My Hognosed snakes

[Feebo]

I absolutely love Hognosed snakes ! They`re just the most beautiful and entertaining little things aren`t they ! These days I only usually get any hissing or anything at feeding time, although saying that, my female gets reeeeally arsey when she`s in blue lol
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/newHog034.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/threehogs010.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/hognose003-1.jpg
Now someone`s going to mention me keeping more than one snake in a tank here aren`t they? Well... in a few enclosures yes I have a pair of snakes, I`m aware of opinions on this, please don`t start having a go ! lol I`m happy to answer any questions you may have on the subject but please, keep them sensible....

[emseeKAY]

those are so cool lookin, makes me want a few hahaha

[Feebo]

They`re so entertaining ! :) They feel different to other snakes and behaive differently too, they`re just an excellent little snake ! :D

[marvelfreak]

Wicked! Those are so weird looking their cute. Look differnt than in the couple pics i had seen of hogs before. Heads look smaller.

[Feebo]

Yeah I`ve seen a few pictures of larger Hogs with thier mouths open looking like they`ve got quite big heads. :) I`m hoping to breed my Hognoses at some point when they`re big enough. I`ll be a very happy man when I manage to breed them ! They`ve never actually attempted to bite, I suppose to the untrained eye it might look like they have but they`re all hiss and no bite really. I carefully put them back in thier tank after feeding and I don`t even have any problems then. They hiss a bit and look scary lol but when you just ignore that and pick them up, they actually seem a bit disapointed that they didn`t manage to scare you off lol

[alex_snake]

amazing snakes:yes:

[Feebo]

Cheers :) I love my Hogs, I`m hoping to get a Malagasy Hog if I can ever find one....

[Smilts]

Well... in a few enclosures yes I have a pair of snakes, I`m aware of opinions on this, please don`t start having a go ! lol I`m happy to answer any questions you may have on the subject but please, keep them sensible....



I would love to hear your opinion on this actually. And the one tank appears to have 3 one much smaller. Otherwise there nice looking lil hognoses I liek teh species.

[Feebo]

In my Hognose tank I have three yes, two females and one male. I`ve never seen any hint of competition for resources or fighting, trouble at feeding time or any signs of the smallest one struggling, I watched her closest of all at first. I seperate them for feeding and they go back together five mintues after eating with no problems. I find Western Hogs just want to be left alone after feeding, there doesn`t seem to be the residual feed excitement that you find in other snakes a good quarter of an hour after they`ve eaten. I gently handle them right after they`ve been fed to get them back in the tank, all I get is a hiss or two, they go quiet once picked up and just go back into thier tank and straight under the nearest cover. I provide a lot of cover and digging depth substrate. I`ve found they love thier cave with bogwood over it and then another bit over that, so they`ve got layers of cover. They also have a wicker hut at the cool end. More often than not, they are to be found together. The smaller one actually digs her way under the larger ones sometimes lol they completely ignore her when she does that too lol I do watch behaiviour carefully when doing this, I don`t just put them together and presume it`ll be ok. I have had instances where it hasn`t worked out such as two male corn snakes with no female. One was slightly smaller and would hide in one spot and not venture out so I seperated them. It may be that you`ll only get away with two males if they`re siblings. As I say, I`m happy to answer questions, do you have any specific questions about it? :)

[Feebo]

I got a couple of beautiful photographs of one of my females today! She was stood up and watching me lol It`s feeding day tomorrow and I think she`s hungry lol :D
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/NiceHog013.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/NiceHog016.jpg

[marvelfreak]

Nice close up.

[Hillsberry]

Awwwww their faces are so cute!!! Love them!!

[Will0W783]

Oh man, that close-up is awesome. They have such cute chipmunk-like faces! lol.

[Feebo]

Cheers :) They`re just insanley cute aren`t they ! lol She`s got the tank to herself now, I palpated her today and she`s full of eggs by the look of it! Nice... :) I`m going to be a very happy bunny if this all goes to plan.....

[Michael Roth]

I am quite annoyed these are forbidden to those of us in Alberta...


that and Spilotes pullatus.

[Feebo]

Because of the venomous thing? Bummer...

[Michael Roth]

The hognose's Duvernoy's gland, and in the case of the tiger ratsnake I have no idea what the justification is...

[Feebo]

Mmmm... Last I heard they`ve suggested discarding the term "Duvernoys gland", it`s a venom gland, a small one but that`s what it is. It`s mad isn`t it, sounds like they`ve just heard the word venom and presumed it deadly, or dangerous anyway. No fair ! These guys make fantastic charges for snake lovers and you should be allowed to own one! Would you be allowed if you were licensed?

[Michael Roth]

i'd go so far as to take a certification course and tour my facility, but if wishes were horses beggars would ride.

[marvelfreak]

Cheers :) They`re just insanley cute aren`t they ! lol She`s got the tank to herself now, I palpated her today and she`s full of eggs by the look of it! Nice... :) I`m going to be a very happy bunny if this all goes to plan.....Best of luck. Hope you get a bunch of health babies. By the way do lay eggs or have live born?

[Feebo]

Tiny little eggs :) Thanks :) I`m sure I`ll have a million photos to show if I`m sucessful! lol Hmmmm..... You might end up tempted to get more dangerous snakes if you were licensed though Michael ! lol I don`t suppose you`d get a license without actually working with some actually eh... If wishes were horse... I quite like that ! :)

[Michael Roth]

I don't think I would be tempted, and can actually draw from past experience as a model. When raising octopus, I was approached with the opportunity to keep the blue ringed octopus, Hapalochlaena sp, which has a fairly fast acting venom, and subsequently turned it down. At various times though I have kept lionfish, which are the hognoses of aquaria. Funny how there is no regulation on venemous or poisonous fish :>

[Feebo]

I suppose the risk seems negligable if there`s no handling going to be done. But still, you might accidently step in your fish tank lol :D

[Michael Roth]

It is surprising how often you have to put your hands in an octopus tank. I've never been bitten, but that doesn't mean there wouldn't be a first time. Octopi blend in quite nicely with the rocks, and you may, during routine maintenance, grab your eight legged freak by mistake. Usually I was in and out of the tank at least 3 times a week. Lionfish not so big a problem, they are nosy, but can be easily shooed away with the dreaded net. :>

[Feebo]

Now an octopus has got to make a very interesting animal to keep, right up my alley that, I`d have an octopus in my fantasy zoo :) If I was rich enough, I`d own and live in a zoo.....

[Feebo]

This is Fleef, my gravid Western Hognose, she`s due to lay at the end of this month, or begining of next month. She has the tank to herself now and has been busy making a little mound of vermiculite in her nest box bless her lol :D She`s still eating well and she`s hooding up more than usual when I`m near the tank but she`s got loads of hiding places in there, that`s just an observation really. She`s doing a slow display instead of the usual which is interesting. I think I`ll keep any females if this all goes to plan, the two I have were hard to come by and I`d happily have a little colony of these guys, I really love them ! :)
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/gravidFleef008.jpg

[Geckogal]

Dude if i where in urs shoes right now id eat my sleeve, damn ur lucky.

[shaunyboy]

hoggies are amazing little dudes.i love the way they can roll over,curl up,stick their toungues out,emit an obnoxious smell,all in the name of playing dead to put predators off eating them.clever little guys eh ? also how much bigger the females are opposed to the poor little male.then again housed with 2 big girls your male will be one happy little chap feebo.good luck with your coming clutch mate.
cheers shaun

[Feebo]

Ooooh she`s at the pre lay shed! :)

[Feebo]

Finally!! I was starting to think they might not hatch! It`s four days short of eight weeks and the first egg has just pipped!
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/HOGHATCH001.jpg
Rubbish photo I know but I didn`t want to chill the rest of the eggs. I`ll get some better shots tomorrow ;D I`m chuffed to bits! That was the worst egg out of the three too, it had a little mould on it so if that one hatched I should think the other two will be fine. YAAAAY!!! Baby Western Hognoses ! ! :) Here`s hoping I have at least one female....

[Lankyrob]

Congrats dude!!! Can't wait to have a look in person! May be in need of a coffee at some point! ;)

[Feebo]

Yep :) I`m pretty much always in so whenever you fancy just chuck me a text and I`ll get the kettle on... I`m betting another will have hatched during the night, or all three even, they should hatch within hours of each other....

[Feebo]

And this morning....
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/HOGHATCH004.jpg
Fingers crossed the third egg pips during the day today or I`ll have to consider pipping it myself with a scalple and I really don`t want to do that at all. They`re so cute! They were both checking me out when I opened the container lol and they`re tiny!! lol AWWW

[shaunyboy]

congratulations mate.just got to love those cute wee guys.i watched a documentry about hoggies they showed you them curling up then keeling over as if they were dead.they even hung their tougues out there mouths and emmited a horrible smell to back up their ploy of playing dead.it was amazing stuff,they're clever wee things feebs.also when my mates were born ive never seen such a little thing act so agressive.loads of hissing and trying to make themselves look scary.it was quite funny to be honest.
cheers shaun

[Will0W783]

Awww, congratulations! They are adorable little hoggies!

