hey guys just want some feedback on my enclosure for my hognose I get her tomorrow and I’m excited. so she has a hide in the hot and cold side and a water dish on the cold side. the hot side has a heat mat and I have a temp gun and the top is about 90ish degrees which I think is good since it’ll be a bit warmer under I have a plug in thermostat on the way for better control I just don’t have it rn. cold side is at around 80. I’m still gonna add stuff tomorrow on the side and in between so it’s not so open and she gets stressed but this is it for right now any feedback? oh also humidity is in the mid 40s
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Looks good so far. You’ll want to measure the temp directly under the heat mat too. If it’s 90 on the surface, that means it’s even warmer underneath. You definitely need more clutter. The dollar store is a great source of cheap decorations. I also like to use sections of PVC pipes for little tunnels. Toilet paper tubes and paper towel rolls work great as well.
The last thing I’d recommend is blacking out the sides and the back. You can cover it with some dark paper or my personal favorite: Black acrylic paint
edit: keep an eye on the sunlight coming in through the window. It could raise the temps to an unsafe level.
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thank you. and yes I was going to go to the dollar store for everything else I need I just ran out of time and had to go to work but I will update tomorrow. also I will make sure to check that I was mixing around the substrate every so often and the highest it got was 93-94 what would you say is an unsafe temp? as for the sunlight I thought that as well that’s why I was putting up curtains or putting something on that side to block it out
I’d aim for 90 on the hotspot. 93-94 is a bit high.
When we first receive hognoses, we keep them in smaller tubs (6 qt for hatchlings, 28 qt for adults)) on paper towel. That way we can check for mites and to make sure they’re digesting and passing food properly. Is this a hatchling you’re getting?
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You can also get use a spray product called plasti dip to paint 3 of the sides…Its not permanent and you simply peel it off when you no longer need the sides dark. Since you don’t have the thermostat to control the heat yet I’d be very careful. The 90 degree basking spot temp is ok and that might fluctuate by a few degrees but I don’t think it hitting 95 occasionally would hurt the animal…Just get that thermistat control unit in there ASAP. The cool side at 78-80 is also good. The hognose can take dry temps so as long as humidity isnt to high you’re good.
got it I’ll check tomorrow once the heat mat has had time to settle.
no she’s 8 months so she won’t be too tiny if it was then yeah I wouldn’t just kept her in a tub until she grew
oh cool I didn’t know you could do that I’ve used plastidip before but didn’t know I could use it for that thanks for the idea
I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but for my tri colored boy I give him tons more substrate to dig through (though Kudos to the chipped stuff it’s what I swear by). Then you can hide decor inside the substrate for the snake to get some enrichment. Ive heard of some hoggie owners using appropriate sized PVC pipes or corner fittings as further enrichment. Just have bury it in the substrate and could become a feeding zone given enough time and “training.”
yeah I can do that I have another bag of substrate I can add more if the hot side is to hot just so it won’t burn her and she’ll get to burrow more
We have some 2020’s that are around 8 months old. A handful are 45+ grams, quite a few are in the 20 gram range. I’d be prepared to receive a small hognose unless they gave you their weight
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