Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a hatchling eastern hognose (7/04). When I purchased her on the spur of the moment last Sept. the breeder said she was only occasionally taking scented pinkies so I knew I was in for a fuss with her. Had I known I would be coming across an eastern hog at a herp show I would have been able to stock up on small toads in advance to see her through the winter, but by then it was too late for toads. I've been working with her all winter and as of January, she's fully taking unscented pinkies on her own without a fuss - anywhere from 2-4 per week.

Question: I've heard stories that feeding an eastern hog a straight rodent diet was bad for them. Is there any truth to this or is it just an old wives tale so to speak? If she's willingly taking pinkies and it's not a problem in regards to her heatlh, I'd like to keep her on that diet. Any thoughts?
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PHWyvern

Here are some pictures I took today of her at work. She shed her skin on 2/7/05

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PHWyvern

I've had my Eastern since May 2000 (hatchling). He used to only feed on live toads, then I switched him to frozen thawed tadpoles, and now he eats scented mice (he's about 26 inches long now). One thing I've noticed is that I don't have to feed him as often, most likely due to the higher fat content of mice as opposed to toads or frogs. I'm still working on switching him to other food options such as fish.

one of the things that the breeder of my western hog told me was that as he got bigger, skip the full grown mice and move onto rat pups as they will hve less hair. hognoses have eveolved on diet of non-furred animals so they arent well adapted to eating hairy creatures. i have no idea if this is accurate at all so take it with a grain of salt. i havent worried about it yet as my lil guy is still on pinkies.

>>one of the things that the breeder of my western hog told me was that as he got bigger, skip the full grown mice and move onto rat pups as they will hve less hair. hognoses have eveolved on diet of non-furred animals so they arent well adapted to eating hairy creatures. i have no idea if this is accurate at all so take it with a grain of salt. i havent worried about it yet as my lil guy is still on pinkies.

It does in a way make some logical sense, though like you say whether it's truly accurate or not is up for grabs.
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PHWyvern

The thing with pinks is that they arent as bony as toads, and the baby will need a calcium source...dust the pinks/crawlers, any small rodent with soft bones you are feeding to an eastern needs calcium.
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- Happy herping!

KE

>>I'm still working on switching him to other food options such as fish.

About 15 years ago we had a wild caught adult eastern hognose. When toads were available that's what he ate. In the winter he happily switched to strips of boiled chicken. We would buy chicken and boil it then peel the meat off the bone for our snapping turtles and other turtles as a once a week meal treat. We would set some aside for the hognose - most of the time he wouldn't even need to have it rubbed on a toad.
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PHWyvern

There has been a lot of time spent on this forum debating this very subject. I personally believe that many of the rumors associated with an all rodent diet are completely unfounded. Many people claim to have a hognose die after being fed a mouse, but none of those people have been able to provide a necropsy report (in other words, the snake died but nobody truly knows why). In fact, I haven't been able to find any necropsy reports related to captive husbandry or nutrition in hognoses. Currently I working on a solicitation for information from the Veterinary Information Network. I expect that to yield some promising results.

There is not a terribly big difference in fat content between mice and toads, so where the so-called fatty liver disease comes from, I don't know. Rodents certainly are higher in calories than toads of equivalent sizes. Since one of the biggest problems of captive herps is nutrition, and the large majority of herps are overfed, I suspect that many of the people who have premature hognose deaths on rodent diets, probably overfed them.

Rest assured that feeding your hognose mice will not kill it, if you have the correct environment. People have bred and kept successive generations of Easterns on entirely mice.
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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)

>>Rest assured that feeding your hognose mice will not kill it, if you have the correct environment. People have bred and kept successive generations of Easterns on entirely mice.
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Thank you. The snake right now is pretty much setting her own pace on how much she wants to eat. I offer two pinkies per meal and usually offer meals every 4 days. Sometimes she takes both pinkies, sometimes only one. She's even starting to let me know when she wants to be fed by hanging out at the front of the cage on my desk at work in easy view (otherwise she hides under her water dish).
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PHWyvern

Im just curious, but at what show did you pick up the little girl? I had some for sale last July at the Northshore Reptile show in La. I traded some off to a whole saler who may have traveled to other shows. Your pics of her look like the rest of my clutch. Did the person you buy from breed them? Well by any chance she is from my clutch she will get huge. Congrats on getting her on pinks.

Joey

>>Im just curious, but at what show did you pick up the little girl? I had some for sale last July at the Northshore Reptile show in La. I traded some off to a whole saler who may have traveled to other shows. Your pics of her look like the rest of my clutch. Did the person you buy from breed them? Well by any chance she is from my clutch she will get huge. Congrats on getting her on pinks.
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>>Joey

No sorry, I don't think this is one of yours. I got her back in September at the MARS show in MD who said she came from his stock. If I remember correctly he said she hatched mid-July.

I know that this little one is a total piss-pot. Most hognoses will stop with the display antics and such after a few weeks... she just keeps up with it. She's even got pretty good aim for projectile poop/musking. LOL
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PHWyvern

>>Im just curious, but at what show did you pick up the little girl? I had some for sale last July at the Northshore Reptile show in La. I traded some off to a whole saler who may have traveled to other shows. >>

I bought an Eastern Hognose last October at the reptile show in Covington, LA. I bought her from Swampland Reptiles, who said they got a clutch from a breeder they know. Any ideas?

I've been struggling with her over the winter, too. I think I may try her on some f/t tadpoles that I have found. We'll see...

griffin