Looking into hognose snakes! What should I know?

Hi there! This is my first time on MorphMarket, but not my first time dealing with reptiles. I currently have a gargoyle gecko and a leopard gecko, but this will be my first time owning a snake.

I have a top opening 40 breeder WITH A LID and all the equipment to keep the hoggie happy (UVB, heat, and lighting), I just need the substrate/hides, and of course the snake. I’m going to do this enclosure as a bioactive, so there will be live plants in it, and the snake that’s going in there is probably going to be a male, so less risk of trampling plants.

The thing I’m most worried about is going to be feeding, how often should I feed a hognose of each growth stage, and what size mouse should I feed? As said before I’m going to have a male hoggie go in here, so it should be plenty of room, but I would prefer a front opening tank, but the top opening tank is what I have currently so I might as well use it.

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Welcome to the community!

To address a couple things as a start, your enclosure plans sound fantastic! Hogs are primarily burrowers so the more you can cater to that the better. I love to utilize pvc pipe/elbows and pool tubing to bury under substrate etc. They love it!

Depending on the individual you get and how old/big they are you might have to plan for a smaller back up enclosure to start with until they are more comfortable. Hogs can be sensitive to changes like shipping and a new environment. For young ones they tend to do better starting in something smaller and working up to the big enclosure. I can also tell you from experience trying to find a five month old baby in a 40g to feed or handle will be a chore :sweat_smile:. The more clutter and hides you provide the more comfortable they will be.

For feeding I’m attaching a chart I pulled off Ectotherm empire’s website.


It’s the regimen that I have been following for my babies the last few years and seems to work best for their growth rate. It’s very important that whoever you get one from you find out about their feeding habits and that they are consistently feeding on frozen thawed. Some new babies require scenting or live so best to make sure you aren’t inadvertently purchasing one that hasn’t been switched over to f/t.

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For substrate you can do a mix of playsand, topsoil, sphagnum moss and zoomed excavator clay in equal parts with a drainage and activated charcoal layer since you’re going bioactive. I reccomend leca for the water drainage layer since your Hoggie will burrow and theres no risk of getting stuck. Add pre-boiled leaf litter and heat sterilized crushed eggshell for cleanup crew to eat.

As far as diet goes, since you’re going with a male you won’t need to feed as large of meals as a female would, my only Hoggie girl eats jumbo mice every 14 days… she’s a big girl :sweat_smile:

@ghsaltie already covered a good feeding regimen :slight_smile:

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Also another thing to keep in mind is that hogs are prone to obesity so it is very important that the feeder either be an appropriate size or meals are spaced out farther like @cmsreptiles girl.

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Yeah, a lot of Hoggies are voracious eaters… I have to pick up my girl with gloves because she would otherwise latch onto my hand :joy: so be careful not to overfeed- even if your Hoggie always seems like they’re after a meal.

Some are also very picky especially as little ones, so just be mindful of that @gottobehoggies

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There really is no in between! You either get a garbage can willing to eat everything in sight, or the world’s worst food critic :laughing:

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I was thinking about using one of those 3D printed caves that you bury under substrate! I know it’s mainly used for fish but a large enough one of those would be great for a hoggie to hang out in. Thank you so much for the feeding chart by the way! I’ve been looking around MM to look at the hoggies I really like, and it turns out I like the leucistic ones a LOT, it’s a good thing that most of those little guys are already eating F/T… I’m used to being a bit strict with the mealtimes because Leos also get fat fast! It’ll probably be September/October when I get the noodle though, as the temps here stay nasty high all summer, and it gets cold and windy all winter. I was going to use a premade desert/temperate bioactive mix for the soil that doesn’t require a drainage layer, though I might try that mix instead to save some costs!

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