Western hognose

[Dlsmith]

I've been keeping ball pythons and king snakes for years with great success. Now I'm really getting interested in Western hognoses,do they make good pet's?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Yes but there are things to know

First and foremost while they are rear fanged (poor delivery method) and their venom is very mild they are still mildly venomous snakes.

They are not prone to bite (and trust me I am a bite magnet) but reactions if they do can go from mild swelling of the finger to swelling of the forearm, something to keep in mind if you have young children or people that may have strong reactions to bee stings and such.

Females get to a nice size generally an adult will be around 350/550 grams, they are garbage disposal when it comes to feeding (if kept right) and have a great personality.

Males tend to be much smaller around 150 grams and have a tendency to be more finicky. I usually do not recommend males as pets because of their size (people tend to want something bigger) and due to the frustration pet owner tend to have when their animal is finicky.

Care is very easy and those animals are not prone to stress when handled.

[Craiga 01453]

Deborah is awesome, and when it comes to hognose, she certainly knows what she's talking about.

I ended up.looking after a male yearling hognose in March who was 11 grams when I got him and was an extremely difficult water. However, with some time, care, patience and help from Deborah I was able to get him eating. Long story short, I ended up keeping him. He eats well now, rarely skips a meal and is up to a HUGE 50 grams, hahahaha.

He's grown a LOT, but is still tiny. I absolutely adore him though. Despite not planning on keeping him when I agreed to help a friend in March, I'm glad it worked out the way it did and he's an awesome addition to the family. When the time is right I will be adding another...but a female.