Facts You Should Know Before Buying A Hognose
Pros and Cons of buying a hognose can be tricky to navigate. Here are a few basic facts about them you should know before you bring one home.
Hognoses Live A Long Time
A plains hognose usually lives about 10 to 15 years, but there are cases of them living to be 20 years, sometimes even longer, with good care in captivity. It's often underestimated exactly how long a reptile can live, so please plan accordingly--these little cuties live a long time when you take good care of them!
Hognoses are Venomous
Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Yes, plains hognose snakes are rear-fanged venomous. They have very tiny fangs in the backs of their mouths. They use this venom to disable toads and frogs as part of their natural diet in the wild. The venom is very mild to humans, but much like a bee sting, some people have a stronger reaction than others. While they normally do not bite as part of their defense mechanism, they can be very food-motivated and accidentally bite you when they mistake your hand for food. It's good to know how to remove them before this happens so you don't panic and hurt them, or yourself.
Place your fingertip (thumb is best) under the rostral scale (tip of the nose) and push up. That's it. They should pop right off, and by then have tasted enough to realize you're not food. Here is a video Jeff Galewood put together to demonstrate. Ideally, do this before they dig in and envenomate you. If they double down, you can also try white vinegar or rubbing alcohol around the mouth, as they hate the smell and taste.
If you are envenomated, there will be some swelling and it may itch, but that should be the worst of it. Things like ice compresses and anti-inflammatories should help. However, if it does get worse, you notice discoloration, the swelling is significant, etc., please don't hesitate to see a doctor!
Hognoses Can Go Off Food
While I have a whole section devoted to feeding and hunger strikes, I think it's important to bring up one of the most common downsides to dealing with a pet hognose. There are a few reasons they might be like this:
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The hognose is a picky eater. The seller (in this case, me) should be able to tell you what scents they used, if any, when the hognose was little in order to get them on unscented frozen thawed pinkies. If they are being a pain, sometimes going back to the original scent that worked might spur their appetite again.
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The hognose is going through a normal seasonal period where they would not be eating in the wild. This includes preparing their bodies for winter brumation (hibernation) or breeding season, even if you had no intentions whatsoever of brumating or breeding them.
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The hognose is stressed or sick. We often jump to the conclusion that this is the issue, but most of the time it's because of one of the other reasons. Frankly, their bodies are designed to survive without food for long periods of time, but we often project our feelings that they should be eating onto them even if they don't really need it. The first thing to check before panicking is that your parameters are correct, that nothing in the immediate environment has changed or might be stressing them out, and to keep track of their weight (a kitchen scale that measures in grams is good for this). The rule of thumb is if they are visibly losing weight or the scale shows they have lost 10%+ of their body weight, it's time to see a vet.
Hognoses Are Dramatic
To some people, this is a selling point! However, you should know that even the calmest baby can have a personality shift when they hit the "terrible teens" phase. When they hit the juvenile stage before adulthood it is possible for them to go through a change in personality because, much like a human teenager, they're dealing with raging hormones and a very big, very scary world. Give them some grace and patience during this time.
Not all hognoses are drama queens, but you will get some that are very scary pancakes who will viciously boop you with their nose and do their best deflating bike tire impression. It's cute as heck on a tiny baby but with a 3'+ adult, it can be startling and downright scary to some people. Before committing to getting a hognose, make sure you watch some videos to see how this looks and decide if you think you can handle it, because, like any animal or person, they can get in a mood and decide they want you to heck off and will do their best to scare you away.
Hognose Poop STINKS!
Look, everybody does it, and poop is poop. But then there's hognose poop... You will know the minute you walk in the door if your baby dropped a big one, lol. It is important to clean hognose poop quickly, not just because it smells bad, but because they can catch parasites and diseases from noodling around in it and then in their water. This is important, and something to take into consideration before bringing one home.