[Feebo]

Cheers ! :) Shauny they do that for life! Not just as neonates, and yes, it`s hilarious lol Once they`re bigger they do a very good job of seeming dangerous.......

[Will0W783]

Hahah yeah, my hoggie will throw "hissy fits" all the time, but I can reach right in and scoop him up and he's like, "oh we're going to play now..ok. I'm cool"
He's never tried to bite. He cracks me up with his attitude though. My bull snake does the same thing and he also hasn't tried to bite. They just have to be little pissers I guess...lol.

[marvelfreak]

:DCONGRATS !:p Can't wait to see more pics.

[Feebo]

Thanks dude ! :) I`ve just checked them and the third one has hatched !! YAAAAY!!!
There`s just one egg left now that is an amber colour so I haven`t got a huge amount of hope for it, but you never know, sometimes eggs like that do hatch. Here`s a couple of insanly cute pictures lol
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/HOGHATCH023.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/HOGHATCH017.jpg
The first one has left the egg now as you can see. That looks like a female to me, the more females the better! I want breeding stock...

[dragunov.762]

congratulation on the new hoggies. i was considering getting one (or 2). You say they do all right together? I was thinking a male and a female if they do. thanks for the pics and congrats again

[Feebo]

Cheers :) Yeah I haven`t had any problems keeping pairs, obviously once they`ve bred you don`t want the female straight back in there but yeah, they get on fine. :) I have lots and lots of hide spots, tunnels and deep substrate, it seems to be essential that they have lots. Mine didn`t settle until they had a hide behind a hide, inside a hide, hidden in a hide that was surrounded by a hide. Then they stopped attacking the glass at the sight of a person in the snake room....

[spankygaaarge]

wow........... what can i say ?..........WOW , congrats on becomming a daddy......... wow :)

[Will0W783]

Oh Feebo, they are sooo incredibly adorable..those chubby little chipmunk cheeks. I love them!!

[Feebo]

Of all the species I have, these ones have got to make the cutest babies ! lol :)

[Will0W783]

They are cute their entire lives. I think my boy Arnie is adorable and I am pretty sure he's adult. I've had him for two years and he's not much longer than a foot. He eats like a little piggy, just doesn't grow much. I saw a HUGE female at the last reptile show I was at- she was like 2.5 feet long. I was stunned- I had no idea that Western hoggies could get that large!

[dragunov.762]

the recod for a western hognose is just under 3 feet i believe but most only get a foot and a half to two feet i believe (with females being a good deal larger than the males is my understanding at least) i think i might get a pair in the near future and try keeping them together and see how it works out (i have a couple unoccupied 10 gallon tanks at the moment)

[Feebo]

I saw a website a while back with lots of pictures of adult Western Hogs, they were only two foot odd but I was amazed to see they weren`t far off the thickness of bananas! lol Gorgeous they were! I`ll see if I can find the site after tea....

[Michael Roth]

Wow, the things I missed! Congrats Feebo on the wee beasties :>

[Feebo]

Cheers :) Great little guys are Hognoses :)

[Feebo]

I`ve had a single Hognose neonate that has refused to eat since birth which is a few months now. I`ve tried braining, I`ve tried leaving it in there over night all sorts. Last night while doing my rounds I checked him and he was looking a bit of a sorry state. There were wrinkles and sagging skin. Ooooh pants. :( The advice is usually to try scenting but not to resort to it right away but after what I just saw I wisj I`d have done it ages ago!! I poured a little tuna juice out from a tin into a little egg cup and put a pinkie in it. Now bear in mind this little neonate has shown nothing but fear at the sight of a pinkie until now, he certainly hasn`t shown the slightest hint of a feed response. I opened his tub, picked the pinkie out of the tuna juice with my forcepts and almost immedeatly he perks up! I slowly lower it into his tub and give it a slight wiggle about two inches from him. His head suddenly lifted up in interest and his tongue was flicking away. I started to see twitchy movement, excited movement toward the pinkie!! He opened up and swallowed it just like that! After all this time! Afer this I think I`d be more inclined to recommend to people that scenting is actually used after three or four refusals. I could well have lost him totally needlessly. I`m a proper happy bunny now :) I`m keeping the females and I`ll sell the male if I can ever find a buyer......

[Freebody]

they have such cute little faces! i have never seen one in person either,i wonder if they are banned here in bc as well?

[Freebody]

thanks for the tip on the bating, ill keep that in mind incase i ever have that problem in the future :)im glad he finally ate somthing for you.

[Feebo]

Not sure.... They`re classed as DWA in some countries I think. They`re such a cool snake! There are some nice colour morphs too but I`m just really fond of the natural one so I don`t know as I`ll bother with any other morphs unless I see one that`s similar to the natural one but better :)

[marvelfreak]

Congrats feebo good to hear his eating. We're about do for some more pics of the little guys aren't we. (Hint,hint!) If scenting them with tuna works makes me wonder would they eat piece of fresh tuna?

