Reptile & Amphibian Forums

anyone have any experience with these. iv found a tame 3 foot long one that eats f/t and was thinking about getting it. all i can find researching is that they get 5 to 6 feet long and theyre rear fanged and mildly venomous. any advice would be appreciated

I had a lot of trouble finding info on these guy about 2-3 years ago. Check out Dr. Fry from astrualia on the web. He wrote a paper a while back about venom in colubrid snakes. leioheterodons were included. Also hognose.com still has a lot of info even tho it dosent seem to be an active site. Good luck and I hope this helps.

I've kept malagasy speckled hognoses for a number of years--they are interesting captives. Mine have never grown larger than 3-3.5 ft. My experience is that they are mellow, undemanding captives.

Husbandry: 30 gallon tank w/secure screen top. Thick aspen substrate with several pieces of newspaper on top. They like to burrow/stay concealed, but will also cruise the enclosure once acclimated. I also provide a water dish large enough for soaking. The ambient temp in my herp room is around 80, and they seem to do fine. I give extra belly heat after feeding for 24 hours.

Food items: My adults take f/t fuzzy rats without a problem. They prefer several smaller sized food items to one larger sized. They have fast metabolisms, and I feed them 2-3 food items every 5 days or so. All of mine gently take food items off of hemostats, and seem to appreciate my not letting go until they have firm grips on the items.

Recent imports usually have parasites--a trip to the vet is recommended. Let your vet know the species in advance. Keep in mind that they have come from the southern hemisphere. I find that mine are most active when my north american colubrids are brumating. They are also light sensitive--most alert in the morning and at dusk.

A word of caution: just because they are mellow, do not forget that they are rear-fanged. I have not been tagged, but neither do I handle them bare handed. The suggested BGF article convinced me that caution is best. Read it and make your own decision.

This is an alert species that is fascinating to observe. New captives will "freeze" if they feel eyes upon them while they are out cruising/hunting. Very attractive in coloration and scalation. My first malagasy hog was a rescue--and she convinced me to acquire a few more.

Best of luck--feel free to contact me with questions.

rgds,
althea