Its about snakes and herps in general. In my opinion, all captive snakes are chronically dehydrated. Most to a minor degree, many to a fatal degree.

If you follow my or anyones field work, its easy to understand. In nature, all reptiles spend the vast majority of their time LIVING, in holes that are selected for the right humidity and are not exposed to air movement.

The recommendation of preventing dehydration is actually far more important to wood snakes then it is hognose.

Hognose have wonderfully thick skin like rattlensnakes. Which is a protection aimed at preventing dehydration. And while Hogs can withstand drying conditions for longer periods then smooth skinned snakes, They still require protection from loss of water balance in their bodies.

What I discussed is what is most important, cages that allow the animal to protect itself from dehydration. Ask any "good" vet. drinking water is not protection from chronically dry cages. It just prolongs the process and ends up in skeletal or visceral gout. Which is very common in zoo animals. And for good reason, to make good displays, a cage must have lots of air space. Then to heat the animal requires lites to be placed outside the cages, so lots of air is heated and causes lots of air movement which takes moisture out of the top of the cage.

Enough thanks and please think about this.

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