Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone on here breed these?? I would love to add a pair to my collection, but currently cannot seem to find anyone with them for the life of me!

I used to breed these years ago and still own a pair, actually the last two that I ever produced.

They are neat snakes and used to be a lot more common in the hobby about 5-6 years ago but fell out of favor due to the extreme difficulty of getting them switched over to mice.

They are also completely different than the North American species with the exception of the upturned nose. They are smooth scaled, don't seem to get near as big, like to dig and stay buried more (they are ambush predators) and have very different defensive behaviors (they don't play dead or hood like a cobra, instead, they coil up and jump around, they also don't hiss). For all intent, they are really just a completely different kind of snake than Westerns and if it wasn't for the fact that they are called hognose snakes, there would probably be less interest in them now (which is almost zero nowadays).

They are interesting but if you are looking for something that will basically be like a Western in a tri-colored skin, you might be disappointed.

Good luck on your quest finding a pair, they seem to be super rare these days here in the States but there are a couple different people in Europe that do work with them consistently.
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

There are a couple people working with them (they are on Facebook), and I have an adult pair of Lystrophis pulcher that should breed next year. They both started out as tricolors, but the male has lost his red (he's now black with white bands) and the female has lost her white (she's now black with red bands).

My experiences have been good so far, as my pair has very good feed responses (both eat fuzzies/hoppers). They stay buried 90% of the time, and both use their moist hide regularly (just a plastic tub with moist sphagnum moss). I have mine set up in a rack and they appear to be thriving.

From numerous conversations with people who have owned them they reportedly don't like to be too hot, and their eggs require cooler incubation temperatures than most colubrids. Mine have a hot spot of 90 degrees, and the cool end is around 75 degrees. They have large tubs which provide plenty of options for thermoregulation. The female tends to stay towards the warm end while the male seems to prefer the cooler end.

I really like these critters, and look forward to the challenge of breeding, eggs and babies.

I'd love to see a pic of that minus-red tricolor that's turned into a black & white banded.

reako45

Me too please. I love those snakes, I first saw them back in the early seventies when a local herper(pack rat mitten researcher) had a brother that was working in South America and would pass thru on his way home and he brought many of those with him. He said they came in two phases, tricolored and black. Cheers

Sure, give me a coupe days. I am out of town and just realized I don't have any photos on my phone or computer of the male. I'll post the female though.

female Tricolor hognose that is losing her white bands.

Sweet, keep the pics coming as she progresses. Do you have any before pics? Please, do not worry if its too much work. Great looking tricolored. Best wishes

Beautiful! Haven't seen one of those in few years.

reako45

Male Lystrophis pulcher (sorry for the terrible cell photo). But you can clearly see that he's black with white bands (there are random red scales on his body now).

That's spectacular!

reako45

Thank you Alex, what a interesting snake. I had hear they were black phases, but I guess that is only part of the story. How common are those color phases? Again, thank you

I don't really know. I have asked around to people who keep and breed them, and all I hear is that there is no rhyme or reason to whether they will lose their colors or stay tricolored. I have seen adults of both bicolor and tricolor, and there may even be both in one clutch of eggs.

If I get any more information I'll let you know. Alex

the red and black is nice...never saw one lose the white...did see a lot lose the red and stay black and white...but not like the one pictured...it's maybe the best I've seen....

they disappeared...I thought it was due to the fact that they bred yet laid a lot of duds...and usually die at 4 or 5 years off age.....this is a real turnoff ....

....they are cool.....I liked them when I had them.,..and yes...they died at 5 and 6 years old....

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........JY