Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today hatch this Hognose! It lives about 6 hours than it died!
Do anyone has an idea what it could be?
It looks great!

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Filip Longhitano
www.Heterodon.com

It appears to be pied... I could be wrong but from what I gather it has popped up in a few other collections and whatever causes the lack of coloration also causes the hatchling not to thrive...

Thats pretty cool... It is unfortunate that no one has had any live...

It is definitely unfortunate that it did not survive. It appears to be pied, and would have been very cool. As someone mentioned the other day, color/pattern seem to be one of the last things that develop before hatching. I had a pink pastel die before exiting the egg, and when I extracted it, there were only a few saddle markings, and the rest of the hoggie was all pink. You can imagine how I wish that one would have survived.

Wendell

I have seen pictures of this before as well as hearing a few different testimonies about such hatchlings. While some think this is a pied type of coloration, I believe it is a congenital deformity (which gives it that white appearance) which is probably why the snakes that look like this always seem to die right away. The white part is more than likely representative of a section of the animal that has not developed properly prior to hatching which is probably what is the cause of death. The big question to me is, is this is a genetic problem or an incubation one. I guess nothing short of a necropsy would give you the answers you need.

Congrats on all of the other fine looking babies!
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

-RG