Setting Up Your Hognose Enclosure
Before even bringing a hognose home, you should always make sure you have an enclosure set up and ready for it first! Part of why you want to do this step first is to make sure that the parameters (lights, UVB if in use, heat source/temperature, and humidity) are correct before the animal is stuck in those conditions. You can always have Bluestone Exotics, LLC hold the hognose you want (with a deposit) until you have all the supplies and setup correct first!
Basic Parameters
Plains hognose snakes are native to North America, and range as far north as southern Canada and as far south as northern Mexico. They can be found scattered from Montana to Minnesota, and New Mexico to Texas, and everywhere in between. That provides a wide range of habitat, but they mainly prefer dry prairies.
Enclosure temperature ranges should be around 88-90F on the warm side (shoot for 90 for babies, 88 for adults) and around 78 - 80F on the cool side of the enclosure. Ambient humidity should be between 30 - 50%, with an extra humid hide (a container with an opening on the side or top for them to crawl into but enclosed enough to retain moisture, usually with sphagnum moss).
You will require:
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An appropriately sized enclosure
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A way to keep the warm side of the enclosure up to temperature (heat mat or light/deep heat projector -- do not use heat rocks)
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A probe with temperature monitoring capabilities to keep the temperature of the warm/basking spot in range -- do not skip this, it is vital to ensure you are not over or under heating your enclosure!
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A hydrometer (can use a thermometer combo) to track humidity levels
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Appropriate substrate
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While in quarantine (at least 30 days when you first bring your animal home) you should keep them on paper towels or plain/no print newsprint style paper to monitor if they are passing food properly
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Once out of quarantine, you can use shredded aspen, which holds tunnels well, but please keep an eye near their water dish as they often spill it and aspen is prone to molding. You should have at least 3 - 4" of substrate so they have plenty of room to burrow.
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If you are going bioactive, please see the bioactive section below. Again, minimum 3 - 4" of substrate and it needs to be strong enough to hold their tunnels.
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A water dish
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At least two normal hides (*note: they absolutely love toilet paper rolls as hides, just make sure you change them often as the cardboard can host bacteria)
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One humid hide (kept on the warm side to avoid the possibility of respiratory infection) plus appropriate substrate to retain moisture without molding (I recommend sphagnum moss)
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Lots of fake plants, branches, etc., for clutter
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A way to source their food (if you do not have a pet store that provides frozen mice of appropriate size, you can find sources online such as Layne Labs, RodentPro, or Big Cheese Rodent Factory.
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To know where your local exotic veterinarian is and that they treat hognoses (call around and check, because not every vet does!)
Not required, but recommended:
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A kitchen scale that measures in grams to keep track of the weight of your hognose
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A small dish to place food to prevent it from getting substrate on it when feeding or to use for drop-feeding
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Metal feeding tongs to use to feed your hognose (some people hand-feed and I think that's a great way to teach them fingers = food, but how you handle that is ultimately up to you)
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I recommend an additional occasional reptile-specific calcium and multivitamin supplement dusting for their health.
Plains hognoses can be as small as 4 inches when hatchlings. Adult males generally grow approximately 2' in length, and adult females average 3' in length. When they are adults, they like to explore and have room to get around, but when they are tiny babies, in the wild it is normal for them to find a small hiding spot where they can tightly squeeze themselves in, and stay there except to come out to hunt. This is why it's recommended to start with a baby bin, and then move them to something larger. Larger spaces and lack of hiding spots can be very scary for a tiny noodle.
Regardless of age or size, the rule of thumb is to give the hognose enough clutter and hides across the entire enclosure that they can move from one side to the other without being seen if they want to. You also want an enclosure that, on the longest side, the hognose can completely stretch out (so bare minimum at least the length of the snake).
Setting Up A Baby Bin
It can be tempting to think it's a good idea to take a baby and put them straight in an adult enclosure (you'd think more room is better!) but this will many times cause a baby hognose to become stressed out and go off of food. The reason for this is they are prey to many things in the wild, and even with a ton of clutter, it can feel like they are too exposed and there are not enough places to hide. You're also going to have problems finding their waste to clean it, let alone finding them to ensure they are eating (particularly if you want to keep them trained on taking food from tongs vs. relying on drop feeding).
