Hog-nosed snakes charm keepers with their upturned snouts and dramatic bluffing, but their paperwork needs to be practical, not charming. A hog-nosed snake that plays dead for a stranger, refuses unscented food, or has been eating only with tricks is a snake whose history you need in writing. Collect these records at handover, while the person who knows the answers is still in front of you.
Identity, origin, and legal keeping papers
Get a receipt or transfer document with the seller's full name and contact details, the transfer date, and the snake described by species, morph if applicable, sex, and age as known. Written confirmation that the snake is captive-bred belongs at the top of the file; wild-caught hog-nosed snakes can be poorer feeders and may carry health issues, and origin affects both welfare and, in some places, legality.
Check whether your area requires any licence, permit, or registration for keeping a hog-nosed snake, and keep any seller-side permits or transfer forms with the receipt. Hog-nosed snakes are mildly venomous rear-fanged animals, which rarely matters in daily pet care but is another reason the species name on your paperwork should be exact rather than a shop nickname.
The feeding history — the most important page
Ask for a dated log of recent feeds: prey offered, whether it was scented and with what, whether it was taken, and how long the snake had been on its current routine. A young hog-nosed snake still eating only scented pinkies is not a problem, but it is a fact you need before you offer plain prey, watch a refusal, and panic.
Also ask about the longest fast the snake has taken and what restarted feeding, plus its current weight if the seller tracks it. Seasonal appetite dips are common in this species, especially in cooler months, and a written baseline stops you mistaking a familiar winter slowdown for a new illness in your first year together.
Sheds, health, and temperament notes
Request shed dates and any notes on complete or difficult sheds, the enclosure temperatures it was kept at, and whether it burrowed in deep substrate as hog-nosed snakes prefer to do. Ask plainly about vet visits, mite treatment, mouth or respiratory problems, and any treatment given, and take copies of vet paperwork where it exists.
Finally, ask the seller to describe its defensive behaviour honestly: how often it hoods and hisses, whether it has ever played dead, and how it responds to handling. That note helps a future sitter or vet read the theatrics correctly instead of treating normal bluff as distress, or missing real distress behind familiar drama.
Keep the seller's phone number at the front of the file for the first season, and note the date you last needed to use it. Hog-nosed keepers often solve a feeding strike with one detail — the exact scenting method, the time of day prey was offered, or the quiet corner where the tub sat — that never made it onto a sales listing. If you later change the routine successfully, write the new method over a fresh page rather than relying on memory, and record how many feeds confirmed it. The next keeper, sitter, or vet then inherits a method that is proven for this snake, not a rumour about what used to work last winter.
File everything together from day one and add your own feeding entries as you learn the snake, with KinsLe storing the bundle in Pet Passport so your hog-nosed snake's origin, feeding method, and health notes stay attached to its profile.