Banner Photo: Source
Western Hognose snakes (Heterodon nasicus) are the most common of the hognoses kept as pets, so those are the kind that we will be talking about today. With their adorable upturned noses and dramatic (but shy!!) personalities, it’s hard not to fall in love with these little snakes. And you wouldn’t be the first, there’s a reason western hognoses are such popular pets! So let’s get into what you need to do to care for one of these little guys!
A quick note that the links to amazon products are affiliate links that we will make a commission off of to help support this blog and its content, at no extra charge to you.
Quick Facts
Life Span: Around 18 Years
Enclosure Size: 20+ Gallons
Temperature: Hot side: Low 90’s F
Cool side: Mid 70’s F
Diet: Carnivores
Sleep Pattern: Diurnal
Care Sheet – Western Hognose Care
1. Tank Mates
Like many snakes, western hognoses are not social animals. Therefore, it is best that you only keep one snake per enclosure. If you keep more than one in a tank you can end up with bullying/fighting that can end in serious injuries, sickness, and death for one or both of the snakes.
While some breeders may house them together briefly for breeding purposes, or keep the hatchlings together while young, that is for a specific purpose. For the average keeper, one snake per enclosure is the best. Your snake won’t get lonely I promise, that’s how they prefer it!
2. How Big Your Western Hognose Snake Will Get
As far as pet snakes go, hognose are definitely on the smaller size, which is a plus for many people! They are also on the “chunkier” side in terms of their build, which we think honestly just adds to the cuteness. Female hognoses are larger than the males and can grow up to 3 feet (36 inches), however, 2 feet is the more common length. Normally, they don’t get much larger than 350 grams for their weight. Males range from 14 – 24 inches in length and will weigh less than the females as they are smaller.
3. Temperament, Handling, and Behavior
Western hognose snakes tend to be very docile snakes, and fairly easy to handle. These snakes will rarely ever bite if they feel threatened. Instead, they may puff up, emit a hissing sound, and/or fake strike, which is basically a headbutt as the hognose will not actually open its mouth to bite.
If extremely frightened they may play dead, in which they dramatically flip onto their back, writhing around, and flop their tongue out of their mouth. If flipped right side up they will immediately flip back onto their back, continuing to play dead. They may also emit a foul odor, which can be quite unpleasant. While their dramatic performance may be amusing to watch, please don’t purposefully scare your snake to have them play dead, as this is very stressful for them.
If your snake starts displaying these behaviors allow them some space to calm down and try again later, it’s all for show and they will calm down soon!
4. Heating
As always, a quick note, DO NOT use a heat rock for your new pet. They are not easily regulated and can seriously injure/burn your snake. Even though they sell them in most pet stores, they are not recommended and it is best to avoid them. You can find many rock decorations to use that do not heat up, and will not injure your pet snake.
Western hognoses are diurnal, meaning unlike many other snakes, they are awake during the day. This means that having a proper lighting schedule is important for them to mimic their life in the wild. Using a timer like this one to schedule your lights for 12 hours on/12 hours off will make it so once you set it up you don’t have to worry about remembering to turn on/off the lights every day.
While having a UVB bulb is not essential to their survival, it has many benefits for your snake, and we wholeheartedly encourage you to get one. Since hognoses are awake during the day, these snakes naturally would be in the sun getting all the benefits of natural UVB. You can recreate that by using a good UVB bulb like this one, which can be put into a lamp like this one. Remember to change your UVB bulb every 6 months, because even if the light still works, the UVB will not be nearly strong enough by that point.
Because snakes are cold-blooded and don’t produce body heat, they need their environment to be warm enough for them to survive. Hognose snakes require a basking temperature of 90-95°F (32-35°C), and an ambient temperature of 75-85°F (24-29°C). This can be achieved by putting a heat lamp on one side of the enclosure to create the proper temperature gradient needed.
While many people use heat mats for snakes, hognoses require a good amount of substrate, and that can be hard for a heat mat to properly heat, so a heat lamp will most likely work best for you. Unfortunately, the wattage of the bulb depends on the environment of your home, so you may have to try out a few different wattage bulbs before you find the right one. A temperature gun like this one will help you accurately and quickly measure the temperature in your snake’s enclosure so you know your snake is warm enough, but not overheating!
Adding your snake’s heating device to a thermostat like this one will make sure your pet’s heat lamp or mat does not overheat and can save your pet’s life in the event that the lamp happens to malfunction and gets too hot.
At night time your snake does not need a basking spot or as high a temperature, but the temperature mustn’t dip below 60°F (16°C). If your house gets colder than that at night you may need a different heat lamp for nighttime that doesn’t produce light, or as much heat.
5. What To Feed Your Hognose Snake
Just like many other pet snakes, hognose snakes are fed a diet of rodents (mainly mice). While you can feed them rats, hognose don’t tend to get that big, and therefore can happily live on mice throughout their lifetime. Snakes cannot be vegetarian and need whole prey, so if feeding them their proper food makes you uncomfortable, there are many other reptiles to choose from. Crested geckos don’t need to be fed any rodents/live insects, for example.
Choosing the proper size food item for your snake is very important, and the mice that are sold as feeders come in many sizes so you can find the perfect size for your hognose. As a rule of thumb, choose a mouse that is no larger than the widest part of the snake’s head. It is important to make sure you don’t feed them mice that are too large, as it may cause your snake to regurgitate, which is not healthy for them.
