Posted by:
WingedWolfPsion
at Wed Apr 21 07:09:01 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by WingedWolfPsion ]
They DON'T require mice in captivity. If you want to feed your hog its natural diet, which consists almost EXCLUSIVELY OF TOADS, go right ahead. 
Hognosed snakes are superbly adapted to toad-eating. They're immune to toad toxins, and they have two specially adapted long teeth that are NOT grooved to deliver venom--they're there for the sole purpose of letting the air out of toads, which puff themselves up to try to avoid being swallowed.
You'll have to deparasitize it often, though, if you do. Wild animals all have a load of internal parasites, which they are able to handle due to a low re-infection rate. Those build to lethal levels in captivity (reinfection rate is massive), so parasites must be treated promptly.
The common feeder fish we use are bad for herps...there's no getting around that, sorry. Even if the thiaminase didn't kill the snake, the horrible lungworms would--those fish transmit parasites! Mice are the safest thing to feed a captive snake--they provide complete nutrition, and f/t mice do not transmit parasites.
[ Show Entire Thread ]
|