Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a female western hog who is a picky eater. She is growing slowly and is about 5 years old. How many grams should she weigh before breeding. I have fears of her becomming egg bound and have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting. It sucks! Its like the same storie thats a few threads down on the snake that stops eating. (Have any extra tranqualizers?)
Thanks
Jason
Heres a picture of her in the blue.

Welcome to the world of Hognose keeping! If you've had it to the vet. and it's parasite free, you could try breeding and hope it starts to eat as the eggs develop. That one is on the thin side for breeding IMO. Or you can try to get another one that's a better feeder. Not all hognose a poor feeders, it just seems that way LOL. I've had good results stimulating feeding by giving grapefruit seed extract, you should be able to find a post about it here. If you want to breed you really should have more than one pair. You can never have too many males IMO, they seem to sometimes just die for no reason. Hognose make nice pets but they ain't cornsnakes.
Southampton Herps

What would you consider min size in gram weight for a breeding female?

Sorry I'm no help there, I've never weighted a snake. I know what my idea of a snake with good breeding weight looks like and that's about it. I don't believe it's a good idea to breed any snake that is not a good feeder.

Thanks for all your help. I am trying to get more females, but with all the different morphs now, I need to focuse on which ones I want and can afford. I would like to purchase a few more female westerns. This is one species of snake I think will be popular amongst collectors for along time to come.
Thanks again for the feeding tip and the 200 gram weight tip.
Jason

I am real interested in your grapfruit seed extract theory, and want to try it. I flipped back five pages to early august (I've had good results stimulating feeding by giving grapefruit seed extract, you should be able to find a post about it here) and was unable to locate any information on this. If you could give me a description of what to do or give me a link on how to do this, it would be a great help, and I would be very greatful.
Thanks
Jason

You can purchase it at most health food stores. I use the liquid form. I put 10 drops in a gallon of water and give it in place of drinking water. A 1.5 oz. bottle is about $10 and should last a long time. You can do a web search for G.S.E. and find lots of info on it.

I wouldn't consider a female for breeding unless she is 200 grams or over.

Joe
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1.1 00 Queretaro Mountain Kingsnake
2.1 01 Texas Glossy snakes
1.4 01 Western Hognose
1.1 00 Striped Het Albino Pacific Gophers
1.2 03 Tri-color hognose
1.1 00 Black Milks
0.1 01 Black Milk
1.2 03 Tarahumara Mountain Kings