This is why it is recommended to start out with a shoebox-sized baby bin. You can either use a plastic shoebox-sized bin with a secure top (and don't forget to add air holes!), or you can opt for a 10 gallon (20"L x 12"W x 10"H) long glass tank--just make sure there is plenty of clutter for the baby to use to hide.
Ideally, their enclosure will open from the front, but this is not always possible to find with the smaller tanks or when using a plastic shoebox bin. The reason this is ideal is because when you come at them from above, it looks very much like a predator out to get them, and can easily frighten them.
For a bin or a tank, you will need a heat source. It is recommended to put on the side or back instead of the bottom if you are using a heat pad so there is enough gradient to provide a cool side. Do not forget to use a probe and thermostat to regulate the temperature! Don't risk cooking your baby noodle or starting a fire! You can use an animal-safe silicone to adhere the probe to the inside of the bin, centered over the heat mat. If you use glue, unless it is meant to withstand heat, it will eventually fail and the probe will not stay put. The same goes for using things like duct tape, which also poses a potential danger if it starts peeling from the heat (your baby could get stuck to it and injure themselves trying to escape the adhesive).
One thing to consider is that you will need a small water dish to start out. A baby can potentially drown if the dish is too big and too deep. For a very small hatchling, I like to use glass candle holders, as they are easy to wash and sanitize, but when they get a bit bigger I use small glass or ceramic ramekins.
Once a baby learns that they are safe with you and starts coming out more regularly, does not instantly noodle away to hide at the sight of you, etc., you can move them directly to an adult bin. These are not meant to be "forever" enclosures, just something to use long enough to get them well started and comfortable with you. If you move your hognose from a baby bin to an adult bin and they go off food, but they are now too large to comfortably fit in the baby bin, you can try reducing the size of the adult enclosure with a separator like cardboard, adding more clutter, blocking out 3 sides to keep it dark so they feel more secure, etc.
Essentially, you want to think like a tiny stringbean with a head that is normally eaten by a lot of things in the wild. Look at the enclosure and the hiding places from that perspective. Would you feel safe in there and like you had enough hiding places if you were afraid of being eaten by anything that might come along?
Setting Up An Adult (Basic)
Much like a baby bin, you will need all the same things: a source of heat, clutter, hides, a water dish, and so on. There is no reason to opt for a top-opening enclosure at this juncture, as a front-opening tank should be easy to find in adult sizes.
However, the size of the enclosure will depend on whether you have a male or a female hognose. In general, you want a long (not tall) enclosure with deep enough substrate for them to burrow (3 - 4" deep minimum) and lots of opportunities for climbing, basking, and hiding. You can also use this as an opportunity to provide them a proper basking spot with a deep heat projector and UVB (T8 5.0) vs. using a heat mat.
Male hognoses are smaller than females, usually only growing to about 2' long. However, they are very active and will happily use more space to explore, as well as climbing opportunities, if you provide it. The minimum tank size would be 20 gallons (30" x 12" x 12") for a male hognose.
Female hognoses grow much larger than males. While they usually top out around 3', it is not out of the question that they can grow larger. As mentioned above, please ensure they can stretch out end to end long ways in their tank without having to curve their body. Otherwise, the standard size for an adult female hognose would be a 40 gallon (roughly 19.5"L x 37.5"W x 19.25"H) tank, as long as it is a long, low tank rather than a tall one.
Setting Up An Adult (Bioactive)
As mentioned above, hognoses lean to preferring dry prairie environments, and they really enjoy digging and creating tunnels, so any bioactive enclosure you create should be centered around this theme. However, you also have some latitude to create something fun, as they can be found across a wide swath of environments in North America.
To give you some inspiration, here is a fantastic Youtube video produced by Dāv Kaufman where he talks about hognoses in the wild, shows their natural habitat, and discusses more about how we keep them in captivity vs. how they live outdoors.
