Hognose eastern Health Information

The Eastern Hognose is sometimes considered a difficult feeder. Many require small amphibians and reptiles, such as toads and lizards, and will not eat rodents. Some Eastern Hognose can also be fed fish. Young captive bred Eastern Hognose do very well on a mixed diet of small amphibians-including small toads, small frogs, small woodland salamanders (Red Backed are preferred), freshwater fish such as minnows, or fresh fillet of catfish and trout, and occasionally pink mice or rats. The diet should always be mixed. We have found that many hatchlings that are hard to start feeding accept slices of fish fillet. Things to avoid are all foreign amphibians, all saltwater fish such as tuna, avoid goldfish and smelt also, and large brightly colored salamanders such as Spotted and Slimy Salamanders. It has been reported that Eastern Hognose snakes do not do well on diets that consists of only rodents.

Breeding
The Eastern Hognose breeds primarily in the spring. Gestation is two to three months. The female will lay up to 35 eggs, ten to twenty centimeters below the surface. The eggs will hatch in roughly two months. Juveniles are five to twelve inches as hatchlings, and are much brighter than adults.