Hognose update

[Ryodraco]

Got a yearling western hognose male a few days ago. Didn't eat yet, but that's not unusual, I've just been spoiled by snakes that want to eat right away, so I'm trying to leave him be now.

I do have one worry though, as said in my "terrarium size preferences" topic I am using an Exo Terra Terrarium. These come with a fake rock background with spaces behind it for wires for temperature probes and such. Stubs (his name for now as his tail is a tiny bit stubbier than I expected) likes to squeeze behind this and just sit there. Guess it makes him feel secure even though he has plenty of aspen to burrow in and in this hiding place he is perfectly visible to me.

However I have noticed him trying to use his rostral scale to "dig" into the background. I guess he wants to enlarge the "burrow." He doesn't seem to make any headway and the material is soft, practically like styrofoam (maybe it is styrofoam), but having seen a number of reptiles with wounds from rubbing their noses on glass I want to avoid it happening here.

So should I remove the fake rock background or let him keep his odd hiding place?

<><><>

On another note the heat pad and thermostat is keeping things around 95 degrees on the floor of one side of the terrarium, but should I add a low-wattage light as a supplement/enrichment? I know they don't need special lighting, but it seems that being diurnal many keep them with a basking light of some sort.

It should be clarified now that I am having some trouble keeping things at 95 degrees on top of the substrate. Aspen absorbs heat very well, and if the probe gets moved even a little then it can read a very different temperature. So it keeps things at 95 somewhere but not necessarily anywhere but the floor of the tank. Is this a problem? Having a light may stabilize things I suppose by heating from above and below... However since nightime heat drops are not recommended I guess I need one of those lights that stays on all the time without bothering the animal?