For this kind of setup, you will not only want a light, heat, and UVB (T8 5.0) setup that is friendly for your hognose, but accompanying plants and CUC (clean-up-crew, the bugs that eat waste, shed, decaying plant matter, etc.) that will do well in these conditions.
Plants you might consider would be drought-resistant, such as succulents, tiger tooth aloe, jade plants, or a strain of crpytanthus. You should also consider the addition of a grow light for the longevity of the plants, but keep in mind the hognose will be doing a lot of digging and plants may not last long if their roots are continually disturbed, so you may be changing them out frequently anyway.
For your CUC you should consider a mix of springtails and isopods that can handle the environment, such as powder blue, giant orange, and/or dairy cow isopods.
For the substrate itself, you will generally want a mix of organic topsoil and play or fine sand. Be very sure you're not getting soil that has fertilizer or other added chemicals in it, or anything other than play sand (as that has been washed with sharp points and impurities removed). It's common to use a 60/30/10 to 40/40/20 blend of topsoil, play sand, and excavator clay as the base with added sphagnum moss and leaf litter on top to help with humidity. This blend holds tunnels and required humidity well, and provides a good base for the plants and CUC.
Feeding Your Hognose & Dealing With Hunger Strikes
Knowing how much and what to feed your hognose is important! If you missed it above, it helps quite a lot to have a kitchen scale that measures in grams not only to weigh your hognose, but to weigh their food and ensure you're not giving them too much or too little when you feed them. You can find digital scales like this in any big box store like Target or Walmart, or online on Amazon.
Hognose Eating Habits
In the wild, hognoses eat a variety of foods, including fish, rodents, frogs, toads, and tadpoles. While there are some alternative diets you can look into, in general, a hognose raised in captivity gets all the nutrition they require from a mouse. It is not a great idea to switch to offering other foods as you may have trouble getting your hognose to go back onto mice by offering them something else, like fish or frogs.
Also, please keep in mind a lot of feeder fish readily available in pet stores or picked up from outside can carry parasites and diseases, as well as often being full of thiaminase which destroys thiamine (vitamin B1). Long-term feeding of such fish can cause severe neurological problems in snakes due to B1 deficiency. If you feel you absolutely must feed your hognose fish, it is safe to give them pieces of raw tilapia or salmon, but again you will run into the issue of them possibly going off mice and the fish not being nutritionally complete for them.
If you watch the video I linked above by Dāv Kaufman, you will see it is common for their feeding habits to change at certain times of the year. In the wild, hognoses will go off food in late fall/winter for several months while they brumate (the snake version of hibernation) until springtime. When they are mature, males will also often be off food during the breeding season in the spring as they are more focused on making babies than on fattening themselves up.
So at certain times of the year it is totally normal for them to go off food for months at a time. Their bodies are built for this. However, in the wild they are also normally in a cold environment that slows down their metabolism during this time. It is not a good idea for a hognose to be kept at the usual 80 - 90F degree range during winter if they are not eating and also losing weight, as their body may not have slowed down their metabolism enough to handle the long period without food. If you need assistance with this, please reach out to me and I'll walk you through how to brumate them with what you have available at home, but only if they are also losing weight on top of not eating during the winter.
Knowing What and How Often to Feed
Young hognoses should be fed every 4 to 5 days until they reach approximately 30 grams.
Between 30 grams and when they reach their adult size (for males this will be about 1 year, for females usually 2 but up to 3 years), so up to when they are around 140g, you will reduce the feeding schedule to once a week (every 7 to 10 days).
Adults 140g+ should be fed every 10 to 14 days.
The size of the feeder will depend on the weight of the hognose. An appropriately sized feeder will be approximately the same size or slightly thicker than the widest part of the hognose's body. Keep in mind it is better to feed them two smaller prey items than one prey item that is too large. You will want to feed as follows:
0 - 15g ex. small pinky
16 - 25g small pinky
25 - 40g large pinky
41 - 50g peach fuzzy
51 - 90g fuzzy
91 - 170g small mouse
171 - 240g medium mouse
241 - 300g large mouse
301g+ ex. large mouse
How to Handle A Hognose Hunger Strike
Keep in mind you should not be offering food every day or every other day. Stick to the feeding schedule above, even if they are skipping food. Otherwise you are going to stress them out more and they will be more likely to go off food.
