The drama queen needs a paper trail
Yes, keep the log, because a hog-nosed snake is an actor. This small snake hisses, flattens its neck, strikes with a closed mouth and, if the audience persists, rolls over and plays dead with its tongue lolling out. It also fasts, sometimes for weeks, with complete commitment. Living with that theatre on memory alone means every hunger strike feels like the first emergency. A weight log gives you the plot summary: if the number holds while the performance continues, the snake is most likely fine. If the number falls steadily, the act is covering a real problem and you can prove it.
Fasts, seasons and the toad-eating past
Wild hog-nosed snakes specialise in toads, and captive animals eating rodents sometimes refuse food in a way that echoes seasonal rhythms, cooler temperatures and breeding condition, especially in males. Your log turns those suspicions into checks. Note the date a fast began, the enclosure temperatures at the time, whether the snake is cruising restlessly or hiding, and what finally broke the fast. Next time the same pattern appears at the same point in the year with a stable weight, you will recognise the rerun. A fast that starts alongside a temperature fault, a recent move or a shed tells a different story, and the log shows which variables actually changed.
What else belongs in a hognose record
Track sheds, which should come off completely, including over that upturned, shovel-shaped snout the snake uses for digging. Note digging activity itself: a hognose that burrows daily is behaving normally, while one that suddenly stops and lies exposed deserves a closer look. Record any mouth gaping or excess saliva seen outside a display, since bluffing theatre and genuine respiratory trouble can look similar at first glance. Weight technique matters in a small snake: use a gram-accurate scale, because a change that would be invisible in a large python is a meaningful share of a hognose's whole body.
Weighing a small, theatrical burrower
Tip the snake gently from its substrate into a small tub on the scale, zeroed beforehand, and read the weight before the performance begins. Weigh a few days after the last accepted feed and keep the interval regular, every few weeks rather than constantly, since repeated digging-up is its own stress for a fossorial animal. If the snake musk or feigns death during handling, note it and shorten the session; the reading you got calmly this month is worth more than a perfect one bought with a weekly fright. Photographs from above, showing the body's width behind the head, pair well with the figures.
When a fast stops being a performance
Book a reptile vet if weight falls across several weigh-ins, if the fast stretches far beyond this snake's own recorded pattern, or if you see wheezing, mouth discharge or a swollen jaw. Repeated regurgitation, retained shed over the eyes, or a hognose that stays limp after its display instead of recovering and burrowing away all need professional eyes. Arrive with the log: the fast's start date, the stable-or-falling weights and the temperature notes let a vet judge this individual against its own history rather than the species' reputation.
That personal history is the whole point of the exercise, and KinsLe's Pet Passport keeps your hog-nosed snake's records together in one portable packet, ready whenever a vet or sitter needs the full story.