Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was out at a local herp shop yesterday and this guy really caught my attention. I handled him briefly and was told he was eating small rats on a regular basis. I had actually never heard of the Madagascan Hognose before, so I went home to do some research. As it turns out there is not alot of info on them, and not much study has been done (if any) on the toxicity of the "venom". I did manage to find some good info over at hognosedotcom, and read a few posts over here from owners who really enjoyed them. So of course I went back today and bought it. It is IMO quite a beautiful snake and I'm really looking forward to learning more and sharing as I go along. Here's a pic of my guy.......

Is it your first hognose? I think they have a shorter lifespan when they are raised on exclusivly rodents. At a pet store!!! Thats pretty amazing. Good luck even though I usually reccomend a lot more research before a purchase.

>> not much study has been done (if any) on the toxicity of the "venom".

We have two papers that look at their venom

http://www.venomdoc.com/downloads/BGF_Colubroidea_RCMS.pdf
http://www.venomdoc.com/downloads/2004_BGF_Colubrid neurotox.pdf

The venom is only moderately neurotoxic but we haven't tested the effects on the blood yet. I would rate potential bite effects as fairly minimal.

They are very cool snakes indeed. They will often curl up in a perfect circular spiral, something snakes are often depicted as doing in cartoons bur rarely do so sympetrically in real life. Enjoy

Cheers
Bryan
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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
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Australian Venom Research Unit,
University of Melbourne
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Population and Evolutionary Genetics Unit,
Museum Victoria
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http://www.venomdoc.com

Thanks for the info!

Here's another pic of the hognose with a friend of mine and gives a better idea of his size.

Congrats on your malagasy giant hoggie! You will certainly enjoy him. I keep malagasy speckled hogs, and am always appreciative of their calm, serene temperaments. If I am hissed at, it means that I am being extemely annoying, such as spraying some ivermectin on them as a mite preventative.

Usually they stay under their cork bark slab hides, unless it is early in the morning or evening just before sunset. It's when they come out to cruise and hang out.

If you haven't already, have a fecal exam done. Odds are in favor of this being a wild caught snake, and unless you know for sure that parasites have been treated, they need to be for continued health.

Welcome to the world of malagasy hoggies. With the habitat destruction going on there, captive breeding of animals such as yours may one day be a species salvation.
regards,
althea

Thanks for sharing. As far as I know, he's wild caught. He was actually on display at the herp shop without a for sale sign for the last six months or so and I was told he is a great eater. (I also managed to see the feeding log) Last night after I got him settled in he ate two medium size mice. It was nice to see!

My speckled hogs refuse anything larger than a f/t pink rat. Of course they want 5 or 6 or. . .9 (depending upon how hungry each individual is). My male surfaced tonight to inform me that he required an unscheduled feeding--he doesn't eat as much as the girls, so I humor him at times such as these. The little bugger ate 6 and was looking for more! I find that mine have very fast metabolisms, and feed every 5 days or so. I'd be interested to know if the giant hogs also have fast metabolisms.
regards,
althea