Orion

[LuvDux]

When I got my sand boa at a reptile show a few months ago the guy also had a few hognose. I fell in love with the little guys and had to have one so the next time it came around I went and scooped one up. This is Orion, my male western hognose. I have him in a 15g tank with eco earth substrate. I'm having a couple small issues with him. 1) I'm having a hard time getting him to eat. It seems like he doesn't recognize the mouse as food. Both times I've fed him he'll only eat after I break the mouses head open and put them in a shoebox with the lid on. I don't know if it's the darkness or the brain matter that gets him to eat. As long as he's eating it's okay, I'd just like to be able to watch him do it sometime. 2) I have a tank liner under the substrate. Both Orion and my sand boa Hammer have figured out how to burrow underneath the liner, which defeats the purpose. What is the easiest way to keep them from doing this?

[Lankyrob]

Burrowing snakes tend to burrow, there is no way to stop them unless you remove the substrate but that would just be cruel. Why have you got a liner?

[Gungirl]

Don't use a tank liner.. there is no real point to them anyways if you have a sub-straight.

[LuvDux]

I was using the liner to keep the snakes from laying directly over the UTH

[Lankyrob]

As long as the UTH is thermostatted then there should be very little risk of the snake burning itself. With a decent depth of substrate they will find the level they like and enjoy the burrowing :)