them in these tubs until they've fed 10 times and weigh at least 10g. Unless you are keeping a lot of hognoses it's not practical to use this tub size for hatchlings. A 6qt tub (with a tight fitting lid) will be appropriate for the vast majority of well-started hatchlings. (I move hognoses to 6qt tubs after they've met my initial feeding / weight requirements) Juveniles (30g-100g) First off, wait until your hatchling hognose is feeding consecutively and confidently in it's hatchling enclosure before upgrading it. Juveniles can be kept in 15/16qt tubs or 10g aquariums. You may need to use supplemental (overhead) heating if using an aquarium, as well as "blocking out" (using cardboard or contact paper) 3/4 sides of the aquarium to get them to feel comfortable and secure enough to eat. Adult Males (50-100g+) Most males will thrive in something in the 20g long aquarium range. If you are building or buying a custom enclosure for your male hognose, I usually recommend a 2'x2'x18" sized enclosure (again, as long as he is eating reliably in his juvenile enclosure). Although hognoses do not climb much, I recommend 15"-18" of height for any lighting and heating elements. You may want to try him in a 32qt tub for a while before moving him into the custom enclosure just to ensure he's ready for an upgrade to that size. Some male hogs just do not do well in "larger" enclosures. You can keep your hognose in an enclosure as large as you like as long as it continues feeding consistently! Adult Females (less than 200g) Small females can be kept in 20g long aquariums, tubs of similar size, or custom enclosures (again, I recommend a 2'x2'x18" enclosure). Females tend to adapt better to larger enclosures than males, so I consider a 20g to be the minimum size for a small adult female. I keep my small adult females in 32qt tubs in a rack. Adult Females (300g+) Large females can be kept in 40g breeder (36"x18"x16") or similarly sized tubs or custom enclosures. If you want to build or buy a custom enclosure for a large adult female I would recommend a 36"x24"x18" enclosure. I currently keep some of my large adult girls in either 41qt tubs (rack) or 3x2x1 cages. Most adult females are very reliable eaters and it's really up to you how much additional space you provide them. Do what works best for your snake. |
A sub-adult female "Neon" line Toffeeconda.
An adult male snow hognose.
An adult male anaconda hognose.
A sub-adult male extreme red albinoconda, produced here at Sunfish Exotics!
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To summarize:
- Hatchlings (less than 30g)-> 6qt tub
- Juvenile-> 16qt tub or 10g aquarium
- Adult Male-> 32qt tub or 20g long aquarium
- Small Adult Female-> 32qt tub or 20g long aquarium
- Large Adult Female-> 41qt tub or 40g breeder aquarium
Humidity
Western hognoses, contrary to popular belief, do not live in desert like conditions. If you're comfortable with the humidity in your house, they are most likely comfortable as well. Not many people do, but I like to provide my hognoses with humid hides (a simple food storage container with a whole cut out of the lid filled part way with damp substrate) and you would be surprised how much time they spend in them, particularly females. Aim to keep the ambient humidity in your hognose enclosure at 30-50%. Any lower and you may have shedding issues if you do not provide a humid hide.
Something very important to keep in mind is ventilation and air flow. A hognose cage must be well ventilated no matter what material the cage is made of. For tubs this can mean drilling / melting a bunch of holes or installing screen inserts. Custom cages usually come with slots or vents for air flow, which typically are adequate but use your best judgement and add more if you think you need to. If using an aquarium I really recommend keeping a fan on in the room because the air in an aquarium can become "stagnant" pretty easily, even with a screen top. I keep a ceiling fan on in my reptile room at all times as well.
Western hognoses, contrary to popular belief, do not live in desert like conditions. If you're comfortable with the humidity in your house, they are most likely comfortable as well. Not many people do, but I like to provide my hognoses with humid hides (a simple food storage container with a whole cut out of the lid filled part way with damp substrate) and you would be surprised how much time they spend in them, particularly females. Aim to keep the ambient humidity in your hognose enclosure at 30-50%. Any lower and you may have shedding issues if you do not provide a humid hide.
Something very important to keep in mind is ventilation and air flow. A hognose cage must be well ventilated no matter what material the cage is made of. For tubs this can mean drilling / melting a bunch of holes or installing screen inserts. Custom cages usually come with slots or vents for air flow, which typically are adequate but use your best judgement and add more if you think you need to. If using an aquarium I really recommend keeping a fan on in the room because the air in an aquarium can become "stagnant" pretty easily, even with a screen top. I keep a ceiling fan on in my reptile room at all times as well.
