Cochran:
Your original post was removed because it violated the TOS, but I wanted a chance to respond to your post anyway.
For others, his post referred to his hognose being fed exclusively mice, but he somehow made a connection between diet and his hognose's behavior of "stargazing".
I have appreciated you backing me up on the diet controversies in the past, and I am telling you now that I am sure that of all the crazy things people have thought of about mice being a detriment to hognoses, neurological disorders is not one I have ever seen listed. The stargazing behavior you described, can be more easily attributed to chemical toxinosis, bacterial or viral infection, trauma to the head, and even parasites. I would have a hard time figuring out a mechanism by which diet alone could be responsible for this problem. Given the list of possibilities above, I hope you can understand that this behavior can be a sign of a serious problem. Giving it away for someone else to figure it out won't solve it, but taking it to the veterinarian will. Since I haven't heard of this behavior being reported in hognoses before on this forum, I would very much like to hear about the diagnosis. A good luck!
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Virginia Herping
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VaHS
Virginia Herpetological Society
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS
"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has... to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine
... nature has ceased to be what it always had been - what people needed protection from. Now nature - tamed, endangered, mortal - needs to be protected from people. When we are afraid, we shoot. But when we are nostalgic, we take pictures.
Susan Sontag
