Opening a hog-nosed snake record that reflects the species
From the day you get a hog-nosed snake, keep its breeder or shop paperwork, morph and stated sex, a first weight, and photographs showing its pattern and upturned snout. Then start the note this species really needs: a feeding-response record. Hog-nosed snakes are known for dramatic bluff displays and for hunger strikes that unsettle new keepers, so a calm written history from week one stops normal theatrics being mistaken for a new problem.
Record what prey the breeder had the snake taking, how it was presented, and the date of the last successful feed before it came home. That single page will answer most of your early questions.
Feeding attempts, refusals, and what finally worked
Log every offer to your hog-nosed snake: prey type and size, whether it was left quietly or tong-offered, the time of day, and the response, from instant strike to hissing display to complete indifference. If a refusal stretches on, the log shows the pattern and the snake's weight trend together, which is the combination a vet will want rather than a worried summary. Note any presentation change that worked, in plain words, so you can repeat success instead of experimenting endlessly.
Do not let the log become a score sheet that pressures you into offering daily. Hog-nosed snakes often feed on their own rhythm, and the record should protect that rhythm by showing the gaps that ended in a normal meal.
Burrowing set-up and shed records
Record substrate type and depth, because a hog-nosed snake spends much of its life pushing through loose material with that specialised snout. Note the warm and cool readings, hide positions, and any change of enclosure layout, with dates. When the snake vanishes underground for days, the set-up log tells you whether anything actually changed or whether it is simply doing what this species does.
Keep shed dates and whether each shed completed, including the tip of the tail. Photograph the snake after a shed in the same light each time if you want a useful colour and condition comparison across the year.
Bluff, musk, and playing-dead notes worth keeping
Write down defensive behaviour as behaviour, not as a problem list. A hog-nosed snake that hoods, hisses, musks, or rolls over in a dramatic display during early handling is performing a well-known routine, and noting the trigger, usually a hand arriving too fast or a feed-day smell, teaches everyone in the house how to approach more calmly. Record how quickly the snake settled and whether gentle, brief handling is becoming easier over weeks.
Add vet details early, including any first-check summary and advice about feeding pauses. If weight falls steadily, a refusal far outlasts this snake's own previous gaps, or breathing or mouth appearance changes, that dated log is what turns a vet call into a useful conversation.
Making the hognose file help the next keeper
Summarise the snake's personal routine on one page: prey it reliably takes, presentation that works, burrowing habits, and the displays a new keeper should expect and not panic about. Update that page when a long refusal ends or the set-up changes, and keep older versions behind it rather than overwriting the history.
Keeping a hog-nosed snake's story in KinsLe with Pet Passport puts its feeding quirks, shed dates, and vet notes into one packet, so anyone caring for it inherits the knowledge and not just the snake.