Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok guys-back in the prehistoric times (otherwise know as the early 80s), Norm Damm once told me that really big female western hogs were very poor breeders. I myself have not seen this to much of an extent, but then again I don't have a lot of females that are really huge-600 gms and beyond.

For those of you who do, how has the breeding gone woith these really large girls?
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

"Some things are flat impossible-until they're done."
Robert A. Heinlein

Like most of use we think bigger females bigger clutches,I find thats not the case with western hognose,all the females i bred over 500 grams either never produced or produced infertile eggs.

JMO

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Brent Bumgardner
bwbumgardner@aol.com
703.431.1776
Superconda Website

I haven't had good luck with large females either. No matter what type of snake it is.

My experience is mostly with Bitis, but I do know that being over weight does cause females to not ovulate...

I do not see it being any different with other snake species...

I have only had bad experience with obese hogs. I have also had 500 gram females lay 20 egg clutches. If the females are stuffed and excercise rarely, then they never ovulate and don't seem much interested in breeding. The active bigger hogs still breed fine.

my $.02

KR

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Thank you,
Kevin Rhodes
http://www.freewebs.com/spreptile/hognose.htm

Pretty much my experience as well-in fact I put a 600 gm female that had not bred in two years on a diet-and this year she produced a good 21-egg clutch!
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

"Some things are flat impossible-until they're done."
Robert A. Heinlein

This is a very interesting thread.

I have 3 large females (over 500 grams) and have never even thought it would be a problem. One of the girls gave me 18 eggs her first clutch then 15 the second time a few years ago. I had a 300 gram girl last year double clutch (around 12 or so the first clutch and under 10 the second) and she's never even been with a male since I've owned her. I didn't even notice she was gravid this first round and never expected the second.

This year will be the first time in a few years that I've tried to breed any of my hogs. Hope my large girls do there thing.

Gotta get me some morph hogose this year. These hogs are so addicting. I just love there personalities.
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Greg Bennett

It comes down to the actual condition of the snakes vs the actual weight... You can have a 600 gram hog that has a healthy body mass and you can have a 400 gram hog that is rediculously fat...