Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone!

First timer here on the hognose forums

Here is my plan, I've worked with snakes before and I'm planning to setup a nice little breeding thing for hognose snakes at my house. I've read through multiple caresheets and such and even scored myself a book, however, after reading through the material, I still have a couple of questions.

Firstly, what would be the perfect male to female ratio in my setup? I'm thinking of obtaining roughly 10 snakes or so and I would think a ratio of 1:3 ( that is, 1 male to 3 females ) would be fine for the snakes health. What would the experienced keepers recommend?

Secondly, I would prefer to double clutch, I wont lie, I am looking into making some money outta this. On average how many eggs would a really healthy and fatty girl produce with two clutch drops? I've read anywhere from 5 - 30 eggs depending on size, health, weight, etc. WHat kind of numbers do you breeders get with double clutching?

Lastly, I would like to get good, reliable and safe incubators. Would it be fine to use those chicken egg incubators that farmers use? I've checked prices on Hovabators and they're like 75 bucks USD! I'm in Canada and have a shipping adress in the States, and yes, the dollar is good these days, but I would prefer to minimize the costs, as I'm sure a lot of us here would

Okay, thats about it! For now at least! Hahaha!

Thanks in advance,

Mike

...

Unfortunately I cannot help you out with the breeding questions. But one of your questions involved a ratio in a set up. You don't indicate if this would be a permanent set up, or one that would only accommodate adults during breeding activities. I just wanted to warn you against housing hognoses together permanently. They have very strong feeding responses, and are known for cannibalism.
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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

No no, sorry I should have made myself clear.

In setup, I meant a rack :| Sorry for the improper term.

Thanks