Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, so I have kind of a wierd situation going on here. I picked up 2 more western hogs at Saturday's Hamburg, PA reptile show from Tom at Eight Legs Plus (A great guy with amazing animals, and reasonable pricing by the way. Highly recommended, although I think he deals mostly with arachnids). Anyway, I set these guys up individually in a couple rubbermaid boxes. The boxes are not that big, but plenty big enough for the time being for these 2 small snakes. They each have a hiding place, a rock, and a water dish. The temperature gradient is just right. Over the past couple days I noticed that the snakes hang out up top in the box. There is a small ledge where the top meets the container and it is just enough for them to wedge themselves up there and hang out, all coiled up, almost like a tree python or something. I have much experience with keeping snakes, especialy colubrids, but am somewhat new to the hognoses. Like I said, I'm pretty confident that I have them set up properly in appropriately sized containers with the appropriate temps, etc. Is there something wrong here that I'm overlooking that would lead to this behavior? Is this maybe just normal? Do I have the only 2 arboreal hogs ever created? Any cause for concern at all? Any input from someone more experienced with hogs than myself would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and have a great day. Sorry this is a bit long winded,

Chris

Hi Chris,

I'm not sure why some hogs do it but I have seen them climb quite well. Once when I was taking some photos in front of my house I had a male hognose climb up the rock work on my house. He just followed the seams between the rocks and went up about 4 feet before I took him down. If I can find the pics I will post some later. I know that climbing is common with cornsnakes and bullsnakes but I had never heard of a hog climbing like that one did.

Take Care

Rich

Yeah, I had a young female southern hog do the EXACT same thing (crawled up into the lip of the bin and curled up).

Some breeders have told me that it is more of a immature thing, and that most out-grow that adventurous nature.

So, I'd say it's not extremely common...but nothing to worry about (as long as they can't hurt themselves).

~Alex

Thanks for the responses. Thats some interesting stuff. I'm assuming that these guys will indeed grow out of their habit, literally. Hopefully its not too long before they are too fat to fit themselves up there. I wasn't too concerned, but just figured I'd ask. Rich, I'd sure like to see those pics if you happen to come across them...That sounds pretty crazy.

Thanks,
Chris

I have a 400 gram female that still likes to climb....

She also figured out how to slide her bin open and took a nice walk about one day. I now have swivel clips on all my racks because of her.
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Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown