I couldn't pass it up

[FinishingFlight]

So one of my favorite morphs are the axanthics and snows. So when I came across a craigslist add for a guy getting rid of his I had to do it. I ended up taking a male and female axanthic 100% het snow. The add had said that they the male was 40g and the female 45g so I planned for smaller snakes in the rack system I had somewhat set up. Yet it ends up the male is 62g and the female is 74g. So because of their size and the fact I couldn't find a way to latch the racks I have I'm off to the store to figure out something else for now. The racks are going to have to go under the bed to wait until I end up breeding for hatchlings. I'm really hoping they can produce some snows. I'll get pictures up soon!

[FinishingFlight]

The female.

[FinishingFlight]

The male, look at his markings. Is that common?

[FinishingFlight]

And the cage set up for now:

[EL Ziggy]

Very nice Flight.

[tastybeets]

They're beauties!

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

I suck at morphs. Had I found these in the wild I would assume they were normal.
Good find. Snows are sweet.

[Andy_G]

FinishingFlight, awesome pick ups! Your male is what some would market as a "twin spot". It doesn't necessarily go for a higher price but some find it a desirable trait as it makes the pattern look more busy. It's a polygenetic trait, meaning that it's something that can potentially be selectively bred for, but no single gene is responsible for the trait and it's therefore less predictable in regards to the way it is passed onto offspring.

Krok, the axanthics are extremely hard to spot sometimes from the top with hognoses. Some of them are silver and grey and stick out like a sore thumb, and some of them look almost normal...the ones above are kind of in between. The thing that gives the axanthics away is the lack of orange around the belly. Honestly, I'm pretty sure I owned a few axanthics without even knowing it 10 years ago or so!

[Albert Clark]

Very interesting pair there. Grats.

[FinishingFlight]

Thank you for that information on the genetics Andy! I always find it fascinating to learn about what can be transferred and what can't.

After they are done settling in I'll have to get better pictures. The lighting here gave them a bit of a yellowish hue.

My normal female was due to be fed today so I prepped an extra fuzzy to see if either of the newbies wanted to eat as it has been five days since they have eaten. The male was interested but after investigating he didn't want it. The female on the other hand took it, though she was very gentle compared to my normal female who strikes hard.

They both had been on live only so I was happy the female took the F/T. Though the male's behavior has me a bit doubtful. He was excited to see the tongs and lifted up to follow the fuzzy, but turned away after a few tongue flicks.

I'll try again next feeding. If not I'll have to look into getting live to try and get him eating with me.

[Andy_G]

Finishingflight, these guys LOVE when you press the food against their snout and give it a little jiggle. I've never ever had to offer live even to a hatchling. Another thing you could try is take out his water for 3 or 4 days and then offer a wet prey item right against the snout, they'll start to "drink" the water and often times latch onto the food. Saying all that, you JUST got these guys so give it a few tries before you go to live over the next few weeks.

[Lefitte]

Gorgeous! I also love the twin spot look.

I completely agree with the food pressed against the snout comment. That's how I feed my girl every time. She just opens her jaws around it and starts eating after I let go. The last time I fed her she was pretty hungry and I actually got the slightest quick movement that could almost be considered a strike. It was kind of adorable. Especially when compared to my king who is housed above her and tries to break the mouse from the tongs every time I feed. It's like feeding some sort of alligator with that one, but my hognose is sweet as can be. Not sure how they manage to actually live in the wild which that sort of feeding response but I just say she's being a dapper lady minding her manners.

[FinishingFlight]

@andy_g I always get worried that I won't be able to get a reptile to eat. The eating sporatically always bothers me a bit. I know that it might take a little while before they eat. I've offered food today as well, they still are not feeling it. Even with pushing up against the snout just pissed them off. Both of them pancaked and hissed at the fuzzy. So I pulled their water and I will try again on saturday. I don't know if I should give longer times between offering food or if its okay to offer every 4-5 days like the feeding schedule I have my normal on. They are not being handled at all and I'm only in their cage to spot clean and give them fresh water.

@Lefitte Thats funny, Revan, my normal female strikes hard. She ripped a fuzzy in half once. I wouldn't dare feed her without tongs, she chases the fuzzy down. She sometimes misses and gets my tongs instead of the fuzzy.

[serpentgirl123]

They are gorgeous! I definitely wouldn't have passed on the opportunity--love axanthics and snows.

I wonder if you could ask the previous owner how they were being fed. My male will NOT eat when I am around and has to be in a small container and/or complete darkness to eat (aka no tong feedings). He also will only at every 10-14 days. Usually I have to skip a week and he will eat the following--always been like that.

My female on the other hand, without tongs, she will chase you down and try to eat your fingers and she would eat daily if I let her.

[Andy_G]

@andy_g I always get worried that I won't be able to get a reptile to eat. The eating sporatically always bothers me a bit. I know that it might take a little while before they eat. I've offered food today as well, they still are not feeling it. Even with pushing up against the snout just pissed them off. Both of them pancaked and hissed at the fuzzy. So I pulled their water and I will try again on saturday. I don't know if I should give longer times between offering food or if its okay to offer every 4-5 days like the feeding schedule I have my normal on. They are not being handled at all and I'm only in their cage to spot clean and give them fresh water.



Sounds like you're doing everything right. An offering every 5 days is reasonable, but every 7 will work fine until you get them eating a few meals in a row, it'll bother them less. What are their temps? Western hognose snakes will ALWAYS feed better with an ambient temp of 80 and a hot spot of 90-92. Heat stimulates appetite, and these guys do much better across the board when kept at those temps. It's still very early and they may still be settling in, so don't worry yet. Whatever they were feeding on when you got them is exactly what you should continue to try to offer and be sure not to switch things up too much. You may want to consider covering the sides and back of the tanks as they may feel a bit exposed with the current set up.

[FinishingFlight]

Serpentgirl - Thank you! Its one of my favorite morphs for sure. I know that they were being fed live fuzzies with tongs.

Andy - I'm thinking they are a little stressed out about the open feel to the bigger cages. They had lived in a rack before so I think you're right about the sides. I'm trying to get something. I had been planning on making my own backs for the cages, maybe I'll move them into the smaller cages I have now and then cover that while I customize their cages to be less exposed. Their hot sides are around 90-95* while the colder is around the lower 70s.

I did try a feeding again today as I had pulled their water. The female hissed and struck at it, showed no interest. So I left her alone, then male seemed interested and drank the dripping water but turned away. After trying to feed they both were very active and circled their cages several times and seemed very into the spots where the food had dripped. This is with a brained fuzzies. I don't want to leave in their because the substrate seems to stick to the fuzzies. I'm contemplating feeding in a separate container and leaving overnight also contemplating getting live pinkies to help them get used to feeding from tongs in this enclosure. Or even yet just putting them in small enclosures until they are more comfortable. I'm still a week or two off from that point though.

Since they refused feeding should I give them their water back?