Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

Where are some good info on Hogsnoses and caresheets?I know almost nothing on them.

Thank you,

Barbara

http://www.hognose.com/pages/care/west.htm

well..this is my enclosure...basically:
1)Ten gallon Tank with screen lid
2)1 and 1/2 inch aspen shavings
3)water dish
4)driftwood branch
5)undertank heating pad...10-20 gallon suitable by zoomed
6)sixty watt blue light..gets the tank to almost exactly 85..the one in the pic was incandescent...but now mines a blue light...
7)thermometer...

u don't need a glass tank...a shoe box would do for now i guess....as it gets biggger...size up accordingly...im actually just a novice hog owner...but ive done alotta research before getting mine...

look through the archives in this forum and you can learn quite a bit. Eric is right, they don't need an aquarium, but I wouldn;t put any snake in a shoebox because they are possible to get out of if the snake is persistent (I own an escape artist). Something like a plastic sterilite box with a well-fitting lid and holes drilled in it works well and is cheap. www.hognose.com is a good source of info
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Sue Barnett
1.0 Florida King (Vega)
0.1 Western hognose (Sola)
0.1 Egyptian spiny mouse (Mia)
4.2 mini rex rabbits (Basil, Pippin, Reggie, Hayden, Jackie and Peek-a-boo)
0.1 Plott hound (Molly)
1.0 half Arab (Zarr)
1.0 Betta (Flash)

hehe polosue...thats what im talking about...i meant a shoebox size sterilite...of course never keep a snake in a commercial show box..that would be hilarious...its cool though ...i love sterilite boxes...so useful for everything!...probably fastest growing household item in the herp industry ...oh ya...be aware of some rubbermaid ones...they seem to be less finely machined...one of my corns got out before...never found it ...learn from me...sterilites are the best though...economical and tight...kinda tricky making holes with smoldering iron though...just one hole too big...and the whole box goes to waste...i still recommend that if u get one hog...just buy a conventional 10 gallon terrarium w/ screen lid...always useful and aesthetical...

that's why I like a regular drill and bit for making holes....can't really mess up the size (and for everyone on other forums who says this is dangerous to the snake, it is very easy to smooth the holes)....but hey, if you accidentally make a hole too large for the planned species, well just get a bigger species of snake! I like the way aquariums look better but even the 20-gal is a bit unwieldy and takes up a lot of space. Some guy on a python forum was looking for big rubbermade boxes for big snakes and came across something he thought might work....they were horse water troughs. They have no lid and would be very difficult to make one for. They are rather heavy. hope the guy didn't learn the hard way. but I like how sterilite usually has one side anchored and the other side clips down and then it's easy to put weight on the one side if necessary. With rubbermaids that had seperate lids, we always had to put a lot of bricks on there so the burms couldnt escape.
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Sue Barnett
1.0 Florida King (Vega)
0.1 Western hognose (Sola)
0.1 Egyptian spiny mouse (Mia)
4.2 mini rex rabbits (Basil, Pippin, Reggie, Hayden, Jackie and Peek-a-boo)
0.1 Plott hound (Molly)
1.0 half Arab (Zarr)
1.0 Betta (Flash)

Hello,

I've read the caresheet at hognose.com but maybe I missed it. They didn't say how big they get and also if you would happen to get "bit" how strong is the venom?

Barbara

haha...sorry it wasn't on the caresheet...the size was mentioned on the "description" section which says ...."Thus we have a snake that is rear fanged with a funny (upturned) nose or snout. These snakes average between one and a half to two feet long with a record length of just under three feet.".....sorry about that...rarely they max out at 2...well atleast the ones i have seen...and to ur venom question...this has been a LONG debated issue...now to make the long story short...the safest way to put it is..the snake does have venom...but usually mild swelling occurrs as a normal reaction....a serious reaction could make u end up in ICU...some say the chances of suffering a fatal/serious reaction from a hognose bite is little to none....to even "semi-react" it would only be about the probability of a person suffering a reaction from a bee sting....now i hogs are very uninclined to bite unless under a feeding response....and it takes a while for the fangs to get chewed into place...so once a hog bites...pinch its head...and then it can't chew...so the fangs remain stationary and suspended...usually flushing in cold water will make it release...or introduce it to rubbing alcohol...but thats not the question asked...so if u for some reason get bit by a hog...i would take cautionary measures as if u were bitten by a seriously "hot"highly-venomouse) snake...just in case...bandage tightlyso the venom doesn't spread...if needbe...have a venom extractor handy...but chances of this happening are soo rare most people don't care...the best way to react to a bite is to not get bitten in the first place...handle a hog correctly...and u'll have a great pet...i personally keep a small pocket snake hook during feeding...so i put the mouse in its feeding container and then hook the snake and place it in the container...after it is done...hook the snake and return it to its enclosure...this is probably the most important part of this reply because most bites are almost always related to feeding responses and not defensive...but some say they do have a defensive bite....