An adult female granite western hognose.
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Substrate:
I recommend new arrivals be kept on several layers of paper towel (to allow basic burrowing) for around 2 weeks after you get them to make tracking health and checking for external parasites (mites) easier. Once that first two week period is over you will need to switch your hognose up to loose substrate! Hognoses love to burrow, and will often go off of food if they can’t dig to their heart’s content! The substrate should be kept around 2-4″ depending on the girth of your hognose. Aspen is a cheap, convenient, and easy to clean substrate that works well for hatchlings all the way up to adults. Naturalistic substrate is also a good option for hognoses. I keep my males and young females on a mix of topsoil and sand with a bit of coco fiber and clay mixed in, although there are also now many companies offering pre-mixed substrates for sale that work perfectly well! If using a natural substrate with your hognose please keep an eye on their nostrils, they can get clogged more easily when kept on dirt or dirt-like subs (it can happen with aspen as well). It usually happens when the substrate is too dusty and the small particles get stuck in the nose while burrowing. There are a few commonly available substrates that I find to be poor choices when used on their own for hognoses: Coco Fiber - Used on it’s own, coco fiber is too dusty if kept dry enough for hognoses, and can clog their nostrils easily. It’s fine to use coco in a substrate mix though, especially in a humid hide or micro-climate. Sand - Regular play sand is an unnatural substrate type for hognoses. They’re not from the Sahara. As with coco fiber, it’s dusty and can clog their nostrils. It’s fine to use in a mix with other substrate types. I usually recommend keepers new to snakes and / or new to hognoses start out using a more traditional substrate like shredded aspen. |
Cage Decor
The cage should be furnished with several hides, at least one in the warm side, cool side, and intermediate areas of the cage. I recommend a humid hide as well but it's not 100% necessary for hogs. Rocks and wide branches for climbing should be provided- cork rounds and flats are great for hognoses since they are not very confident (or skilled) climbers. Hardwood leaf litter is an excellent thing to add to a hognose cage for additional scent and texture enrichment opportunities. The cage decor can be as simplistic or naturalistic as you like! As long as the snake has the ability to display its natural behaviors, it doesn’t really matter what the cage aesthetic is like. A small sized water bowl should be provided at all times. Remember to keep the substrate fairly deep (the hognose should be able to cover itself completely in substrate).
The cage should be furnished with several hides, at least one in the warm side, cool side, and intermediate areas of the cage. I recommend a humid hide as well but it's not 100% necessary for hogs. Rocks and wide branches for climbing should be provided- cork rounds and flats are great for hognoses since they are not very confident (or skilled) climbers. Hardwood leaf litter is an excellent thing to add to a hognose cage for additional scent and texture enrichment opportunities. The cage decor can be as simplistic or naturalistic as you like! As long as the snake has the ability to display its natural behaviors, it doesn’t really matter what the cage aesthetic is like. A small sized water bowl should be provided at all times. Remember to keep the substrate fairly deep (the hognose should be able to cover itself completely in substrate).
Feeding and Diet
Finally on to the feeding section! Feeding hognoses is where most people run into problems with them. Hognoses are notoriously picky eaters. In my experience, females eat more consistently than males do so it can be a better choice to go with a female if you’re new to the species. Most western hognoses will eat f/t pinkies immediately after hatching but some take longer to get started. Even if the snake is well started, it may go off of food immediately after shipping or a reptile show, if your husbandry is off, or if it’s during the breeding season. I'll go over what to do with a picky hognose further down in the section, but I'll start off with explaining the schedule I use for feeding hognoses.
What does “appropriately sized” mean?
An appropriately sized feeder will be the same size or slightly thicker than the widest part of the hognose’s body. If you feed a prey item that is too large, regurgitation is likely. It is better to feed two smaller prey items than a single prey item that is too large.
