Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just to start off, we have an entire rack dedicated to nesting for gravid females. The nesting bin consists of 4 to 5 inches of densely packed coco peat and a plastic lid that sits on top of the nesting substrate with a hole cut so the female can access the nesting area. This offers the female a much wider range of options than she would get in her regular rack draw with an added nest box.

Looks like this.

So, here are the first results I am reporting on this method.

So the female was nosing around the set up constantly going in and out of the hole in the plastic. She was obviously testing the nesting area and looking for a good spot with the right conditions to lay them. Or so we thought...

From what we have observed over the last couple of days, it seems like hognose snake like to escivate and build their own nests.

This particular female moved all of the coco peat from the back of the bin to the front.

This is what the set up looked like before the eggs were recovered.

When we lifted the plastic cover, eggs were not visible. The only reason we knew they were laid was because of how thin the female was compared to the previous night. LOL.

So we dug away some of the surprisingly densely packed coco peat and found the first few eggs about 2 inches under the surface.

The female nested these eggs all together and actually packed the coco peat around the eggs. Total count, 12 laid, 12 fertile. All have the bullseye but no vascular system yet. A good sign that the eggs were not being retained longer than they should. Not a bad start of the hog season...

All safely tucked in a SIM container sitting at 82ish degrees...

Great work Gregg.

I have to ask, do we have anything measurable. That is, what are the facts. Time from copulation to egg laying, time from pre egg laying shed, etc. ALso where were the eggs deposited in relationship to the box?

Also what were the behavioral observations, like did she dig and dig and dig, or did she go down and come up in a timely manner, etc.

I think your doing a great job within the relm of your restrictions(working within a rack system) And please understand, that is important.

Also understand, there is only so much your going to do within a rack system. What would be interesting is for you to test outside those restrictions. You see, potential is based on not having artificial restrictions. You see, their natural behavior do not have our restrictions.

And Yes, I think what your doing is wonderful and needed. I thank you for sharing that with us. I also thank you for having the fortitude to offer your tests before you recieve results. That tells me your a really good keeper. Best wishes

Very very nice Gregg! Personally I never understood why people used sphagnum moss as egg lay material, the eggs have no support and roll very easily. Congrats anyways!

First, thank you guys for the replies and nice comments.

So, we got another clutch the very next night. This time I was able to observe the female and what she did before and after laying. It might be the first time this nesting behavior has been observed in nesting hogs in captivity. I have never seen anything written or reported about it before.

The female dug out a spot for the eggs and laid them. She then pushed the eggs around until they were sitting the way she wanted them, or thats what it looked like anyway. Once she was "happy" with the location of the eggs, she then pushed the nesting substrate around the eggs with her rostral scale to pack the eggs in very tightly. * were laid, 8 are good.

Frank, the first female laid her eggs 10 days after prelay and the second female laid her eggs about 12 HOURS after prelay. Never had one drop that soon after prelay before.

Here are the eggs as we dug them up.

And here they are in the SIM

Congrats and thanks for sharing.

I am glad your seeing some interesting results.

I hate to give you that old, I told you so, so I won't. Its important to understand that nesting is IMPORTANT to all reptiles. As I mentioned(the told you so) all reptiles in nature go to lenghts to find/build nests in a particular way/s and do not just drop eggs in any old spot, even if the conditions are good. There is a culture behind what they do.

Please understand and do not take offense, You guys(on average) made a science out of keeping, that is, you attempt to meet base physical requirements and in an average way. No offense please, but this temp, that humidity, brumate for this many days @ this or that temp. Raise the temps after this long Place male in after so many days etc. Well sirs and sirsettes, thats boring and takes the life and the living out of animals. What is their life and how they live is behavior(Ethology)

Ethology (from Greek: ἦθος, ethos, "character"; and -λογία, -logia, "the study of" is the scientific and objective study of animal behaviour, and is a sub-topic of zoology. The focus of ethology is on animal behaviour under natural conditions,[1] as opposed to behaviourism, which focuses on behavioural response studies in a laboratory setting.

The desire to understand animals has made ethology a rapidly growing field. Since the turn of the 21st century, many aspects of animal communication, animal emotions, animal culture, learning, and even sexual conduct that experts long thought they understood, have been re-examined, and new conclusions reached. New fields have developed, such as neuroethology.

It would be helpful if many here understood behavior. In animals, its both inherent and learned(practice to improve, etc.

Where I am getting is, the animals, inherently understand how to nest. They also attempt to make the best out of constraints.

Which leads to this, please do not expect the animals to change that quickly. That is, it may take many nestings to get it right. They also LEARN to use what you offer(support)

As you have seen, they can deposit eggs as soon as they shed(whats the advantage?) And they do tend to the eggs, make a nest, and modify it. That is, enter(build nest) deposit eggs, then exit( situate the eggs and close the nest) Which includes hiding the nest to protect it from predators(including insects)

Gregg, the above is not for you so much. Its for others who treat their animals as lifeless(trading cards) In the past, I asked if anyone kept their hognose in a hognose way. that is, in a way that allows a hognose to be a hognose. Its culture and adaptions. As you have seen, I recieved no answers. Stop whining FR!

Anyway, keep up the good work and please understand behavior. Behavior is individual and varied and has many reactions to one impulse/stimuli. It appears your going to have lots of results soon. And please post them.

ALso, keep testing, I think what your doing will light your fire and you will have to keep testing and keep learning. Thanks so much for that.

Its my opinion, your in for lots and lots of fun. It was nice to see you excited at actually observing nesting. Sir, there is so much more. Heres one for you, reptiles can and do move their eggs from one spot to another(have pics) the question is, do hogs have that capability?
Lastly, I keep preaching more depth. I do so because its their cultural to them. To actually observe full nesting, you must include deeper then they will actually use, That is what teaches you. Not making due with less. We already know they can drop eggs in a shoebox. Or in the waterbowl. But that has nothing to do with what they want to do. Behavior is fulfilling a need and that can be done in many many ways. Sorry for going on and on. But you are a rare keeper. Thanks again

Neuroethology (from Greek νεῦρον - neuron "nerve" and ἦθος - ethos "habit or custom" is the evolutionary and comparative approach to the study of animal behavior and its underlying mechanistic control by the nervous system.[1][2][3] This interdisciplinary branch of behavioral neuroscience endeavors to understand how the central nervous system translates biologically relevant stimuli into natural behavior. For example, many bats are capable of echolocation which is used for prey capture and navigation. The auditory system of bats is often cited as an example for how acoustic properties of sounds can be converted into a sensory map of behaviorally relevant features of sounds.[4] Neuroethologists hope to uncover general principles of the nervous system from the study of animals with exaggerated or specialized behaviors.

As its name implies, neuroethology is a multidisciplinary field composed of neurobiology (the study of the nervous system) and ethology (the study of behavior in natural conditions). A central theme of the field of neuroethology, delineating it from other branches of neuroscience, is this focus on natural behavior. Natural behaviors may be thought of as those behaviors generated through means of natural selection (i.e. finding mates, navigation, locomotion, predator avoidance) rather than behaviors in disease states, or behavioral tasks that are particular to the laboratory.

Congrats for eggs
Sorry for my bad English....

Wonderful Gregg! How did you prepare the coco and how humid was it compared to her "surface level"? Anyway, thanks and best of luck!
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You ever talk to me like that again...and I'll turn your balls into earrings. Understand?

Go for it.