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I have had my western hognose for approx. 1 month. The first 3 weeks we had him he was very friendly. I had no problems with picking him up, feeding him, etc. All of a sudden he is now very aggressive. He hisses, does the cobra mimick, etc. The only way I can pick him up with a glove on. Last night he would not eat either. He is only around 2 months old, and I don't understand why there is the sudden change in his attitude. Any ideas?

This is exactly what a hognose does, and any amount of research would have explained this. There are some hogs, no matter how much you handle them, will hiss like their first week in captivity. Some will settle down nice, but even then they will still hiss and flare up frequently.

Why the change? I find myself saying "who knows" a little too often on these forums, but it applies the best. At that young age, neural pathways are still being established. Perhaps there was a subdued behavior associated with a sudden change in environment. Now that is starting to settle in, it is starting to revert to it's natural tendencies.

Since a hognose does not bite its potential predators, it's really not fair to the snake to label it as aggressive. Instead, it is purely defensive behavior. Because they don't bite, no glove is necessary, only nerves of steel to reach in despite elaborate show. If your hognose bites you purely out of defense, and not when it's death feigning, write me immediately because it would be something new to science.

I hope that helps you to look at it differently. Just be courageous and pick up the snake even when it is doing its false striking. Also, if it suddenly stops eating, you need to reduce or eliminate handling since neonates get so stressed out from handling.
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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

my hog will spread out and hiss like crazy sometimes, but once I pick her up shes as gentle as can be. Not sure what opening the cage triggers in her little head, but probably about 25% of the time she goes nuts. Who knows.

ep
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1 w. hognose
1 bearded dragon
2.1 cats

All of the research I've done says that once you pick them up they calm right down... mine does not. When I pick him up he keeps hissing, jumps and strikes at any thing and every thing he sees. Also, when he strikes, he has his mouth open, not the closed mouth "punch" I've read so much about. He's small enough right now that I doubt he could do much damage, but I just assume not find out! We moved him to a different room where there is abosolutly no traffic, and I'm hoping that will help improve his attitude.

you may be agitating him by keeping his entire cage too hot or dirty, I found that when hogs are mad they were uasally hot from basking, or bedding, some snakes hate living with their own fecies and some dont seem to mind at all...or maybe your not feeding enough or handling too often...just thinkin outside the box..... and by-th-way I have cought a southern hognose that struck and slightly bit my knuckle once, and I have to say I think he ment bisiness and he was the only hognose I ever cought that never tried to play dead ....JB

I will check his temps again. He spends most of time curled up directly under the light, so if that will make him angry, his attitude makes sense. This is the first snake I have ever had, so I'm really new at all this - thank you for your help! How often should he be fed? I was told at the pet store to feed him once a week, so typicaly he is fed every Tuesday. If that is not often enough, please let me know.

Thanks again!

Hognose seem to have a pretty quick metabolism. I always fed my Easterns 2 days after they pooed, instead of on a weekly schedule. That way I fed according to their bodies rate of processing. Sometimes they processed quicker than at other times, especially in winter when they slowed down. That is just my philosophy.
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Jenea

1:1 Tricolor Hognose
0:0:2 Florida Redbelly Snakes
0:1 Gulf Coast Box Turtle
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Thank you very much. I'll try that & see how it works. I really like my little snake (he's only about 6" long right now)so I hope it works!

Very interesting!

I'd have to say that open mouth striking is NOT common, and it is generally accepted that hogs do not bite out of defense. Although hogs typically calm down when picked up, that doesn't mean they'll won't start back up again.

You've gotten some good advice from the others here, let us know what works in the long run.
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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

>>
>>Since a hognose does not bite its potential predators, it's really not fair to the snake to label it as aggressive. Instead, it is purely defensive behavior. Because they don't bite, no glove is necessary, only nerves of steel to reach in despite elaborate show. If your hognose bites you purely out of defense, and not when it's death feigning, write me immediately because it would be something new to science.
>>

I had a female western that would indeed bite.. loved to try to nail anyone that came into the cage..she'd rear up to go to the top mouth open. Even with gloves on when attempting to handle she would latch down and start chewing.
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PHWyvern

I hold my female hog four to five times a week, and she still exibits some form of defensive behavior at times. That is normal for hogs. I pay her no mind. She huffs & puffs, and the second she's in my hand, the behavior is gone. Snakes are individuals, and some may display this behaviour more then others. As Colchicine said in the above post, you have a very slim chance of experencing a defensive bite.
Just take both hands, place level with the substrate, and bring them together in one motion, and scoop the hog up. Or if your using aspen, take one of your hands, plow your hand below the substate, and scoop the hog up from beneath. You may get less of a reaction with either one of these methods, then if you were to reach down and grab from above. Good luck.
Steve

>>I have had my western hognose for approx. 1 month. The first 3 weeks we had him he was very friendly. I had no problems with picking him up, feeding him, etc. All of a sudden he is now very aggressive. He hisses, does the cobra mimick, etc. The only way I can pick him up with a glove on. Last night he would not eat either. He is only around 2 months old, and I don't understand why there is the sudden change in his attitude. Any ideas?

Gee Steve nice baby getting fat eh? How ya doing buddy? Steve/El Paso

Hognose snakes have as diverse personalities as people maybe that’s why we are so fond of them. I have several that for the first year they were not handle able. They would chase my hand around the cage in an attempt to bite me (that’s what you call a great feeding response not a defensive strike) most grow out of this with age. Some hiss, some flair some don’t, they are all different in there on way. I don’t think any thing is making him act this way it’s just his personality.
just give him time and enjoy him

And you can impress your friends by grabbing a snake that is hissing and striking.

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I felt the same way last Nov. when I got mine but what everyone says is true. Just reach in and pick him up, he wont bite. I hate telling on my self but I was explaining this to my sons and right away my 7 year old looked at the snake and just reached in and picked him up even though he was hissing and bluff striking!! So I could not be outdone, right!!?LOL. The only time I don't handle him is right after he eats, the feeding response they have may make them bite because they are in feed mode but that is the only time and this can be said about a lot of other snakes as well.
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Visual Morphs?....I love the normal looks. You can't improve on nature, you can only produce "interesting deviations".