Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone, I have a Western Hog that I bought last year at a reptile show. Fiesty little thing, more bark than bite though. Anyways, I have only had one instance where he refused pinks, but I have never had to feed him frogs, lizards, or scent the pinks. Lucky me! He eats 4 mice fuzzies a week and is growing like a weed. He has tamed down a lot, but still puts on a show of hissing when you get him out I have never seen him do the famous "playing dead" but when we first got him, he would curl his tail around and put it over his head. CUTE!
There is a point to all this though, right now he is in a tank that has the floor size of a ten gallon but it is shorter, I know they don't climb anyways. He currently has to be kept inside of a cabinet, sounds cruel now that I wrote it out, but it doesn't seem to have any adverse affects. I thought I remembered someone telling me that they need a natural photoperiod, sounds logical. He has a heat pad, but no lighting whatsoever (he does when he eats of course). Does anyone think that this is ok? He still eats and sheds, and will one day (hopefully VERY soon) will be out where he can at least get the photoperiod that he deserves.
Another question. When I feed him, he grabs the fuzzies so viciously that he sometimes grabs them by the side and "folds" them. He eats frozen so they aren't squirming around, but what are your suggestions on this? He gets them down just fine, but it annoys me that I hold them with tweezers in the perfect spot, then he comes along and grabs them by the side!. I tried to go a little bigger and give him live hoppers, but he doesn't constrict them, so they wanted to bite him. He won't let them go once he has his mouth on them so I had to hold the poor mouse's head back so they can't bite while the stupid hoggie eats them alive. This only happened once and I am back to frozens (which luckily he eats). I thouht going bigger would prevent him from "folding" his meal, but whatever. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Susan

Hogs, just like any other snake, do need a photo period to simulate natural sunlight. You can get the UV bulbs fairly inexpensively in different wattages. What I do (so that I don't have to think about it) is to put a timer on the light. That way, I don't have to remember when to turn it on and off. My snakes have done the same (i.e. bitten the mouse in the middle, eventually making their way to the head) - I have only ever fed mine frozen thawed, and who knows why they do it. Just my two cents.

Will

1.2 Mexican Hognose
1.0 Red Phase Western Hognose
1.2 Speckled Madagascan Hognose
1.0 Eastern Hognose
0.1 African Spur Thighed Tortoise
0.1 Chinchilla
0.1 Prairie Dog
0.1 New Zealand White Rabbit
1.1 Cats
1.1 Yellow Lab, Collie

Luckily, I work at a zoo, where I use all of my animals (except for the cats and dogs of course) in my education programs, on loan to the zoo of course.

- Hognoses are diurnal snakes, and certainly would benefit from a natural photoperiod. UV is not necessary but certainly could help out if your snake is not eating
- If biting the mouse in the middle and folding it is not causing a problem, I don't see the need to change anything. Live mice should NEVER be fed to hognoses, much less to most captive snakes. There is apparently some more for you to learn about the natural history and behavior of hognoses. They are not constrictors, they kill by digestion. Prey items are simply bitten and swallowed alive. Captive hognoses rarely perform death feigning, usually only fresh hatched or fresh wild caught hognoses will do this.
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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

"There is apparently some more for you to learn about the natural history and behavior of hognoses"

Ummmm....thats why we are here, right?
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2.3 leopards( 2 tremper albinos,1 high yellow, 2 tang)1.0 African fattail,0.1 pink toe tarantula,1.0 mexican red knee tarantula,1.0 albino sonoran gopher,1 eastern painted turtles,0.1 sun conure,55 gallon freshwater tank, and one five gallon brackish tank with a flounder, and two chihuahuas......and thats all!

Exactly, so what is your point?

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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

Only that, by you implying that someone needs to brush up on their knowledge which is obviously the reason why they are here, tends to make you look a little like a pampas.
Nuff said?

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2.3 leopards( 2 tremper albinos,1 high yellow, 2 tang)1.0 African fattail,0.1 pink toe tarantula,1.0 mexican red knee tarantula,1.0 albino sonoran gopher,1 eastern painted turtles,0.1 sun conure,55 gallon freshwater tank, and one five gallon brackish tank with a flounder, and two chihuahuas......and thats all!

I will take pompas any day... when I see people not doing basic research. I suggest that you not be so critical of how others do things, until you make significant contributions to this forum as well.
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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

I have a wild caught western and he never puts on a show...he's very timid. As for feeding, I feed mine f/t green anoles and he does the same, he bites in the middle and the anole folds while being swallowed. These are big anoles also! I don't worry about it at all though.

I just keep my baby hognose in a 5 gallon tank on my desk. I don't use any bulbs. Just during the day natural lighting comes into the room. He eats and behaves just fine. Judging by my experience, it's not mandatory to buy any bulbs. Just as long as the room isn't freezing, and make sure the room has a good enough lighting period during the day. That's all.