All sounds like it is going well.
I definitely prefer to feed from tongs as it allows a direct interaction, helps them identify that they may get rewards from you, and it is fun, plus if anything is different, you can pick up on their behaviour (such as going in blue/shedding).
I prefer dark substrates as they tend to bring out better colour contrasts of the snake.
Something which will allow burying.
I guess you could shop around and choose something to cater for your preferences.

 

I prefer to drop feed when possible with all snakes, since it helps to dissociate me and food in the snake's mind. This is more "natural" for the snake (and for those keepers who tend toward those sorts of things), but most importantly it is a keeper safety issue. A misguided food strike from a hog can do a surprising amount of damage; my worst bite in terms of damage done to my hand was actually from a male hog (so, not a large snake).

I prefer aspen chips since they tend not to compact as much as the flakes can. Different flake brands and runs are different sizes sometimes, but some are so large that some snakes don't take the trouble to dig in them when they would in chips.

In general I don't like the fact that dark substrates (such as coco chip) make it hard to notice poop, and so only use such substrates when the environmental needs of the snake demands it (for higher moisture snakes).

 

My only fear with the chipped is it seems so small but I guess that’s not an issue as I have a fake flat shale rock I put her pinky on to avoid her eating the substrate she is now on. I even thought about eventually going to bio substrate but that would be way down the line when she grows big enough to move to the 30g I have sitting in the back bedroom just waiting for her to grow up lol. She is just a little worm right now (hatched 6/1/22). I want to decide on which aspen soon though as I am moving her from the 8” x 12” tub she is in as I noticed a heating issue with the heat mat alone. My proportional thermostat keeps the bottom of the inside of her tub on the hot side at 92F almost perfectly without fluctuations but on the top of the substrate and the rest of the tub is low 80s as my wife keeps the house too cool. I could turn up the thermostat but she spends most of her time submerged and I don’t want her to burn herself so I am moving her into a 12x12x8 terrarium (3 sides covered) and adding a ceramic heat emitter above. I have a freedom breeder x2 thermostat to control both heat sources so that should keep her warm hot side where it needs to be and create the proper gradient for her. I am in the process of setting it up as I type and plan to move her into it on Monday. This week temps are right but only because we are having a heat wave but normally my wife keeps the house an ice box

 

hot side at 92F almost perfectly without fluctuations but on the top of the substrate and the rest of the tub is low 80s

I shoot for maybe 94 hot and high 70s cool, and that seems to work. Tubs that are in solid sided racks hold heat better -- you could build a simple one-slot one out of sheet PVC.

A good long term solution in a cooler house (if you don't want to use a tub) is a PVC enclosure (like those from AP Cages). Get the sliding glass door model, and a radiant heat panel.

Ceramic emitter in a glass viv might be ok, but the emitter and the AC are really going to be at odds with each other -- best to figure out how to hold the heat where it is needed rather than just making more heat.

 

Yeah I always used vision enclosures for my pet boas and pythons and I agree with you on adding more heat but for the next month or so its my option. It has been so hot here this month high 90s low 100s so when I set up her tub before she came and for this first couple weeks she has been in it my temps were perfect. Then the wife came back from visiting my daughter yesterday and cooled the house down to her normal 64 - 65 F and boom issue found. I sold all my herp enclosures and stuff about 10 yrs ago when we moved as the city I live in you can’t have boids larger 6ft so all my BCC couldn’t move with us. Personally I don’t like tubs but she is too small for her adult enclosure right now so I went with it

 

If you are planning on a new set up with overhead heating then ditch the mat in the new set up.
Hogs like it hot by day, cool by night.
An overhead heater will be WAY superior to a mat!
With the substrate, don't overly stress. As long as its got some depth it's fine.
Just remember, these snakes do not inhabit wild areas that have been magically cleared of all soft ground. Make sure that the food is dry when offered, and your snake will be fine.
I've bred a LOT of hogs over the years, not just Westerns but true Mexicans too. All of mine were housed in wooden vivs, spot light during the day with a basking spot of 35, and aspen as substrate. A couple of cork hides either end and a bowl of water and that was literally it.
Adults were brumated for 3 months over the winter at 50C and in the dark.
They are really easy to keep, just remember that they need higher temperatures than other North American colubrids, they are better grown by offering smaller meals more regularly, and they are venomous.
Offer food either by drop feeding or on long forceps and do not interact with the snake after feeding or handling food items and you'll be fine.

