Hognose Snakes - I am madly in love...

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SammySnake Isabela Travisss JackAsp SammySnake JackAsp Adam_S SammySnake Yellowfang Adam_S Indigo rattlers Adam_S Stevenbrown

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#1931907

SammySnake
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I am madly in love...

With hoggies!
Share pictures, stories, tips, problems, etc...
I really want one, and I want to gather as many stories and expieriences.
I’ve done my housing homework, etc.
I just love hognoses. Ever since I was little. I saw one roll over and play dead when I was younger, and I’ve wanted one ever since.
:]

01/14/09 12:04am

#1932860

Isabela
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Message To: SammySnake In reference to Message Id: 1931907

I am madly in love...

I think this forum is kinda dead so don’t expect too many responses haha. Ball-pythons.net has a fairly active hognose forum so you might want to check that out.

I recently held a hognose at a reptile expo and fell in love too! Their little faces are so darn cute. Their scales are also very different feeling than BPs, corns, and boas so that adds to their appeal as well.

01/15/09 04:59pm

#1933794

Travisss
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Message To: SammySnake In reference to Message Id: 1931907

I am madly in love...

The first Hognoses I saw were at BHB Reptiles and ...I fell in Love too!!..so I bought one!(in Canada because of CITES permits) She is a Western and her name is Charlotte..They move so much differently in your hand than other snakes..kinda worm around...really cute. Mine seems to like to be handled as she will settle right down and chill for a long while...Travis

01/17/09 07:34am

#1933966

JackAsp
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Message To: Travisss In reference to Message Id: 1933794

I am madly in love...

I think as hatchlings, they’re easier to handle than other hatchlngs. Pretty much just stay on your hand. But once they’re bigger, I can’t quite figure out what to DO with them. They aren’t really designed to comfortably hang wrapped around your neck or arm while you’re doing stuff, and they can’t really climb around on you the way other snakes do(well, American hognoses can’t; my Madagascan certainly climbs!) so handling mine nowadays is really just picking her up like a big bratwurst and putting her down someplace else.

01/17/09 02:13pm

#1936082

SammySnake
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Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 1933966

I am madly in love...

Thank you guys.
I really want a hoggie.
I’m not sure whether or not to have my herp source order in a western or an eastern.
Are temperaments any different? How well/easily do they eat?
I’ve wanted one my entire life, and I plan on acquiring one some time soon.

01/20/09 09:44pm

#1936155

JackAsp
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Message To: SammySnake In reference to Message Id: 1936082

I am madly in love...

I think that the odds of you getting a western that has ever seen any food item in its entire life that wasn’t a mouse are pretty slim. Yes, breeders often have a slow starter (among many, many that eat pinkies from Shed One with no hesitation whatsoever) that they’ll use a wide variety of scenting tricks with, but after generations and generations of feeding them rodents, your average CB western is as happy a rodent feeder as any corn snake. And any western you see on the market IS the result of multiple generations of CB stock, because there are so many people producing them. Even a lot of the "strange" colors are fairly cheap now.

If you want an Eastern, I’d say track down a breeder and deal with them directly. People do breed them and people do feed them mice, but people also still take them from the wild and they do not all have as automatic a "mouse=food" response as westerns do. You don’t want to get stuck with one that was eating anoles and fish, giving it 23 different types of exotic protozoic infections, nor do you want one that has to be in "just the right mood" for something as basic as eating a mouse. I expect that in the next decade or so good CB easterns may well be just as popular as westerns are now, but right now westerns still have the edge, at least unless you know exactly what the eatern’s history is as far as who and where that individual originally came from.

01/21/09 12:11am

#1936410

Adam_S
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Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 1936155

I am madly in love...

There is really nothing about an Eastern Hognose snake that would make it less popular than Westerns other than the fact that they feed exclusively on amphibians. It isn’t the lack of captive breeding that causes Easterns to prefer an exclusively amphibian diet, I’m guessing that it is their preference for an exclusively amphibian diet that has caused the lack in captive breeders. You can trick Easterns into eating rodents, but unlike Westerns they don’t accept them readily. CB or not, don’t get an Eastern if you plan to feed unscented rodents exclusively. I’ve seen a video of a hognose snake eating a hardboiled egg, so I’m sure you can find an Eastern that is guaranteed feeding on rodents, but there will never be anything close to a guarantee that it will continue eating prey items that are not a normal part of its diet. Westerns, in their natural range, enjoy a more varied diet than Easterns and they bring this flexibility with them to captivity, which makes them easier to keep than Easterns and for that reason a lot more popular. Adam

01/21/09 02:24pm

#1937045

SammySnake
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Message To: Adam_S In reference to Message Id: 1936410

I am madly in love...

Thank you guys for the info. This is exactly what I needed.
I didn’t know that easterns preferred amphibians.
I’m really touchy about the amphibian subject, because my water snake got a parasite because she strictly ate frogs. The vet gave me antibiotic, but she ended up dying anyways.
I’m going to a reptile show next weekend in Orlando, so that’s where I might be getting my hoggie.
Western it is then. :]
Thanks again!

01/22/09 10:56am

#1938614

Yellowfang
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Message To: SammySnake In reference to Message Id: 1937045

I am madly in love...

I wanted to show off my hogs! :-D

Here’s Wibur, and I’ve had him for probably about 3 years now (since he was little) but he still only eats hoppers. I got him from a reptile show actually, and he’s a red phase.

Then this is the older one, Babe. I don’t know how old she is though because I’ve only had for a few months now. But she’really big, because the owner before me would give her 3 adult mice at a time! Now with me, she could gets one adult mouse, but she is like 3 feet! (big for a western) She’s also a red phase.

I’m going to breed them together soon too, so wish me luck! She’s so big, maybe I’ll get 25 babies or something!

Yellowfang

01/24/09 04:22pm