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So tonight is feeding night and I was offering a frozen thawed hopper mouse to my male green and after grabbing the mouse from tongs he proceeded to roll around like an alligator with the mouse in his mouth. I'm not saying this is unheard of, but it was the first time I've seen something like this and it was quite entertaining. Do any of your hogs do weird/interesting things? Let's keep the forums active!

he proceeded to roll around like an alligator with the mouse in his mouth.

I've definitely witnessed that several times in my collection, including just a couple of nights ago. I wouldn't say that I see it as a repeated reaction with any particular individual(s). Considering that Western Hognose are not constrictors, it just appears to be something that is an inherent behavior that they pull out of their hats when they feel it necessary.

Do any of your hogs do weird/interesting things?

Hm, where to start?

I have some individuals that completely hate the smell of rats (pinkies). When I put one in, they literally jump out of the tub as if they themselves were in boiling water. Yet I have other individuals who gobble them down without any thought.

I had a week old neonate fling musk 2 feet away into my face. Talk about aim! Fortunately I didn't get any in my eyes or mouth.

I have certain psychotic individuals that will get a mouthful of a mouse, then if I make any kind of exciting (to them) movement, they'll spit out the mouse and come lunging after me instead, as if I'm tastier than that cruddy ol' mouse.

Nothing is more sad than seeing an 80 gram male locked into a 350 gram female and she decides to race around the tub and he thinks he can pull of surfboarding and then falls off and gets dragged around by his hemipenes. OUCH!

Of course I love it when freshly hatched neonates play dead in your hand and then lift their head up and see if you are paying attention to them. Nothing is more cute than that. Too bad after a week or two they learn they no longer need that trick, flinging musk is far more effective at discouragement!

I have a couple of individuals who'll take a mouse in their mouths and then just cruise around the tub trying to find that one place of solitude where they can eat in peace.

It's because Western Hognose are so odd that I've fallen in love with them and that they've dominated my collection for many years now. I'm hooked!

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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

Troy, I literally laughed out loud when reading about the 350 gram female dragging the much smaller male around by his hemipenes. I haven't had any musk flung at me...yet. Relatively new collection of hogs so I'm sure I'll accrue some more stories in the not too distant future. Good stuff.

Another quickie... I was cleaning tubs Sunday morning and took out a 100 gram female het albino and placed her on my lap while removing some feces and she started chewing on my pants. I picked her up and scolded her, placed her back on my lap and she did it again. These snakes are true characters!

I literally laughed out loud when reading about the 350 gram female dragging the much smaller male around by his hemipenes.

The sad thing is, I've seen that happen to several other males too as have other breeders. Poor little males are often dwarfed by these monster females and have little say in the matter. I guess that's why they have 2 hemipenes, you never know when the other is going to come in handy after such an ordeal!

I haven't had any musk flung at me...yet.

Trust me, it's going to happen sooner or later if you should start hatching out little ones, those are the ones that are most prone to musking as they are still too scared to know any better. I only had one adult female that did it on occasion but she's stopped the last couple of years. Perhaps she likes me now?

Another quickie... I was cleaning tubs Sunday morning and took out a 100 gram female het albino and placed her on my lap while removing some feces and she started chewing on my pants. I picked her up and scolded her, placed her back on my lap and she did it again.

I've heard of several people describing their snakes liking certain smells. Some people used to recommend washing pinkies in certain handsoaps claiming that the scent of that particular handsoap enticed their snakes into eating. Sounds a little weird to me, but these are hognose we're talking about after all!

Wait until one decides to see what the inside webbing of your fingers taste like. It's not a pleasant experience!

These snakes are true characters!

No truer words have been spoken!
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

I've seen the roll myself.

I think its funny how they will go after things that move thinking they're getting another meal, before they're even finished eating the one they have in their mouth!

Ross

Hi ROC, well after all they are pigs, er I mean hogs!

Love these stories! I think my favorite involves some of my aggressive feeders. I've had some that will miss the mouse/pinkie and latch onto the tongs and start swallowing right away. Not fun trying to seperate the hog from the tongs. I've also had some that will get so enthusiastic that when they've missed the pinkie they will latch onto their own tail and start chewing. I swear I laughed out loud the first time I saw that.

Good stuff, thanks for sharing!