Hello, first off, not trying to start a debate more just discussion, I know this is a "touchy" subject. Ok, I've heard all the pros and cons on feeding hognoses (particularly easterns)a rodent diet....so why is it that western hognoses do well on rodents and it's bad for easterns? Amphibians and reptiles make up the majority of the westerns' natural diet, wouldn't they suffer the same bad affects of fatty liver and such from an all mouse diet? Are they that much different or have westerns been in the hobby long enough now that the animals being kept have "adapted" to the rodent diet? If there are real differences in the species, wouldn't the affects of rodents in the diet be limited some if the snakes were also feed other foods such as F/T lizards, fish fillet (I've heard of this on another site), and the occasional F/T frog or toad? I raise garters now and many of them naturally feed heavily on amphibians, but have adapted to rodent diets very well, but I still give them a good bit of variety and also feed them less often with rodents then with other prey items. I'm wondering if the same stategy wouldn't work for hognoses too.
---Roy
