Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I read somewhere that a diet of mice only will shorten the lifespan of Tri-color hogs . I believe it was suggested that they get fatty livers or something. Is this true ? Whats the longest a cap. bred tri color has been kept in captivity on a mouse diet ?

Keith
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This is a contentious issue that comes up here every few months or so. There doesn't appear to be any demonstrable evidence to support the fatty liver hypothesis that I have seen/read here. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence and 2nd/3rd hand information that lead to that suggestion, but good evidence seems to be lacking. There are also people who have kept Easterns/Southerns for many years (decades) on rodents alone.
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Chris Harrison

Great post! I wanted to back up Chris' post, there IS no evidence of fatty liver disease in Heterdon, a genus we know a whole heck of a lot more about than the tricolors! I know very little about the "other" hogs, but I am sure we can make some generalizations about them.

I am currently doing a major scientific literature search exclusively on hognoses. I have acquired around 50 papers and read half of them. I have found no published reports on negative aspects of an all rodent diet.
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

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