newbie with a few questions...

i just bought a female western hognose earlier in the week. i had a few questions:

i know ive read the average for a female is more like 20-24 i was told by the reptile store that their females get typically 12-16 inches. is it true to be able to tell the size of the snake by looking at the parents size?

when does a snake become "fully grown". she is three months and about 6-7 inches long now. i obviously expect her to grow and fatten up, but typically when are these snakes "full grown"??

biggest argument ive come across is the issue of UVB. ive been told by all sorts of people two things. snakes require and snakes dont require UVB. i have mine in a 10 gallon tank, with a 50 sunglo heat lamp and a 5.0 UVB. can someone just confirm if the UVB is necessary to a snake or not? its staying but id just like to know

today i fed her her first frozen pinkie (btw what is F/T and P/T?? which ive seen alot), it took about 10 minutes, but she finally ate up. what is a good feeding schedule? our snakes at work (i work at petco) are fed every monday anywhere between 2-4 pinkies and 2-4 fuzzies depending on the snake. so far shes been on a schedule of feedings on thursday, should i add in another day or add another pinkie or just keep it at 1 pinkie once a week??

any other advice? id like to make sure she stays friendly as she is now so i try to take her out as often as possible, tonights the first night i havent since she just ate, what is a good amount of time to handle babies each day?

and thats all, any other random tips of advice would be nice thank you!

Originally Posted by nightangelxoxo

i just bought a female western hognose earlier in the week. i had a few questions:

i know ive read the average for a female is more like 20-24 i was told by the reptile store that their females get typically 12-16 inches. is it true to be able to tell the size of the snake by looking at the parents size?

I think you might have been misinformed about the adult length of a female western hognose. Mine is 17 months old and she is about 22-24 inches long already. I believe the average for a healthy adult female is more like 28-36 inches. The size of the parents may give you a rough idea, but the conditions in which each are housed and other basic husbandry practices will affect how large they get.

Originally Posted by nightangelxoxo

when does a snake become "fully grown". she is three months and about 6-7 inches long now. i obviously expect her to grow and fatten up, but typically when are these snakes "full grown"??

It's hard to pinpoint when any snake is fully grown, but when they get to be around the average length, you might consider that "fully grown." Also, once they reach their maximum length, they may still grow width-wise and get fatter (depending on diet, of course).

Originally Posted by nightangelxoxo

biggest argument ive come across is the issue of UVB. ive been told by all sorts of people two things. snakes require and snakes dont require UVB. i have mine in a 10 gallon tank, with a 50 sunglo heat lamp and a 5.0 UVB. can someone just confirm if the UVB is necessary to a snake or not? its staying but id just like to know

I'm not sure the requirement of UVB, but I just use a standard fluorescent fixture for mine. I also use belly heat instead of a heat lamp. This is because hognose snakes love to dig and burrow in their substrate, so I chose an under tank heater so they can be warm while still digging around.

Originally Posted by nightangelxoxo

today i fed her her first frozen pinkie (btw what is F/T and P/T?? which ive seen alot), it took about 10 minutes, but she finally ate up. what is a good feeding schedule? our snakes at work (i work at petco) are fed every monday anywhere between 2-4 pinkies and 2-4 fuzzies depending on the snake. so far shes been on a schedule of feedings on thursday, should i add in another day or add another pinkie or just keep it at 1 pinkie once a week??

I don't know that I have ever seen P/T, but F/T means frozen/thawed. When my pair were younger, I offered a pinkie every 4-6 days for about the first 6 months. Then I started giving two pinkies every 5-7 days for the next 6 months. Now they eat every 7-10 days. My female enjoys two large fuzzies and my male (~12-14 inches) takes 1-2 small fuzzies. The thing to make sure is that the food item is appropriately sized and that she doesn't regurgitate after the meal. I once read the "rule of thumb" was don't offer anything larger than 1.5 times the diameter of the middle of the snake (whether true or not, I'm not sure).

Originally Posted by nightangelxoxo

any other advice? id like to make sure she stays friendly as she is now so i try to take her out as often as possible, tonights the first night i havent since she just ate, what is a good amount of time to handle babies each day?

You shouldn't have to worry about her staying friendly, hognoses have great attitudes and personality. Handling should occur in short cycles of about 25-45 minutes at a time. Then put her back and give her an hour or two before handling again. This is recommended for large boids, but I have never had a problem with my hognsose wanting to bite. They will put on a show and bluff you, but bites rarely ever happen. When they do bite, chances are you smell like food. Be sure to give her a few days after eating before handling her. Also, to better avoid bites from a feeding response, feed her in a separate container and not her cage.

Originally Posted by nightangelxoxo

and thats all, any other random tips of advice would be nice thank you!

ENJOY!! I love my hognose to death! Any other questions or concerns, just ask. This is a great place to learn, with tons of knowledgeable people.

Robert Charvat

P/T may have meant to have been P/K (pre-killed).

As for UVB - I've never used it for my hoggy but have often wondered if diurnal snakes should have some form of uvb.

i have my hoggy in a 20 gallon long...shes 3-4 years old and about two feet. Females will get to be about 3 feet long or so. I still dont consider her an adult size. As for the feeding, what i realized about hoggies is, it doesnt effect them much whether they eat in their terrarium or not. For 2 years i fed mine out of the terrarium, and then realized, shes much more comfortable eating it in her cage. Shes turned more of a good predator. I love to see the action, lol. I honestly dont think the lighting has much to do with their growth. Different seasons, though, they might shed more and be more active and hungry. And PS, dont worry if there are some times where theyre just not hungry. it happens. thats just a fun fact you should know so when the time comes, you dont worry toooo much. hope that helped