I've kept snakes for many years, and have always had an interest in hognose, but have never had one. A couple questions, as my wife told me she wished I had a snake that didn't get large... so I'm thinking this might be a good excuse to add another to the collection some time!
Sounds like a good idea to me!!
What are the more common North American Hognose species that are kept? And, are they similar in sizes? I know femals get much larger than males... What's a typical adult size for a male/female?
I would say this is the order of captive numbers from most to least. Plains(western,) Mexican, Southern, then Eastern. The Southerns are very rare and the Eastern's don't seem to acclimate well to captivity. The Mexicans are picking up in popularity, but they are not bred in the numbers that the Plains are due to a much smaller captive population. Most of my adult females are around 30-34 inches long and weigh between 300 and 500 grams. My males are from 16 to 20 inches and weigh 80 to 120 grams. Mexicans seem to stay a bit smaller.
How is their temperament? I'm sure they rarely if ever play dead as captives...
They have one of the coolest personalities of any snake. They will hiss, puff up, and strike, but rarely if ever bite. This is more common in the Plains as juveniles, but some adults never loose it. Mexicans on the other hand will put on a show even into adulthood. Most of them never play dead in captivity, but a few neonates will do it from time to time. I have only seen one captive bred adult do it.
I'll search the web for some more answers, but anything that you could contribute to their general care would be nice. If there is anything in particular that is different for their husbandry compared to other colubrids in general, etc.
They do require a different setup than most Colubrids. I have a room dedicated to Hognose because of this. They like it warm and dry. The cages need to be well ventilated and they seem to do best with very low humidity. I am in Utah, where the humidity is usually less than 20%, and they do great. I keep my room 84-86 in the day and 78-82 at night. They also get a long 16 hour photo period most of the year. I keep them on a thick bed of shredded aspen in racks with tubs about the same length as the snake and half as wide. I also use a small water dish to avoid condensation building up.
Hope this helps a little.
Appreciate your help!
