I wanted to ask about musking? How often if any, do they musk? Do all Colubrid's do this regularly?



That really depends on the individual snake.



I have several young hogs, less than a year old, that are pissy enough that they will musk you if they are held and just a few that are just over a year that will musk as well. However, I have found that as the snakes mature, their tendency to musk is reduced to almost nothing at all. That doesn't mean that something still won't trigger a response, but I have not seen it in my adults.



It's the same with my Greeri Kingsnakes. I just had a couple of females that were jittery enough when they were younger that they would musk regularly when handled, but as they matured, it's pretty much stopped. I do have one female though that needs to be dealt with slowly otherwise she won't hesitate to musk if she's been spooked.



I gather it's not a very pleasant smell. I've read a thread a couple months back about a person that just refused to work with Colubrid's any longer because of musking



I've been musked more times than I can remember and honestly, it doesn't really bother me. I have several individual hognose who are talented enough that they can actually squirt their musk a couple of feet away, and these are little 4-6 inch worms! I know they've tried to aim at my face but fortunately they've only hit me in the chest.



I don't know if it's me, but hognose musk smells very different than say Greeri musk. My hognose musk just smells kinda musky I guess but Greeri musk, to me, smells like burning tires or something, it's rather acrid and more potent than hognose musk. Greeri musk also seems more difficult to wash off your skin, the smell is quite lasting.



I've heard of a few people who have claimed to have been squirted in the mouth and they said it was the worst taste ever that they couldn't get out of their mouth. I can only imagine!
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Troy Rexroth

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