Source
Young snakes need to be fed more often, as they require lots of energy to grow. However please don’t feed your snake too much to try to get them to grow quickly. Juvenile (young) snakes can be fed every 4-5 days, and adults can be fed once a week. Make sure to keep an eye on your snake to make sure they don’t become overweight/underweight.
While we recommend frozen/thawed rodents instead of live rodents for all pet snakes, it is especially important for hognose snakes. Hognose snakes are not constrictors like ball pythons, and their very mild Venom is slow acting and does not stun prey. This means two things. The first is unfortunately you would have to listen to a slow death from the live mice, which isn’t that pleasant. Second, once your snake grows and starts requiring larger mice for prey, the mice will start being able to fight back. Since these snakes don’t constrict or stun their prey, the mouse will be able to attack your hognose easier, leading to bite marks, scratches, and sometimes unfortunately death for the snake. This is why it’s always the safer option to feed frozen/thawed rodents to your snake.
6. Substrate
Western hognose snakes burrow in the wild in order to regulate their temperature, as being underground allows them to escape both too cold and too hot temperatures. This means for your pet hognose snake to feel comfortable, they will need a fair amount of substrate for them to burrow in. 3 – 6 inches at least is recommended to give your snake plenty of space to explore.
There are many different substrates to choose from for your hognose. Each substrate has its pros and cons so you’ll want to research a couple of different ones before picking the substrate that’s right for you. Some substrates that are available to choose from for hognoses are:
-unscented recycled newspaper products (yesterday’s news)
–zoomed reptisoil
–coco coir
-bioactive natural soil mix
-Aspen (chipped or shaved)
Be careful to avoid woods like cedar and pine as they are toxic to reptiles, and can harm your snake. Also avoid any substrate that is excessively dusty, such as sand, as this isn’t good for your snake either.
Juvenile/young hognose snakes can be kept on paper towels until adult size to avoid impaction.
7. Setting Up The Perfect Enclosure For Your Hognose
While hognose snakes are not the largest, they still need enough space to create a hot and cool side, as well as enough substrate to burrow in. This is why at the very minimum for the average-sized hognose we recommend 20 gallons, but your snake will always appreciate more space to explore than that! However, larger females WILL need more space, so if you’re unsure about what size enclosure to get always opt to go for more space!
You can make your hognose snakes enclosure as extravagant or as simple as you’d like. You can go crazy and set up a bioactive enclosure with a bunch of (reptile safe!!) plants, or you can include just the necessities. Here’s a list of the basics that you’ll need to set up the enclosure:
–Water dish.
-Enough bedding for your snake to burrow in.
-Heat lamp and a UVB bulb.
-Minimum two hides (one on the cool side of the enclosure and one for the hot side). These will help your hognose feel safe and secure in their enclosure. They can be more elaborate like this hide, or as simple as an opaque plastic container flipped upside down with a door cut out. If you’re going to make one yourself make sure to not leave any sharp edges behind!
The rest of what you want to include in the enclosure is up to you. Decorations, fake plants, rocks, it’s up to you and what your preference for the look of the enclosure is! Just make sure anything you add to the enclosure has no sharp edges and is reptile friendly and non-toxic.
8. Humidity & Water
As with all animals, hognose snakes need water to survive. A simple sturdy bowl will do just fine, or any (clean and chemical-free!) small bowl you can find around the house will work just fine. Your snake should have access to water at all times, and make sure to change the water daily as you don’t want bacteria to grow and make your snake sick. If you don’t have access to filtered water, an additive like Reptisafe can be added to the water to make it safe for your new friend to drink!
As far as humidity goes hognose snakes are pretty simple. An average humidity of 30 – 50 percent works best, which you can test with a simple hygrometer like this one. A large enough water dish and the proper substrate should be enough to naturally keep the humidity at a good number. Adding a moist hide to up the humidity while your snake is shedding can be helpful to your snake and help them shed easier as well.
9. Determining the Sex of Your Hognose
If you just bought your new snake, but aren’t sure whether they are male or female there are two options. The first works better on adult snakes as it can be tricky to tell with juveniles, and of course, isn’t going to be accurate 100% of the time. If you look underneath the snake and their back end (their tails) males tend to have more slender, longer tails, while females have short stubby tails. Here’s an example photo to show you:
If you want to know without a doubt whether your snake is male or female, you can have your snake probed. Either your breeder, a trained reptile vet, or any other trained herpetologist will be able to “probe” your snake and tell you the gender. Please do not attempt to probe your new (or any) snake yourself, as you could seriously injure your snake while doing so – leave it to the professionals!
10. Hognose Snake Morphs
Source
Last but not least, you’ll need to decide which morph you want! Since hognoses are such popular pets, MANY morphs have started becoming available. Determining which morph you want for your snake (if any!) depends on your personal preference and price range. Some morphs will cost way more than others due to rarity and availability. As always we recommend you do a quick search on the morph you pick to make sure there are no problems associated with that particular morph.
You can see some adorable western hognose morphs in our other articles here and here.
—
Enjoy this article? Share it with your friends using the links below! Also, leave a comment below and let us know what you think. Thanks for reading!