Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello
I have been keeping Mt.Kings for years and began eyeing Western Hognose .
From what I understand they prefer it bit warmer than most Mt.Kings?
Interested in knowing what temps you folks keep yours at ?

Thank you

Hello Fleck,

Well I've been keeping mine at room temperature during the summer months at around 78 to 83. Now that it's starting to get cooler I have a cool area of around 70-75 and their hot spot is around 90 or so. I use uth heating.

How about you what's your set up like?

I don't have any yet but plan on getting an albino Western male .

I was not sure of temp .

I plan on a 5 gallon tank for the juvie going up to 20 long as adult with UTH , ambient room temp is mid 70s but might also go with low watt red incandescent bulb over warm hide area .

I had actually never seen them in 15 years of keeping kings , recently saw some 4 inch albinos at local pet store and just loved them.

I will be picking one up this week. Not expensive either at $175 for albino.
I wanted to make sure they were eating pinkies on their own first .

As an old kingsnake keeper, Hogs are nuts and fun.
I actually test a pair of hogs and a pair of thayeri, same cage setup same temp choices in the same method. A wide range. 45F to 100F, over a 12 month period.

The kings blew the doors off the hogs. The kings went from hatchling to the female growing to over 3 feet, in one year.
The hogs did well, they were young almost adult sized. They only put on a little growth, a couple inches.
I then move the hogs to another building with higher lows, 83f to high temps around 90F and they fed and grew like weeds(as they should). So yes, I agree, hogs work better with a higher temp range, not so much the high end, but a higher low temps seem to be important.

I have only been playing with hogs for a year. And I too was going from basic kingsnake husbandry(bred them for almost 50 years)
I have one female that was tiny 5 to 6 inches, and she grew to almost 20 inches and nearly 200 grams in one year. she started with a lower "kingsnake" range. Since then, as mentioned, I raised the temps a tad and I have another tiny tiny hatchling that is feeding almost daily and growing much much better then the one already mentioned. One other huge difference is, male hogs can become sexually maturity at 4 to 6 months of age. Its crazy, They hatch in the 5 to 6 inch range and are sexually mature at 11 inches. Their tails get huge and they only think of one thing "girls" anytime all the time. Good luck

Wow that is a wide range of temps .

Great information , thanks a lot.

Do you find your hogs as secretive as kings ?

That range is no where near as wide as all snakes use in real life. Every day in nature its either too cold, too hot or most commonly both. Behavior and adaption is what allows them to exist in those temp ranges. As long as you support them in a way they can make decent decisions, they will perform at their best.

So far, its my opinion that hognose are much more shy then kings. Kings are more prone to positive training. But then, I am just learning hognose. They are indeed a unique snake. Best wishes

I just read your response to Austin.

There are some major differences between hogs and kings. Hogs are extremely diurnal. And use very high body temps when compared to kings(when on the move). In a cage like you described, I would also use a small heat lite to keep the temps up from your room temps in the 70's.

We kept an albino female, much like you described, hatchling in the glass tank. A 10 gallon I believe. With a heat lite, UTH in the winter and deep substrate and hiding structures in both the warm end and the cool end. She grew from that hatchling size, more like 6 1/2 inches, to over 20 in 11 months.

Hogs are not pure rodent feeders, most will without major problems. But some require some scenting as neonates and even at times as growing juveniles. Not so much because they will not eat rodents. Its not about this or that, its about both. Sometimes, an individual will not take a rodent and will by rubbing it on a toad(scenting) Then will return to eating rodents with no problem. I do not feed on some manmade schedule. I normally feed every other day to daily, then miss a few days here and there, etc. In most cases its small meals daily. In other words, if its hungry, feed it. And if they are hot, they are hungry. Good luck with your new little pink thing. Oh, I would get a female, as males do not get as large and are goofy. Goofy means, once sexually mature(11 to 12 inches) all they want to do is breed, 24/7, 365.