 

@ian14 , have you ever tested between 24/7 heat and a night drop to see the differences in outcomes? Sincere question. Here in the US, heat off at night is not typical care, though I'd like to learn more about it.

Adults were brumated for 3 months over the winter at 50C

That's either a typo, or a cooking recipe.

 

Where I live in south west Washington state it can be pretty chilly at night but who knows. Like today it’s currently 92 and the weather says 59 in the middle of the night. And that’s pretty normal for here in the summer

 

Exactly my point. Your native herps do not experience 24/7 constant temperatures.

 

Tomorrow is even better 97 F durring the day and low of 51 F in the night. But then again I grew up in Minnesota and they naturally reside there in the wild, however they hibernate all but 3 months or so of the year

 

Hogs don't hibernate for 9 months of the year. They don't hibernate full stop, they brumate which is similar but different. And not for 9 months of the year.

 

Your right, not 9 months it’s 6 to 7 months in northern Mn and Wisconsin. It gets colder late Sept and the first snow is in Oct. usually and melts in around Apr. We used to catch wild ones when i was a little kid when they first started coming out of their dens in the spring after it started warming up. Technically the ones we caught were plains and eastern hognose not westerns. When your a stupid 9 year old kid you think the hooding is cool, well until you pick them up and they crap and musk all over you. Between them and all the garter snakes that scent bombed me I am surprised I still don’t smell like them 45+ yrs later.

 

I think you've answered your own question and backed up Ian's post. If they are natively found in a region that experiences snow regularly during the winter months, then why provide heat 24/7/365 when keeping them in a vivarium

 

Technically the ones we caught were plains and eastern hognose not westerns.

Plains hognoses are western hognoses.
There used to be three subspecies of Heterodon nasicus, these being H n nasicus, H n gloydi and H n kennerlyi. These are no longer recognised. Instead, kennerlyi was elevated to full species status, now known as Heterodon kennerlyi.
So in total there are four species of Heterodon, these being Western, Eastern, Southern and Mexican, with no subspecies.

 

Interesting discussion, and yes we in the US are pretty familiar with the environmental extremes (extremes that we'd be foolish to emulate entirely, but I suppose that's a different topic).

I was looking more to know about how captive animals respond to such regimens if there was any information available from keepers who had kept the same specimens under each heating schedule for an extended period of time (a full breeding cycle, at least) and could see any changes in outcomes. Skepticism about simply reproducing wild conditions has a lot of observational support; for example, my pregnant rosy boas are currently all thermoregulating to the mid 90s (35C) 24/7, but if they preferred a night drop they'd move onto the cool side at night since that's about the same temp as current overnight temps throughout much of their native range.

@Vykingwulf , none of the few eastern hogs I've caught here in Wisconsin musked -- maybe I just caught the few docile ones, but I wonder about geographical behavioral differences. Also, the hooding (and tail rattling, faux striking, death feigning) is still cool when you're not a kid anymore.

 

I don’t know may be you didn’t harass them as much as a young kid? Either way I set up her new digs and she has been exploring on and off all day long. Here’s a couple of pics. I tried to give her enough clutter to hid since this is 4 inches wider than the little tub she was in. The length and hight are the same as the tub.

