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Atlas / Library / Colubridae / Eastern Hognose Snake
Colubridae

Eastern Hognose Snake

Heterodon platirhinos

Photograph: evangrimes · CC BY

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

14:00
Day

Drag the sun. The sheet states a night temperature, so the rail follows it.

National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/heterodon-platirhinos

‹ All husbandry guides
Temperature24–29 °C
Humidity50–60 %
Diet4–5 days

The numbers

Temperature

152025303540 °C
24–29°Cool side
16–24°Night
Warm side: not in our data

The cool side, 24–29°C, dropping to 16–24°C at night. This sheet states the cool side only. It gives no warm side or basking figure, so the hot end is not in our data. Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet statescool 24-29 °C / night 16-24 °C

Humidity

50–60%Target RH

The sheet statesan average of 50-60% daytime humidity, with higher levels at night

UVB

T5 6%required

The sheet states22" Arcadia 6% or Zoo Med T5 HO Reptisun 5.0 in an 18-24" tall enclosure; the snake's back is 10-14" below the lamp if the fixture is placed over mesh, or 14-18" away if the fixture is inside the enclosure (unobstructed)

Enclosure
The minimum enclosure size recommended for housing an average-sized single eastern hognose is 36"L x 18"W x 18"H; Particularly large females will need to be housed in no smaller than 48"L x 24"W x 24"H

Identity

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
cool 24–29 °C / night 16–24 °C
Humidity
50–60% day, higher at night

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Diet

Feeding rhythm

every 4–5 dAs an adult
7Meals in 28 days

Twenty-eight days, one row. Each band is a meal window. The sheet gives several ages on one line; this is the adult figure.

Why

The windows widen as they go because the interval is a range: four meals after a 10–14 day cycle land anywhere between day 40 and day 56.

The sheet stateshairless mice, hairless rats, quail eggs, small reptile eggs, green anoles, captive-bred frogs/toads, Reptilinks; Established juveniles should be fed every 4-5 days, and adults should be fed once per week

Common questions

Is it venomous?

It is rear-fanged with a mild saliva that helps it subdue toads. Bites on people are rare and usually minor, but some people react to a chewing bite, so we handle calmly and never hand-feed.

Why did it flatten its neck and then play dead?

That is its whole bluff routine. It hisses and spreads a hood, and if that fails it rolls over with its mouth open. It is theatre, not illness.

Is it hard to feed?

It can be. In the wild they eat toads, so some youngsters need their rodents scented before they take them. Buy one that is already eating unscented food if you can.

How big does it get and does it dig?

Usually under a metre, and yes, it digs constantly with that upturned snout. Give it deep loose substrate to burrow in.

What it needs

A thermometerbecause tempcool 24-29 °C / night 16-24 °C
A way to check the night figurebecause tempcool 24-29 °C / night 16-24 °C
A hygrometerbecause humidityan average of 50-60% daytime humidity, with higher levels at night
UVB 6-6% (T5), stated as requiredbecause uvb22" Arcadia 6% or Zoo Med T5 HO Reptisun 5.0 in an 18-24" tall enclosure; the snake's back is 10-14" below the lamp if the fixture is placed over mesh, or 14-18" away if the fixture is inside the enclosure (unobstructed)
Not stated: The heat sourcethis sheet names only the cool side: « cool 24-29 °C / night 16-24 °C »
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « The minimum enclosure size recommended for housing an average-sized single easte »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

Others in this group

What this sheet states

62%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

This sheet states 4 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: enclosure size audit, day/night engine and awake count on the globe, the diet section. We show the gap rather than fill it with a plausible number.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.