How willingly do hognoses accept different prey?

[Awaiting Abyss]

How willingly do Western Hognose snakes accept different prey? As in.. do they get hooked on one type of food and stick with it like some pythons? I was curious if he would accept fresh-killed mice and then later still accept the frozen-thawed again. Also, would switching between mice and rats matter?
Lithir has had no issues eating frozen-thawed mice thus far.

[lady_bug87]

Why would you need it to eat live if it readily eats f/t?

I'm not sure but can't Hognose stay on mice their whole life? They don't need variety in captivity...

[Hannibalcanibal]

Hoggies can eat mice their whole life, though some believe that eating rats is more nutritious. Mine will take mice or rats without discrimination, but i like to feed rats just so that all my snakes are eating the same thing in case i ever want to breed food again.

I'd also stick with frozen/thawed, just because it is easy to buy a bunch and keep them in a freezer somewhere, in case your source of live/fk ever runs out, plus it is easier to buy a bunch of frozen/thawed rats or mice on the internet and it is much cheaper than buying from pet stores.

I don't think that they imprint on prey like some pythons do, keep in mind that they are known in the wild to eat anything from toads to lizards to mice to eggs to whatever, however, the best diet in captivity seems to be mice/rats, because it is readily available, known to be safe, and has no-low risk of introducing parasites if the rodents are CBB and healthy from a good source.

[Awaiting Abyss]

I wasn't asking if they could eat live. I was asking if I could switch between fresh killed and frozen thawed. As in a mouse that has just been killed.

I was asking about the switching between rats and mice because this past week I was unable to find mice and was offered rats. I turned them down because I didn't know if he would accept them.

Soon I will start breeding my own mice so I won't have to worry about purchasing any. Currently I don't have a good breeding stock (all of my mice are rescues or from the pet store) so I can't really start breeding pet/show quality mice until I get good breeders. Once I get good breeders I plan on feeding my culls to Lithir.

I would never feed a snake that accepts frozen/thawed a live mouse... I love my mice too much to make them go through that and same goes for Lithir.

[Abraxxos]

My hognose, when I first brought her home refused rats. No matter what I did to it, she would only accept mice. I had a live rat pink and decided, if she goes after it, she goes after it. If not, oh well. It put it in front of her one night, it moved and bam. She's been on f/t rats ever since, though I'm not sure I'll know why exactly it took a live rat to get her onto rats.

The mice vs rats thing is up to you, honestly. I feed mine rats. I couldn't care less about the nutrition debates because I've hear both sides however all of my snakes were eating rats and since I breed food it was far more convenient to have her on rats. Depending on m or f your hog may get big enough adult mice are small meals.

[Awaiting Abyss]

I have a male. Thanks for the information. :) I think I'd prefer to feed several small meals than one large, because I want to breed mice. I enjoy mice more than I do rats (I love my rats to death, but I just prefer mice), so I'd rather breed them.

[Abraxxos]

I have a male. Thanks for the information. :) I think I'd prefer to feed several small meals than one large, because I want to breed mice. I enjoy mice more than I do rats (I love my rats to death, but I just prefer mice), so I'd rather breed them.


Prefer mice? I never thought I'd hear that. I can't stand mice. They're so much smellier than rats in my opinion.

[Awaiting Abyss]

Just the males are smellier than rats. Females smell less than rats. I just love how sweet and soft mice are and they take up less time than rats.

[Aaron_S]

Hoggies can eat mice their whole life, though some believe that eating rats is more nutritious. Mine will take mice or rats without discrimination, but i like to feed rats just so that all my snakes are eating the same thing in case i ever want to breed food again.

I'd also stick with frozen/thawed, just because it is easy to buy a bunch and keep them in a freezer somewhere, in case your source of live/fk ever runs out, plus it is easier to buy a bunch of frozen/thawed rats or mice on the internet and it is much cheaper than buying from pet stores.

I don't think that they imprint on prey like some pythons do, keep in mind that they are known in the wild to eat anything from toads to lizards to mice to eggs to whatever, however, the best diet in captivity seems to be mice/rats, because it is readily available, known to be safe, and has no-low risk of introducing parasites if the rodents are CBB and healthy from a good source.


I would disagree about their imprint habits.

Many years ago before they were more commonly bred for mutations, people had a LOT of trouble switching them. A lot of babies had to be scent trained with frogs or toads! So at that time, and up until a few years ago even, friends had babies ONLY want amphibians out of the egg.

Also, I wouldn't switch between live and f/t. Pre-killed is very close to live. I wouldn't do it because even if they aren't known to be a hassle between those types of food, there's an exception to every rule and yours could be.

[Abraxxos]

I would disagree about their imprint habits.

Many years ago before they were more commonly bred for mutations, people had a LOT of trouble switching them. A lot of babies had to be scent trained with frogs or toads! So at that time, and up until a few years ago even, friends had babies ONLY want amphibians out of the egg.


This was the basic behaviour of my mother's hognose. She grew up catching toads in the woods for hers.

[Hannibalcanibal]

I would disagree about their imprint habits.

Many years ago before they were more commonly bred for mutations, people had a LOT of trouble switching them. A lot of babies had to be scent trained with frogs or toads! So at that time, and up until a few years ago even, friends had babies ONLY want amphibians out of the egg.

Also, I wouldn't switch between live and f/t. Pre-killed is very close to live. I wouldn't do it because even if they aren't known to be a hassle between those types of food, there's an exception to every rule and yours could be.

Interesting.. thanks for the information. I was always told that it was the westerns that are invariable garbage cans of snakes, and the easterners that were imprinted on toads.

All i know is, mine and those of many i know will go after anything, from rat to mouse to asf, even fingers.

So i guess it depends on your individual snake. Stick with f/t rodents of whatever species you prefer, and you should be fine.

[EL Ziggy]

I've often wondered about offering diverse prey to my snakes as well. I have a Cal King and a MBK. I've been feeding them mice exclusively but I plan on ordering a few rats with my next frozen feeder order just to mix things up. I would think that as opportunistic feeders they would take whatever food items they were presented with. If they eat whatever nature provides in the wild, why not in captivity? Would a hungry snake slither past a rat and hope / wait for a mouse or chick? I'm pretty sure it wouldn't starve itself for a preference, at least I hope they're not that picky / clueless. Self preservation/survival is still the number one rule : )

[SSSSnakes]

Interesting.. thanks for the information. I was always told that it was the westerns that are invariable garbage cans of snakes, and the easterners that were imprinted on toads.

All i know is, mine and those of many i know will go after anything, from rat to mouse to asf, even fingers.

So i guess it depends on your individual snake. Stick with f/t rodents of whatever species you prefer, and you should be fine.

My Easterns want toad or toad scented prey, were as my Westerns will eat almost anything, from rats to mice and even the whites of a hard boiler egg.