Feeding Routine for Western Hognoses:
If you have a picky or non-feeding hognose, these are some techniques that can help them start eating on their own:
Let me start off by saying, it's not unusual for a new hognose to go off of food for a few days to a few weeks after a transition (like shipping or the stress of a reptile show). Before trying the techniques below (besides contacting the breeder), I would give your new snake plenty of time to settle. Do NOT panic if your snake does not eat for a few weeks, easier said than done, I know- but it can be a very normal part of an animal's transitional period. I would not try different feeding techniques for at least a 4+ weeks without eating for a hatchling, juveniles and adults can go MUCH longer without food. It is imperative that you keep your hognose well hydrated during periods of fasting.
If your hognose is rapidly losing weight or looks skinny or dehydrated seek the advice of a reputable & qualified exotics veterinarian. There is only so much reptile hobbyists can do over the internet to offer advice and assistance, no matter how experienced they are.
What does “appropriately sized” mean?
An appropriately sized feeder will be the same size or slightly thicker than the widest part of the hognose’s body. If you feed a prey item that is too large, regurgitation is likely. It is better to feed two smaller prey items than a single prey item that is too large.
Feeding Routine for Western Hognoses:
- Hatchlings - Feed every 3-4 days (small pinky mice)
- Juveniles - Feed every 4-5 days (large pinky mice or small fuzzies)
- Sub-Adult Males - Feed every 5 days on fuzzies or hoppers
- Adult Males - Feed every 7-10 days on hoppers or small mice
- Sub-Adult Females - Feed every 5-6 days on hoppers or small mice
- Adult Females - Feed every 7-10 days on adult mice
- Breeding Females - Feed every 5 days on adult mice
If you have a picky or non-feeding hognose, these are some techniques that can help them start eating on their own:
Let me start off by saying, it's not unusual for a new hognose to go off of food for a few days to a few weeks after a transition (like shipping or the stress of a reptile show). Before trying the techniques below (besides contacting the breeder), I would give your new snake plenty of time to settle. Do NOT panic if your snake does not eat for a few weeks, easier said than done, I know- but it can be a very normal part of an animal's transitional period. I would not try different feeding techniques for at least a 4+ weeks without eating for a hatchling, juveniles and adults can go MUCH longer without food. It is imperative that you keep your hognose well hydrated during periods of fasting.
- Contact the breeder / seller you got them from - This is probably the most important but often overlooked way you can solve your hognose's feeding problem. The breeder is going to know their animal best and should be able to tell you the exact husbandry conditions your animal was kept in and what they were feeding on previously. They are also going to be able to offer you specialized help depending on your circumstances that other people (facebook groups or forums) won't have the information or ability to offer you.
- Using a smaller container - Placing the hognose and the feeder in a deli cup or paper bag overnight can sometimes encourage them to eat.
- Braining (for use on frozen / thawed feeders) - This involves piercing or slicing the head of the feeder to expose brain tissue.
- Live feeding - Most people, understandably, do not want to feed live mice to their snake. I don't either and do my best to avoid live feeding if possible! But sometimes that's just what a snake wants and needs to get them back onto food in general. It's more important to have your snake eating than worrying about live versus frozen / thawed.
- Scenting - Scenting involves dipping the f/t feeder into different “scents” in order to incite a feeding response from the hognose. Some scents I’ve had success with: Juice from canned tuna, juice from canned chicken, chicken broth (unsalted), juice from canned vienna sausages, juice from canned salmon, pieces of salmon skin wrapped on the feeder mouse, ”Frog Juice” from Reptilinks. If none of the scents work for you individually, you can try mixing them. I typically keep several "scents" in my freezer in case I need them. Scenting should NOT be the first technique you try with your picky / non-feeding hognose.
- Assist feeding - Please do not attempt to assist feed your hognose if you don't have experience or instruction from a qualified reptile hobbyist, breeder, or exotics veterinarian- It really can do more harm than good. It is rarely necessary to assist or force feed hognoses.
- Other techniques - Adding fresh leaf litter to the enclosure (sounds really weird but it has worked for me on non-feeding hatchlings), changing the size of the feeder, offering a different type of feeder (pieces of fish, frog, rat parts, frog reptilinks, etc), and combining techniques.
If your hognose is rapidly losing weight or looks skinny or dehydrated seek the advice of a reputable & qualified exotics veterinarian. There is only so much reptile hobbyists can do over the internet to offer advice and assistance, no matter how experienced they are.
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If you have a specific question please e-mail me ( sunfishexotics@gmail.com ) or use the "contact" page.
If you have a specific question please e-mail me ( sunfishexotics@gmail.com ) or use the "contact" page.