[Feebo]

Not sure I`d offer that though because I don`t know how his body would take it. I know things like Tuna and sword fish being nearly at the top of the food chain, end up picking up various toxins including mercury. Mind you, if it was that or nothing there`s no argument is there? You`d just do it if he`ll take it. I was starting to think I might have to find a frog supplier rather than give up and watch him die. I`m so glad he`s finally eaten :) Well.... I`m doing a little photoshoot in the snake room tommorrow anyway for my Mantid so I`ll do some snake pictures too! Good idea. I`ve finally figured out how to upload Utube videos now so I`ve started doing some snakey videos which I`m really enjoying! I`ll put a link up for you and you can look at them on my profile hang on.....
Here you go...
YouTube - Arni the Jungle Jaguar Carpet python (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyIEPbGCZSw)
A bit off topic I know, I`ll start putting them in their own threads soon. I`ll do a video of all of my Hogs for you actually..... :)

[Michael Roth]

Great news, and great vid :>

[Feebo]

Cheers :) I`ll be doing those pictures and maybe a video later on. It`s feeding day today too :)

[marvelfreak]

Cool video feebo. I like your snake room.

[Feebo]

Yeah I`m a lucky bugger to have that, it`s the best room in the house and also my snake room. Very understanding wife you know....

[Geckogal]

You so lucky :) congrats

[presspirate]

Thanks for the video Feebo, Arni is great!

[Feebo]

Cor thanks! :) I`ll do videos all the time now I know how to upload the buggers... :)

[gonhuntun]

"I`m happy to answer any questions you may have on the subject but please, keep them sensible.... "

great lookig hogs. that closeup looks like she has her nose pressed against glass.
Now my question(s). could the fact that they are always together be a sign theyre competing for the same spot? and if so wouldnt they be happier not having to? from what i've learned, hognose, and most snakes for that matter, are not social animals. fortunately you havent had an incident yet, but wouldnt the first one be too many? especially if its serious. just not willing to take that chance with mine. i would say thats just my opinion, but i'm sure its the majority opinion. i'm by no means an expert and not judging your decision, just wondered if you had considered this. either way great looking snakes

[Feebo]

Oh yes, of course I`ve considered it. :) Those particular snakes are all in thier own vivs now. At the time I had them together, the large female was ready to breed and the only male was ready to do what males do. The smaller Hog was female also. As a very temporary measure I don`t mind putting more than one female in a viv, obviously I wouldn`t fill the viv with snakes or anything but I`ll have a couple of females together on a temporary basis. Could the fact they`re always together mean they`re competing for resources? Yes of course it could, that`s why you don`t generally put more than one snake in the same viv. However, as a breeder, putting snakes together in vivs comes with the territory. I put them together for mating and I put pairs together to socialise them prior to breeding. My pairs are kept together most of the time. They`re seperated when they need to be, for example, when the female is fertilised and nearly ready to lay or for feeding. My Hognoses are one exeption to this rule, I find that the males are just so randy that they`ll mate the female at any time of the year and whether she`s just laid or not, so my Hogs are kept seperatly unless ready to breed, in which case they`ll be put together probably for a couple of months. Does that answer your questions? As I say I`m happy to answer any more you may have. It`s a subject that`s a little tricky isn`t it, but that breeders are going to need to deal with at some point if they`re going to produce viable clutches each year... :)

[Feebo]

Here we go! I did a few pictures of Fleef earlier. She laid her first clutch this year.... all over the place! lol She had a nice nest box and everything and she just fired them out all over the shop lol Luckily I was checking her many times a day at that point in her pregnancy so I caught them in time. Anyways, here she is...
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/Mantid081.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/Mantid075.jpg
She`s getting quite big now! They don`t half grow slowly these guys....
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/Mantid068.jpg
Ooooh I love this shot....
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/Mantid063.jpg
I was on fire tonight actually, it usually takes loads and loads of photos, I`m talking about eighty or a hundred to get this many good ones but tonight, these good ones weren`t even half of what I took.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/Mantid062.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/feebix/Mantid058.jpg
I did a few videos today too so I might have a Hog feeding video to upload soon.....

[Geckogal]

those pics are brilly

[marvelfreak]

Sweet pics they're so cute.

[Feebo]

Cheers :) These guys are another reeeeally photogenic snake. My Malagassy is the same, it`s actually quite difficult to get a bad photo of them ! lol :)

[presspirate]

I like them, they looks like they're smiling.