Posted by:
ROC
at Tue Jan 15 18:41:08 2013 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by ROC ]
Welcome to hognoses, and I am happy to hear you are doing your homework before getting the snake! I'll try to touch on all your questions:
In my experience, I haven't found western hognoses to be so particular about their temps. I have had mine in a rack with ball pythons and kingsnakes and everyone was happy. I have a hot spot in the upper 80s. One thing I keep in mind is that the hotspot on top of the substrate isn't the temperature I'm trying to achieve, as below the substrate it is even warmer, and the snakes can burrow down to get to that temp if they want. This past year, the AC was set around 77 in summer and this winter the room is in the upper 70s to lower 80s. So I think your room temperature in your house will be fine. I would go with under tank heaters.
Males stay smaller than females, but either sex would be comfortable in a tank that size. If you get a hognose that is established on eating unscented mice, it will do well on that diet and there wouldn't be a need to offer other prey items. If you fed it a frog or something, it may continue eating mice, but it could be risky and not worth getting your snake used to eating an unaccessible prey item. They do enjoy burrowing, so 2 or more inches of substrate is appreciated. Some will go off food in the winter (a recent topic discussed a few points below) while others will not. Just like some snakes will eat in blue while others don't, they are all different. I'm not sure the % body weight they should eat while growing, and a maintenance diet will depend on the size of the adult. In my experience, snake will grow pretty slow if feed an item that doesn't make a lump in them or a small one once a week or so.
Hogs are a lot of fun and have the best personalities of all snakes I've kept so far. Husbandry is a little different for everyone, so you just have to start out with the basic guidelines and see what works for you! Good luck!
Ross Couvillon
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RE: Questions from a Newb - ROC, Tue Jan 15 18:41:08 2013