Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My big female tri-hog and her 2nd clutch in 60 days. She will lay a clutch about every 30 days until I make her stop by cutting way down on her food and cooling her temps and keeping the males away! Last year I stopped my females at 8 to 10 clutches each. Maybe this year I will let them go for a bit longer. What would you do? And before any bad comments, all of my girls will keep up their body weight and produce a few more clutches even after I stop them from breeding. So its not like Im making them do this, it’s just what they do! How cool are these great little snakes? Thanks.

JIM
www.westernhognose.com

Hi

I have no experience with Tri-hogs.
only Western, I made 2 clutches last year on my big female.

I was wondering? why you dont have a box, she can lay her eggs in??

regards

Thomas

Why do we use nest boxes? I used to use nest boxes all of the time with all of my snakes, and I have found over the years that half of my snakes would just go in and out of the box and make a mess all over the cage and then just lay their eggs outside of the box, (mostly the tri-color hogs). So now I only use a nest box for a few of my snakes that will use it but why use one at all? If the snakes will lay their eggs just fine in their cage it seems to be ok for my snakes, so why do most people do it? Most likely for the same reason that I used to, you just think it’s the right thing to do because every one else is doing it, right? So if it’s not necessary then why do it? My eggs are laid just fine, my snakes are happy, Im happy, so what’s the problem? If every one jumps off the cliff are you going to as well?

Just my opinion!

JIM
www.westernhognose.com

Hi Jim

There is no problem at all. I was just wondering, my friend ;o)
It was not my meaning to offend you.
I´m sure that if we all do things the same way, we will never learn something new ;o)
I´m not the one jumping off the cliff. I look, listen and learn and then I mix it with my own experience ;o)

Regards

Thomas

sorry for my bad english, hope you understand.

No offence taken! I was not trying to sound offended at all; I was just voicing my opinion about my experiences with my snakes and their nest box habits. Sorry if I sounded offensive!

Thanks ~

JIM

I have three females, 2 lay in egg boxes full of peat, the other one ALWAYS lays outside the box!!!!
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www.hognose.co.uk

Since we are talking about set ups, I've been curious as to why you don't use any substrate. Certainly it's easier to replace newspaper than cleaning and sanitizing a plastic box. Also, there has been some reports of muscle atrophy in snakes kept without substrate (or smooth substrate like newspaper) simply because they can't push off on anything when crawling. I'm guessing you've gone through some experimentation, and I'm guessing your reasons outweigh the benefit of substrate?
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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

I use paper towels as my substrate and my snakes all seem to move around just fine. I have used just about every kind of substrate out there, and I have a few reasons not to use them.
1st with any kind of shavings I used to hate to see my snakes eat a mouse and get a bunch of shavings in their mouth and then have to watch them try to hack out the shavings or have them stuck in their mouth and cause problems for them latter.
2nd I do feel I can keep the cages cleaner with paper towels just because I can see right away if there is a mess to clean up instead of finding a dead mouse or poop under the substrate a few days later. Still I don’t think of using shaving as a bad thing, it’s just about what works well for you. Lets all just keep our snakes as happy as we think we can right? Mine are really happy they tell me so all the time by staying in good health and feeding well and producing more great babies year after year. Good luck with all of yours!

JIM

will not use them. Never have. They just lay their eggs in the tub with the aspen and are just fine. I had two females just lay
12 & 13 egg clutches with no nest boxes and the eggs are fine. I have several more getting ready to lay.

Now my Kings are a different story. One of them would not lay last year until I put a nest box in there. For my Kings I use them.

Chuck

>>Why do we use nest boxes? I used to use nest boxes all of the time with all of my snakes, and I have found over the years that half of my snakes would just go in and out of the box and make a mess all over the cage and then just lay their eggs outside of the box, (mostly the tri-color hogs). So now I only use a nest box for a few of my snakes that will use it but why use one at all? If the snakes will lay their eggs just fine in their cage it seems to be ok for my snakes, so why do most people do it? Most likely for the same reason that I used to, you just think it’s the right thing to do because every one else is doing it, right? So if it’s not necessary then why do it? My eggs are laid just fine, my snakes are happy, Im happy, so what’s the problem? If every one jumps off the cliff are you going to as well?
>>
>>Just my opinion!
>>
>>JIM
>>www.westernhognose.com

One reason to use a nest box is that once an egg sits for a while the embryo becomes stuck to the side which is the case to why we cant turn them if she lays while you are gone on a weekend they could harden and she could knock them around easier than if they were in a confined nest box. Another reason is for humidity reasons you can hold a better more constant humidity that the eggs need in the nest box than in the entire container. These are just my thoughts not trying to start a riot so if you disagree thats fine.

I say if something works for you and your happy with it then good for you! We all do things different and that OK by me. Good luck to all of you snake breeders out there and let see your snake egg laying pictures! Or am I the only one not afraid to show how I do things?

JIM

Frightened of what? lol. I have the 2 females that lay in the egg boxes about to lay, when they do Ill do some piccs, bet you now I have said it they they outside the box lol!!!

I personally have hide boxes in EVERY snake as it gives them some humidity to shed, they have them all year round.
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www.hognose.co.uk

Im not afraid to show a photo of snake eggs laid in a nesting box with the right humidity and temps, also they are not rolling around the viv are they.

Jim, have you ever walked through the woods or field or anywhere and seen reptile eggs on the floor, i think not.

By the looks of things ie husbandry, you dont know what your doing.

Arnt hognose Burrowing Snakes, how do they burrow into nothing.

You say your snakes are happy, lol.
Your snakes have no choice because you dont give them the choice.

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Your Avin A Laugh Arnt Ya

I got to agree with didgey. Its a good idea to give them a choice. I know all my gravid females love when I put a nest box in, they go straight for it, stay in it and usually lay their eggs in it.

OK, I wasn’t going bother to give that guy a reply but here it goes. I do still use a nest box for lots of my other snakes
(Kings, corns, milks and so on) but my tri-color hognose snakes just don’t use them. So why always put one in and take up the space if they don’t use it? I have more tri-color hognose about to lay eggs any day now so I am going to put a nest box in for them and then I will post the pictures of them weather they lay in the box or not maybe that will make you all happy!

JIM