DOs and DO NOTs for your adorable new plains/Western hognose

Colubrids Hognose Snakes
21

no. that isn’t how it goes. once they get used to handling, they see humans as safe and it will remember that.

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22

So the correct solution is to leave it alone for 2 - 3 weeks, and then start getting them used to the hand? Do I understand correctly?

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23

Yep. Just make sure to do tons of research before buying. I recommend checking out reptifiles and watching a bunch of YouTube videos about them to make sure that you know everything you can about them

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24

As @logar said, it doesn’t really work that way. Either your hoggie will be naturally calm and/or was already socialized by the breeder, in which case leaving them alone for a couple weeks won’t make any difference, or they’ll be a little fearful and defensive…in which case, leaving them alone to get comfortable in their surroundings will only help once you do start handling them.

With a new snake, your first priority is to let them decompress and get them eating for you. Once you’ve got that squared away, you can start handling and socializing them. And once a snake is socialized and “tame,” you don’t need to handle them every day to keep them that way. Reptiles have better memories than most people realize, so once they’ve learned that humans are safe and that getting picked up doesn’t mean they’re about to get eaten, they’re not going to forget that all that quickly.

I usually handle my “friendly” snakes 3-4 times a week. And that’s mainly just because I really enjoy handling and interacting with them, not because they’re going to become “untame” if I handle them less frequently. At least, that’s been my experience.

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25

Cut to the chase. The concept of leaving the hognose alone for a couple of weeks is to not stress it with handling and to make it feel comfortable in the new environment so it will eat.

Two weeks is plenty of time. However you want it to eat consistently. Until that happens minimal handling is a good idea. Getting a hognose to eat can be tricky but not always.

Also a baby hog should be started out in a bin no larger than a 6 to 8 qt. Large enclosures can add to or create stress, as baby hogs coming from breeders are housed in small breeder tubs.

This is my experience. The above will NOT affect handleability.

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26

Well said.

Completely unrelated but what happened to your profile picture? I miss seeing your old boa :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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27

I was wondering the same thing. And missing the boa. :upside_down_face:

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28

@cleoskingdom This is incredibly helpful!! Thank you so much. I wish I would have read this first thing. How long should you wait if you made the mistake of holding them right after you got them home and fed/ messed with them too soon? (The more information the better please).

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29

Thanks for the post. It’s good to know I have been doing things right so far :slight_smile:

I just have two questions:

  1. I got my hognose yesterday (14.09.24) and was told by the breeder that she was fed the day before on 13.09.24. She is two months old. Should I wait about 5 days (so on 18.09.) to offer food again?
  2. Should I leave a pinkie in her enclosure for her even when she’s burrowed?
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