It can be tempting when you're on your third or fourth week of your hognose not eating to want to throw in the towel and try scenting or offering something other than a mouse. This really is not necessary (though sometimes it helps)!
It's normal for hognoses to have periods of not eating. While I've covered some of the reasons why above (brumation, breeding behavior), sometimes they also don't want to eat when they are about to or are currently in shed. While shedding usually only takes a week or two, sometimes if they are a little dehydrated it will take even longer. The key is to watch for weight loss in addition to the hunger strike. If they are not losing weight, it's generally not an emergency, even if it has been several weeks since the last time they ate.
If you know this hunger strike is not happening during a time of year when it's normal (winter/spring), then sometimes it means that there is something in their environment they don't like. Did something change before the hunger strike, like moving them to a new enclosure, changing/adding/removing something in their enclosure, adding or removing something in the room where their enclosure is located, trying a new perfume or scented candle in the house, etc.? Chances are good they are just scared, stressed, or protesting something they don't like. Sometimes it's as simple as... the mouse doesn't smell right. Did the distributor change where you got them from?
I've found that one of the tricks that almost always works to get my non-eaters feeding again is to take an empty cardboard toilet paper roll, put the mouse inside, and then put that against the edge of the enclosure overnight. 9 times out of 10, the mouse will be gone in the morning. They will find it when cruising around the edge of the enclosure when you're not around and it's dark, which usually makes them feel safer to eat.
Another thing you can try is bumping up the heat on the warm end 1 - 2 degrees and see if that jumpstarts their appetite.
If these tricks do not work, there are other methods to try, but generally things like scenting are techniques that breeders do to get babies (not established feeders) back on food. What you can try is offering alternative food like a bit of hardboiled egg white, or a piece of raw salmon or tilapia, just to get them to eat something. These should not be staples but might work to get them eating again.
When It's Not Just A Hunger Strike
If your hognose is rapidly losing weight, has lost 10% or more body weight since they started the hunger strike, and/or are regurgitating food, it's not just a hunger strike. These are the signs you'll know it's time to see a vet!
Most of the time, it's easy to know when your hognose is just being persnickety vs. actually sick. If they are being lethargic, visibly losing weight, etc., don't delay. Make that vet appointment. You can find a local vet specializing in reptiles using the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians (ARAV) membership search tool.
Hognose Common Ailments & Basic First Aid
This section is just to cover some of the most basic medical issues that hognose owners usually run into. This is not a substitute for having your animal be seen and treated by a veterinarian.
Hognose First
Aid
Let's face it. Life happens. Sometimes people and animals get hurt. The important thing is making sure they are cared for and recover!
For basic scrapes, cuts, or burns on a reptile, you will want to treat injuries like this using a triple antibiotic ointment that does not contain painkillers. Human painkillers are deadly to reptiles. Gently clean the area and apply the ointment two to three times a day. This should help most minor cuts and scrapes to scab over and heal enough that signs of the injury will gradually disappear within a few sheds.
If your hognose was bitten or scratched by a cat, do not delay seeing a vet. While you will be treating the surface wounds, cat saliva and claws are loaded with bacteria that can make even the smallest nick quickly become deadly to a reptile.
Treating Scale Rot
Unfortunately, sometimes due to incorrect husbandry (usually because their enclosure is dirty or too humid) or infection, hognoses can develop a condition known as scale rot. This looks like the scales are, quite literally, rotting on their body, often turning discolored (usually dark brown) and flaky.
There are two types of scale rot: fungal and bacterial. Without a veterinarian seeing them to swab a culture, it's impossible to know which kind they have.
Fortunately, it is relatively easy to fix when it's external, though one should still see a vet to see if antibiotics or other special treatment is needed to deal with anything outside of the external symptoms.
