Reptile & Amphibian Forums

with all the talk about westerns i wanted to see who in here favored easterns...any body got ay pretty eastern pics?..hopefully my camera will start working so i can post pics of my 7 month old eastern that is 23 inches long!!!...No joke

I prefer easterns.

this one is a CH Upstate NY locality...

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- Happy herping!

KE

man that one should turn out nice when it grows up...any luck finding anu easterns this year?

Thanks, I really like its colors too. I'm actually about an hour or so south from good hog habitat, and I was only able to head up there once last summer. It was too hot, and we didnt find any that day. a few friends of mine found several easterns on different occasions, however.
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- Happy herping!

KE

Most captive amphibians and reptiles are overfed. With all of the health problems associated with Easterns in captivity, and most them revolving around being overfed (like the infamous and mysterious "fatty liver disease", I think that having such a large individual at a young age is nothing to brag about regardless of its diet.
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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 understand what you are trying to say but i think you are failing to realize the point thaty i was trying to get across...Not that i am boasting about how big she is but to show that easterns are not the "hard to feed snakes" that people believe they are and that it is possible to be sucessful with this species, and that people generally give easterns a bad wrap.

Point taken! The question remains of what exactly are you feeding it?
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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 feed her one adult mouse a week. She has taken uncented for most of her life. i don't really consider that overfeeding. I always wait until she "passes the mouse" to feed her again. From my expierence hognose snakes have a faster metabolism than boas, pythons and other colubrids. And i have read posts on this fourm of people freaking out becaust their jog hasen't eaten in a week and the snake is a yearling and still 8 inches long. You cannot feed a hatchling the same way you feed an adult. It is important that they are recieving ample, but not too much, food in their beginning months of life. Because most peoples mistake is that they fail to feed them often enough,therefore they die before they can even reach an age where fatty liver disease even comes into play.

I would love to chat with you about your experience with hognoses. Care to send me your contact info?
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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)

Hey heterodon, glad to see you finally posted something about your female yearling e. hog. I would like to add that I am the producer of that hognose. The parents produced last year as yearlings. The mother measured 28" and father at 23" at less than 12 months of age. These hognose were fed a diet of toads and mice. Rat pups were not digested properly. Soon I will post pics of the eastern hogs I have. I know for most hogs, feeding once a week just doesn't cut it if the food item is too small. Actually proper feeding is sometimes individual based...some have faster metabolisms than others and this should be accounted for. E. hogs in the wild eat far more often than once a week, sometimes eating several large frogs/toads at once. Eastern hogs generally dont lose weight unless they have parasites- the #1 killer of hognose in captivity.-hope this clears up some misconceptions about easterns.

Hi Bill--long time!
I was glad to see your toads AND mice phrase. Cheers/Dick

What do you mean by the rat pups were not digested properly?

Ed

What I meant by the rat pups not being digested was simply the fact that parts of the pup passed through the snakes. These parts include...the tail, the arms and legs. All hogs were kept at adequate temps(all hogs were 18-28". rat pups have a larger percentage of fat than a small mouse or hopper of the same weight. They also contain less calcium(cartillage has less bone mass). The extra fat may be the reason for improper digestion...if you have heard any cases similar let me know..I would appreciate it. In the past I also had some improper digestion of pinks and fuzzies...and less to no problems with adult mice and hoppers. And In the case of some e. hogs....they will not digest or accept mice at all in captivity.(good thing they take bronze frog sometimes!)

Joey B