Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok so I introduced males with females and saw immediate jerking of the females and the males were being super active crusing on the females backs and so on as you would expect from courting. My room temps are 83 constant with a hot spot of 93. I dropped the room temp after introduction to 79-80 and the hot spot down to 90. My light cycle was 16 on and 8 off and I cut that back to 14.5 on and 9.5 off and am going to cut that back to 12/12 over the next week. What problems do you think I could run into and what benefits could be gained from this and what do you think I should change. Like I said only my second year and my success rate last year was 25% at best and would like to see better odds. Should I pull the males and go into straight "hibernation" before someone becomes gravid or ? The only reason I did this is because one of my het toffee girls laid 10 infertiles and I didn't want all of them to do this. Much help would be appreciated. Post or call im excited/desperate and in need of some input. 740-616-5936

At some point, you get your cards, now you have to play your hand. As a long time herp breeder, some 50 years plus, I do not put the entire ball of wax in what I do, They are the ones doing.
So you choose to not cool them. Which is fine, there are a few folks here that did not cool their hogs. They report success.
Photo period, hibernation, etc, can work or not work. It depends on the whole, not the part.
First, if your snakes are healthy and in condition(carry enough energy) They are doing to reproduce. Unless you stop them, too hot or too cold, stops them. As does not enough energy.
In nature its the same, the prey base predicts that years reproduction. Excessive hot(and dry) forces them to conserve, as does excessive cold(and associated lack of prey) The too hot, cold that stops them. Photo period is for plants, as plants are stuck on the surface and cannot move. Herps, move, in fact hognose spend 99% of their lives in total darkness. They shed in the ground, they breed in the ground, then nest in the ground, and for the most part they feed in the ground. They do come to the surface to move from site to site. To seek out prey in the summer and seek out mates in the fall. And a bit unusual for many snake species, here they mostly thermoregulate under the ground. Back to your situation. All you can do now is cross your fingers and not hinder what is already in action. Do not get them too hot or too cold. That range of mid seventies to high eighties seems to work and be a consensus, from what I have heard. I am new to hogs as well, so far, that has worked well. In my opinion, a hot spot of 100F is best if your cages allow that. Most smaller cages do not.

I cooled six females, one may be too small. I did not cool the males. The males are in great shape, As opposed to last year.
Of the six, three have copulated so far. Hmmmmmmm I have three males in use. So round one.
I introduced the females to the males. I learned this a long time ago, if you put the males in the females cage, they wander and explore for a while. If you put the females in the males cage, they go right to it. In reality, its they will work it out anyway. But if you are in a hurry to SEE copulation, then females to males. The males courted like you described for a two days, they copulated for one day, then stopped. I left the females in the males cage for a couple more days then moved them back to their own cages. Will repeat once a week or so, Until they shed. My hogs developed large easily palpable ovum during the shed cycle. Most snakes do that prior to shedding. So hogs seem to be a bit odd.
Anyway, will report more when more occurs, hahahahahahaha To me, the next step is the key, nesting. But then, I tend to think that's important to reptiles.

So far, folks on this forum have not wanted to talk about whats important, the stuff mentioned above. They tend to want to only share super successes, not just normal hatchlings but super nice ones. The rest goes unsaid.
I think we need folks like you, you are not afraid to talk about this stuff, you really want to be successful, and your not afraid to talk about your failures. That is where folks here get mad at me. I want to hear about both successes and failures.
If you research the world of hogs, not the site, just hogs in captivity, you will notice a whole lot of failure and success.
So thank you for sharing your experiences, and I wish you all the success, and me too. So I will keep my fingers crossed for you and me. That's what you do after you play your cards, you wait and see. Which is the fun part.

"I think we need folks like you, you are not afraid to talk about this stuff, you really want to be successful, and your not afraid to talk about your failures. That is where folks here get mad at me.

No thats not it. It's because you are a self proclaimed know it all egomaniac that acts like a bully child calling everyone names that doesn't drink the FR coolaid.
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Glad your still alive, I was worried. With your attitude someone may have wacked you with a board.
how's the hogs doing? I hope well. Best wishes