Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in an area where the temp fluxs from 70s to 55s. Monterey, California. I have a friend willing to hibernate them for me, but i dont want to do this every year. Any ideas on how i can hibernate them at home? Thanks.
Jeff
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Jeff M.
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2.4 w.hogs
2.5 albino RES
2.4 spotted turtles
--->2.7 albino mice feeder breeding colony

I live in So calif and I just put them in the garage or even just away from any heat and in the dark,and stop feeding them. thats all they need. some people dont hybernate them at all. they will still breed. good luck.

JIM

Jim, Is that true for both W. hOG and Tricolors? THanks.
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Jeff M.
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1.5 tri-colored hogs
2.4 w.hogs
2.5 albino RES
2.4 spotted turtles
--->2.7 albino mice feeder breeding colony

even more so with the tri-color hogs! and my female lay ten chutches a year each and would lay more if I would not hybernate them just to get them to stop laying eggs!

JIM

WOW, that's amazing. I was under the impression that w. hogs had to hibernate to be fertile. Males to produce sperm and females to develope eggs. Is the fertility rate higher if they are hibernated? I mean, are they more likely to mate and produce more sperm and eggs for w hogs? I have never sucessfully bred these snakes as you might be able to tell. Thanks again Jim.

Jeff
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Jeff M.
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1.5 tri-colored hogs
2.4 w.hogs
2.5 albino RES
2.4 spotted turtles
--->2.7 albino mice feeder breeding colony

I have tried breeding westerns without cooling and had terrible fertility rates, so i always drop mine down to 50f for a period of 6 weeks.
The tricolours are different, My herp room is 70-80 degrees most of the year, i simply put them in small boxes in the dark in the herp room for a month and away they go!!!!
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www.hognose.co.uk

Hey Jim or Barry or any other tricolor breeder,
What do you think a reasonable minimum size would be for a tricolor breeder? I haven't seen many adults in person. They look huge in that recent photo of Jim's.

Separately, what is the largest tricolor any of you have seen? I've read various maximums of 20, 24, and 30 inches.

The biggest one I have is pushing 28" but shes much bigger than all my other females, i bred mine from 18" but i tend to leave mine later rather than earlier, if you are happy with her weight and girth go for it, they will breed from about 15" and carry on growing despite egg laying, i woke my tri's up tonight and Id swear the big one has grown!
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www.hognose.co.uk

My females start to produce infertile eggs at about 11 months even without a male. so they must be ready to breed if you ask me! a minimum size of a penny is about what I go by and length and weight does not matter! the female in this picture was only about 8 months old and was about 22 inches long and 288 grams. now at about 11 months and after 2 months of hibernating she is about 27 inches and 320 grams. and she is only fed 2 or 3 hopper mice every 4 to 7 days. and she is not obese! I think she is just a freak or something. I have never seen one close to this big. I will be breeding her for the first time in a few days. thanks.

JIM

Jim,
Mine are the same, I have 2 much smaller females and then one huge one, bigger than the one in you picture, when shes gravid she will eat an adult mouse every 3 days!
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www.hognose.co.uk

I love the double white bands on that female's tail and it's bright colors.

if you like the missing red bands you should love this one. what do you think?

JIM

www.westernhognose.com

That's a pretty neonate, your have a beautiful collection of Lystrophis Pulcher. I still like your breeder female the most because its double white banded tail reminds me of the photograph of the 1st Lystrophis I've ever seen in 1987 in the book Living Snakes of the World by John M. Mehrtens. The photo was by W. Lamar on page 190. The description of the snake in the photo was "Lystrophis semicinctus, a brightly colored South American species, performs much the same defense procedures as the North American Hognose Snakes." But as all keepers of tri-color hogs know, the 2nd statement is false. Tri-color hognoses rattle their tail and flattens their body in defense and never strikes, nothing like the hooding, hissing, striking with mouth closed and final belly up death throws of North
American Hognoses.

Here is the picture of the photo taken by W. Lamar of Lystrophis semicinctus from the book Living Snakes of the World by John M. Mehrtens 1987.

Note the extra wide bright orange banding with slight black tipping and double white bands on its tail.

Does anyone own a tri-color hog with these markings?

the westerns do better if hybernated but I have not noticed any difference from the tri-hogs.

JIM

So any ideas on how to hibernate my snakes if i had to? Thanks.
Jeff
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Jeff M.
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1.5 tri-colored hogs
2.4 w.hogs
2.5 albino RES
2.4 spotted turtles
--->2.7 albino mice feeder breeding colony

I told you how to hibernate them in my first reply!

JIM

Im sorry Jim, but i dont have a garage or dark place at all in my small apartment. So i was looking for other ideas. In fact, i dont know anyone who can help me out with a spot in the shade to hibernate my snakes. So im SOL i guess. Also, i want to make sure they are very fertile. I was told that about 55 degrees is where they need to be to be most fertile or you wont get a good hatch rate. Is this true? Thanks again everyone.o
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Jeff M.
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1.5 tri-colored hogs
2.4 w.hogs
2.5 albino RES
2.4 spotted turtles
--->2.7 albino mice feeder breeding colony

This is Jim's wife, Pamela. Last year, before we bought a house, we used a small dorm-room type fridge with styrofoam duct-taped just so over the icebox (which is what cools the fridge.)

We kept a digital thernmometer with a remote sensor inside the fridge so we could monitor temps 'round the clock and make sure they were in the right range (about 54 F to 57 F). We kept them down for about 8 weeks and inspected them weekly to make sure they had enough water
and wew still looking healthy. We had no problems!
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3.4 Western Hognose Snakes
1.0 Malagasy Speckled Hognose Snake
0.1 Malagasy Blonde Hognose Snake
1.0 Ball Python
2.2 Bearded Dragons
1.0 Green Iguana
0.1 Cat
0.1 Dog
1.0 Rat

Thanks for all your input everyone.
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Jeff M.
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1.5 tri-colored hogs
2.4 w.hogs
2.5 albino RES
2.4 spotted turtles
--->2.7 albino mice feeder breeding colony