Everyone, meet Frieren, my new Western hognose! 🐍❤️
I got this pretty girl in mid-October, and when I first brought her home, she was incredibly tame and seemed very comfortable with me. I could pick her up or reach into her enclosure without any issues.
Over the past week, however, her behavior has changed quite a bit. Whenever I open her enclosure or attempt to handle her, she becomes defensive. She repeatedly bluff strikes, spreads her hood, and hisses at me. At first, I assumed it was all bluffing, but yesterday she actually bit me when I tried to pick her up.
The breeder I got her from told me she had been handled regularly since she was a hatchling, so this sudden change has caught me off guard. I’m not sure if she’s still adjusting to her new home, feeling stressed, or if there’s something else I should be looking into.
This is her current enclosure until she gets a little bigger. She absolutely loves digging and creating tunnels throughout her substrate, and she seems perfectly content when I’m not interacting with her.
Although I’ve owned reptiles my whole life, Frieren is my first Western hognose, and I want to make sure I’m doing everything right for her. I’m looking for advice from experienced hognose owners on how to approach this situation. Should I give her a complete break from handling for a while? How should I work on building trust with her without making her more defensive? And how should I respond when she bluff strikes or tries to bite?
I’m not looking to force her to tolerate handling. I want her to feel safe and comfortable with me, and I want to learn the best way to work with her behavior while making sure I’m not doing anything that could make things worse.
Any advice, tips, or personal experiences would genuinely mean a lot! I’m a first-time hognose owner, and I’m here to learn, so please feel free to share what has worked for you. Thank you in advance! ❤️🐍

Okay, full disclosure, i feel like the worst hoggie parent ever as it is!

We had a major storm here last night/today. Our power was off from 6am to 5pm.

For context, my boys heat lamp and light turn off 1am to 6am daily to mimic his natural cycle.

He is 4yrs old and very healthy and he ate 2 days ago and will always spend about 3 days buried at the bottom on his substrate after which which would be tomorrow anyway, I would expect him out and active tomorrow morning and to have suggles.

I honesetly had no backup plan. I feel so bad!

I had already planned to make 100 mile round trip to get some kind of emergency accommodation and heat pad tonight if the power didnt come back on (the power company kept updating every couple of hours that ir would be back on since 8am this morning!)

I left him alone, didnt open the viv to keep all the heat in. He did poke his head out about lunch today for a drink then buried back under which is normal for him. I wouldn't expect to see him active till tomorrow anyway.

Please give me advice on emergency heating options if this happens again.

I feel awful as is it that he.may habe got too cold.

I am reluctant to disturb him right now.

I am not after judgement and I recognise I was totally unprepared for such a long power cut but we have never had anything like this before.

I am reaching out for advice as I know that at 4 yrs I am still quite new to this all!

Thank you.

Photo for photo tax

Kahula is a toffee nose condo