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Geckoejon JackAsp Geckoejon Zach01313 TiffRockz |
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Geckoejon View Profile |
biting??? messy??? display???
first, how about biting. i have done my share of reading about them not being dangerous to humans... my question is have any of you been bitten? if so, please give a brief description as to possible cause and your physical reaction. next, i understand that they have a fast metabolism. i am kind of assuming that if they eat every couple of days they also poo every couple of days. is that correct? are they messy like dry’s? is it very smelly like pit poo? if that makes any sense... i am a hobbyist who would be getting them for pets and display. i am wondering if they would be a good choice for this in terms of ease of care, smell, being reclusive, ect... opinions please? i have the basics down. i have kept various reptiles for 2 decades but never had any hogs. thanks in adnace for your feedback... jonathan |
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| 06/21/09 06:17pm |
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JackAsp View Profile |
Message To: Geckoejon In reference to Message Id: 2026602 biting??? messy??? display???
They do fine if fed like any other snake. My western is, I kid you not, at least 35" long. (The Audabon "world record" is extremely outdated; many people feed them once a week and have specimens three feet or more, although two feet is normal.) She’s in a 40 gallon long, she tends to stretch straight more than any of my other snakes, and her length is damned near indentical to the 36" tank. When I got her she was 8 months old and had been fed every five days. I continued that regimen until she slowed down to eating better every 6 days. Now, she’s bigger in relation to small mice than she was then (I use small mice because I have other snakes smaller than her and like to use one size, less chance of freezer-burn if they go faster) so she’s back on the every five days system. Usually two mice make her happy; when she was growing up she’d often take three... although back then it was fuzzies and hoppers. They’ll move around and exercise more if you give them an empty period in between feedings, and as long as they get a full belly at least once a week you’re not hurting them a bit. Some people over-react and feel that every time they’re snake moves they have to feed it again. Hey, I like tacos. If every time I get up from this chair, you want to buy me a taco, I’ll eat it, but that doesn’t mean that either I NEED that many tacos OR that it’s actually bad for me to just get up and move around a little, you know? I fiond their poo to be stronger than any Pit I’ve had. But I keep my place pretty warm, Pits that have a cool end of 70 probably don’t metabolize as many proteins as those that are kept warmer. Hogs thermoregulate to higher temperatures than Pits do and STILL their poo stinks. Another advantage to only feeding every 5 to 7 days. It comes out at once, it gets cleaned at once, you end up with fewer windows of opportunity for uber-poop to get tracked around through their tunnels. They usually clunk it in one place and it stays there. I’ve never seen her do the kind of smear that Drymarchons have a reputation for, although she does usually wipe herself on the side of the water dish afterwards. They’re as good a display pet as most other snakes... which is to say that of course they’ll usually be hiding. A hognose is more likely to be buried than to be hiding in a box, but it spends about the same amount of time in the open as most others. They’re diurnal, so at least that’s a plus. Bebe always comes up for at least an hour when her light clicks on, and then later during the early afternoon. Anything besides that is a random occurrence that varies from day to day. However, If i just poke my fingers into the substrate a few times until I feel her, all I have to do is pet her a few times and she comes right out, hoping to be fed. So it’s a little more complicated than just lifting a hide box off of her, but it’s not like I have to tear apart the whole tank. As a display snake, she’s nowhere near as good as my bull. When his lights are on, he’s almost always out people-watching. Pits mostly view digging as a way to vary their surface existance. Hognoses seem to view coming up as a way to vary their digging. But if you want a strange-looking little oddball sausage-snake, westerns are it. My Madagascan tends to inspire more laughter when actually handled, because he’s one of those really fast-moving inquisive ear-ticklers, but the one that people just break out laughing at how cute she is would be my western. Really, I think they’re a GREAT second or third snake, but perhaps not the ideal choice for an only snake. They’re low-maintenance, and they have grerat appetites which keep extra mice from going to waste, but they aren’t as high-visibility as a bull or king, and as adults they can be kind of awkward to actually handle, because they aren’t arboreal at ALL so they don’t grip onto your arm as well as most other commonly kept species. But people get what they like, and me preferring other types as the "main snake pet" is largely an aesthetic thing. Other people might offer the counter-argument that they find hognoses easier to handle because they’re slower moving. |
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| 06/22/09 01:27am |
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Geckoejon View Profile |
Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 2026821 biting??? messy??? display???
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| 06/23/09 01:47pm |
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Zach01313 View Profile |
Message To: Geckoejon In reference to Message Id: 2026602 biting??? messy??? display???
I think its their saliva that causes a reaction to people sometimes but its not common, their fangs dont have venom they are reared fangs used for poping toads what kind of hogs are you getting? I want an anaconda hog realy bad, or even an albino |
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| 06/28/09 11:27pm |
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TiffRockz View Profile |
Message To: Geckoejon In reference to Message Id: 2026602
The best way to feed a snake (a Hognose in this case) would be feeding it a weekly diet. For babies, you would feed it pinkie mice on a weekly basis (every 7 days). The snake will usually defecate a few days after the meal (2-5 days). Not sure what you mean on the smell, but when the snake defecates it doesn’t smell foul at all, it doesn’t even smell bad. Now I have a 4 ft King snake and his feces smells really bad if it isn’t cleaned up. Whenever you notice any defecated areas in the enclosure, clean it up right away. Snakes, like all reptiles, carry Salmonella in their feces. So when the reptile defecates the feces has Salmonella in it. When it is not cleaned up (spot cleaned, picking up the feces and throwing it away/flushing it), the reptiles will walk/slither in it and get the Salmonella bacteria on itself so when you handle it and do not wash your hands and put your hands in your mouth or touch food and eat it, you may possibly get Salmonella. Hognose snakes are one of the easiest snakes to care for, as I have read on many caresheets. The maintanence of this snake is very simple. Snakes will hardly ever smell (as well as the enclosure) unless it is spot cleaned. This means cleaning up any defecated areas in the enclosure to keep the tank clean and your snake free of Salmonella bacteria on it’s body. Also, when you spot clean often, you won’t have to change the substrate for 1-3 months. These snakes will normally roam around the enclosure during the day, like most colubrids. They do have a great behavior, but if the snake is never handled it may show signs of aggression but not exactly enough to bite as these snakes will hardly ever bite. I’m so sure you will enjoy keeping this snake. Keep doing your research :] |
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| 07/31/09 02:15am |
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biting??? messy??? display???