Before anything else you need to clean and disinfect everything in your hognose's enclosure, and switch them to a paper towel or plain newsprint paper substrate until they heal. You're going to want to kill any sign that fungus or bacteria was ever present in that enclosure! A good product for cleaning and disinfecting is chlorhexidine, which can be found on Amazon or Chewy. You will want to spray/wipe and let it sit for several minutes so it can effectively kill the fungus or bacteria. After cleaning with the chlorhexidine, you'll want to thoroughly rinse off any clutter, hides, dishes, and the enclosure, with distilled or dechlorinated water.
To treat the hognose, you'll want room temperature or just above distilled water (if it feels warm on your skin it's uncomfortably hot to them) mixed with betadine until it is the color of weak tea. Roughly 1 part betadine to 10 parts water. You'll need holes in the container so they can breathe, and a locking lid to keep them inside. It should be about an inch of liquid for an adult (use common sense, don't drown your snake making it too deep), and they should soak for approximately 10 - 20 minutes daily followed by a spot treatment of no painkiller antibiotic ointment until the scale rot clears up. This may not happen until they shed. If it's a bad case, it may take more than one shed. Keep them on the paper towel substrate until they finish healing.
If you spot raised scales or blisters, that is serious and requires additional vet treatment and possibly prescription strength antibiotic ointment.
If it is internal, this usually presents as mouth rot (a brownish, flaking look to the jaw and sometimes extending inside to the gums, teeth, and rest of the mouth). Do not delay seeing a vet to treat mouth rot. This is much more serious and not something you can fix treating at home.
Respiratory Infections
One of the most common issues encountered in captive hognoses are respiratory infections. The hognose will make clicking or wheezing sounds when it breathes, it will breathe from an open mouth, there will be visible mucus buildup in the mouth or sometimes drool, bubbles around the nose, the tongue forks will often be stuck together, etc. Additional symptoms can include lethargy and loss of appetite.
This is not something you can treat at home, it requires a round of antibiotics.
Like scale rot, you will want to disinfect their enclosure. See the notes above about chlorhexidine.
If you are unable to see a vet immediately, you can bump up the heat a hair on their warm side and keep everything clean in their enclosure until they can be seen.
Weight Loss, Regurgitation, and Other Problems
In general, you will want to keep a periodic eye on the weight of your hognose (once a month or so, a little more frequently when they are younger). If you notice they are losing weight, the general rule is when they are at about 10% weight loss, it's time to see a vet, but don't use that arbitrary number as a hard rule. If you see something is wrong, don't delay!
When a hognose regurgitates (throws up) it can be for any number of reasons. Whatever the reason, whether the meal was too big or they are sick, you will need to wait at least 14 days for their esophagus to heal before offering food again. Keep in mind that their stomach acid is strong enough to dissolve the bones of their prey. You can imagine what that does to their throat. Be patient and give them time before offering them food again.
Regurgitation in general is not a good sign. If it happens, it's not a bad idea to swab the prey item and have it checked for parasites. If it comes back positive, your vet can prescribe treatment.
Additional Resources & Guides
No one care guide is going to have it all. There are lots of resources out there, along with differing opinions. Here are just a few that you might find useful if the information you were looking for was not on this page.
A more in-depth guide covering more than just the basics of hognose care. Learn more about their natural environment. A great resource for things like deciding how to build out a bioactive enclosure!
Jeff "In Hog We Trust" Galewood of JMG Reptiles is one of the most respected names in the community, who has founded numerous hognose traits we all know and love today, such as arctic, lavender, and lemon hypo. If anybody has the answer, it's Jeff!
Joe from Hoggin Out has some incredible video guides on Youtube how to set up for and handle taking home a new baby hognose. I urge you to check out his videos, because they certainly helped me!
With an established store since 2017, Ectotherm Empire is a well known and respected breeder of hognose snakes. They offer incredible insight not only on the care of hognoses, but an unparalleled resource about genetics and morphs.