Going on Vacation? Here's How to Prep Your Hognose Snakes First

One of the questions we get asked most, especially by newer owners, is some version of "can I actually go on vacation with a snake at home?" The anxiety behind it is understandable. You're responsible for a living animal, you're going to be away, and something about leaving feels irresponsible even when it isn't.

The short answer is: yes, absolutely. Hognose snakes are genuinely forgiving animals to leave for a stretch, as long as you understand what they actually need and set things up properly before you go. This post walks through what matters, what doesn't, and what our own routine looks like before we leave.

If there's one thing to take from this entire post, it's this: water matters more than food, every single time.

A snake can go without eating for a genuinely long time and be completely fine (we'll cover the specifics by size below). Water is not something they can go without, not for anywhere close to as long. So whatever else you do before you leave, sort the water first.

The simplest way to buy yourself more safety margin is a bigger water bowl, or an extra one. The more water is sitting in the enclosure, the longer it lasts before it runs low or evaporates completely. If you're planning to be gone for more than a couple of days, this is the easiest and most effective single thing you can do.

One important caution, especially for smaller snakes: don't go oversized on the bowl just because bigger feels safer. A water bowl that's too deep or too large relative to a small snake is a genuine drowning risk. Whatever size you choose, make sure the snake can get in and back out again easily on its own. For hatchlings and small juveniles, the IKEA FINSMAK tealight holder or a shallow ceramic pet bowl are the right scale. Stable, shallow, and appropriate for the animal's size.

This depends entirely on the size and age of the snake. Here's roughly how we think about it:

• 50g and above: Food really isn't a concern. A healthy snake at this weight can comfortably go without eating for two to three weeks. Feed them before you leave and offer food again when you're back. That's it.
• 20–50 grams: Still fairly flexible, but worth being a little more mindful. As snakes get lighter, that two to three week window starts to shrink, so we wouldn't plan on being away that long for animals in this range without at least some food access.
• Under 20 grams: We wouldn't go more than about two weeks without a feeding at this size. The reserves simply aren't there to support a longer stretch comfortably.
• Under 10 grams (true hatchlings): This is where we'd be most careful. Around ten days maximum, assuming the snake is otherwise healthy with no existing issues — underweight snakes, recent illness, or snakes that have already been off food should be treated more conservatively.

None of these numbers are about the snakes being fragile. A healthy, established feeder handles a break in feeding just fine, this is what their biology is built for. It's simply that smaller animals have less reserve to draw on, so the safe window shrinks proportionally as the weight drops. And during any stretch without food, water access matters more than ever, since they don't have the caloric buffer to fall back on either.

If you have a friend, family member, or neighbour who can pop in even once during a longer trip, that's a genuine bonus. It doesn't need to be a keeper or anyone with reptile knowledge. The job is simple: check that water bowls are still adequate and top them off if needed. That's essentially all that's required, and it takes almost all the remaining worry out of even a longer trip.

If nobody is available, that's fine for most trips too. The prep routine below is designed to minimize what can go wrong in your absence.

We keep a lot of snakes across different ages and sizes, so our prep looks a little more involved than someone with one or two animals, but the general approach translates well regardless of collection size.

We usually don't go away for more than about a week at a time. Here's what that week looks like on our end.

For the babies still on paper towel in smaller tubs, we feed them approximately three days before we leave. The timing is deliberate — this gives them enough time to digest and pass waste before we go, so we can clean up properly rather than leaving mess sitting in a small enclosure for a week. It's still possible they'll go again while we're away, but at least the bulk of it is handled before departure.

Everyone else (older snakes on substrate) stays on their completely normal feeding schedule. There's no reason to adjust timing for established animals.

Full clean out for everyone. Fresh water, fresh substrate where needed, enclosures properly reset. We want to leave knowing every enclosure is clean rather than just acceptable.

One last check on every single snake. If anyone has passed waste overnight, we deal with it before we go. Water bowls get topped off again. Not because they've run low, but because we want to leave knowing with certainty that every snake has full water, not just "probably still enough from yesterday."

That distinction matters more than it sounds.

First thing after we're home (before unpacking, before anything else) we go around and check on every snake.

Water is priority one. Bigger snakes are almost always fine, since their bowls are generously sized to begin with. Smaller ones are the ones to check carefully. They sometimes knock or tip their bowl, or the water evaporates faster in a smaller enclosure, and they can end up with very little or nothing left.

We refill immediately regardless. If a small snake still had water in the bowl (even just a little) we top it up and leave it at that. They know where the water is and they'll drink when they're ready. But if the bowl is completely empty, we don't just refill and walk away. We pick the snake up and gently guide its head to the water so it knows fresh water is right there and drinks straight away. It's not strictly necessary (they'd find it on their own eventually) but we'd rather not have them wandering around thirsty while they figure that out. This way we know they've had a drink, and they're sorted within a minute rather than whenever they happen to come across the bowl.

Feeding after we're back depends on size. Smaller snakes get fed the same day we return, or the following day depending on what time we actually get home. Bigger snakes go straight back onto their normal schedule without any adjustment. Then full clean-outs for everyone, and life returns to normal.

Vacations and snake keeping are not mutually exclusive. Hognose snakes are built for this. Their biology handles stretches without food comfortably, and with a properly sized water setup, a few days without a top-up is within their range too.

The prep isn't complicated. It's just a matter of knowing what actually matters (which is mostly water) and setting things up so you're not relying on luck while you're away. The weight guidelines tell you how long is genuinely safe for feeding. The water guidelines tell you to go bigger on the bowl and top it off on the morning you leave.

Everything else is just the routine of a responsible keeper doing what they'd normally do, just with a little more intention before walking out the door.

Sort the water. Respect the weight guidelines. And enjoy your holiday.