 

So I went with the ceramic heat for now, and today was the most active she has been since she came to us. I have my freedom breeder set for 91.5 F (33.05C) on the warm side for day and 84F (28.88C) for evening. That sound okay? I checked it with my temp gun and it was totally dialed in to where my thermostat said it was. I tried it at 94F but my cool side wouldn’t drop below 89F so by dropping it a few degrees I got the cool side about 85.4 F so she can at least cool down some if she needs to. I have never dealt with such small enclosures and larger is definitely easier to create proper gradients. Incase someone asks my house was really warm today because my air conditioner died so that was with my house alot hotter than the norm. The wife usually starts complaining if the house is above 69F in the summer. Come winter she is the polar opposite and cranks it to 80.

 

Please remember that Hognose snakes are rear-fanged and as such are classed as mildly venomous


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For anyone coming across this thread now (2024) we know now that these temps (92 hot side and mid 80's cool side) are higher than necessary. Longterm keepers of hognoses (we're talking three or more decades in some cases) have found, both through research on western hognose studies and through personal experience, that a hot side temp of mid to high 80's is preferable, with the cool side mid to high 70's. Brumating for 3-4 months out of the years is also good practice, as it increases their lifespan by up to five years or so.
As for substrates, we also know now that they require higher humidity than previously thought, so using either shredded, pre-sifted aspen with a humid hide, or something that hold both shape and moisture like finely ground coco coir mixed with a small amount of play sand (never calci-sand) or ABG mixes meant for semi-arid species work well. I personaly prefer Galapagos Pet's Aspen as it is pre-washed and sieved to reduce dust, is cut specifically for reptile use, and is sustainably sourced, and each of my hognoses have access to a humid hide. So, similar to their wild counterparts, are able to choose their humidity as well as their temperature so they can thermo-regulate and such as they please.
It was deduced that they prefer arid (dry) environments because of the states where they lived in high number. However, it has since been realized that they spend a hefty amount of their time underground, in burrows, where it is much cooler and damper. So a humidity between 50-60 percent is now preferable to the oft-seen recommendation of 30 - 40 still found in outdated articles. Hope this is useful for anyone coming across this information now so that you aren't accidentally working off of old husbandry practices! Never stop learning because it changes every year! :0)

 

For anyone coming across this thread now (2024) we know now that these temps (92 hot side and mid 80's cool side) are higher than necessary. Longterm keepers of hognoses (we're talking three or more decades in some cases) have found, both through research on western hognose studies and through personal experience, that a hot side temp of mid to high 80's is preferable, with the cool side mid to high 70's. Brumating for 3-4 months out of the years is also good practice, as it increases their lifespan by up to five years or so.
As for substrates, we also know now that they require higher humidity than previously thought, so using either shredded, pre-sifted aspen with a humid hide, or something that hold both shape and moisture like finely ground coco coir mixed with a small amount of play sand (never calci-sand) or ABG mixes meant for semi-arid species work well. I personaly prefer Galapagos Pet's Aspen as it is pre-washed and sieved to reduce dust, is cut specifically for reptile use, and is sustainably sourced, and each of my hognoses have access to a humid hide. So, similar to their wild counterparts, are able to choose their humidity as well as their temperature so they can thermo-regulate and such as they please.
It was deduced that they prefer arid (dry) environments because of the states where they lived in high number. However, it has since been realized that they spend a hefty amount of their time underground, in burrows, where it is much cooler and damper. So a humidity between 50-60 percent is now preferable to the oft-seen recommendation of 30 - 40 still found in outdated articles. Hope this is useful for anyone coming across this information now so that you aren't accidentally working off of old husbandry practices! Never stop learning because it changes every year! :0)

I provide my hognose with a basking surface around 35c (95f) and cool end down to 22-23c (72-74f) and he uses it all. He has areas he could hang around in at all temps in between, but if they choose to use the hotter basking spot I think its necessary to provide it.

He's on a mix of top soil and play sand, one benefit to this substrate is that deep underground is naturally more humid, so an extra humid hide is unnecessary. That's one thing I don't like about aspen. It's very humid here in the UK so I doubt most keepers are capable of keeping their hogs at the often recommended 20-40%, mine has always been around 50-60% and had no issues.