DO NOT READ! Non-garter Related

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I saw you asked about My hognose in another thread. Mine is also a western!

Sledge was disguised inside an empty chocolate tin... I thought I was getting chocolate... hmm. this chocolate is really light..

::shakes the tin::

wht is this eddie? nonfat chocolate?

I was VERY surprised and excited to see a tiny baby hognose, an extremely angry one at that!! To this day sledge is a hisser, and a bluffer.. he plays the "I am a MEAN VENOMOUS SNAKE AND I BITE" game well. They Will puff up their little head and flatten their neck.. and literally THROW their head at you and whack you with their head with their mouth closed while hissing loudly. It is simply SO COMICAL!!! They dont bite... they just smack ya with their face! They will literally CHARGE your hand and CHASE it across the tank, angrily smacking their face on you the whole way.

As SOON as I pick sledge up... he INSTANTLY drops the evil snake act and magically turns into an angel! hahaha... you have to love hognoses and the extreme lengths they will go to with their bluffs.

He also sometimes will sit there for a HALF HOUR or so and do this at his f/t pinkies on the ground before he finally picks them up and eats them. He just sits there and spazzes out.. twitching and hissing at the dead baby mice! Then he says "oh yea? you want a piece of me?!" and he eats them.

Then he often does this cute little thing where he drags himelf halfway over his tub and hangs there upside down while swallowing.


Oh, and please do be wary that hognoses will somtimes freeze in place in very awkward sideways or upsidedwn positions that will cause you to think they are dead!!! Don't have a heart attack! Sledge did it to me!

[Garter_Gertie]

Shannon, so nice to have a Hoggy friend here. I know all about Hoggies and their defenses.

Dave found one (Eastern; there are no Western's on this side o'the state or in the park) on a Sat and kept it until Sun so we could use it in our program. I had strict orders to stay away from it as Dave wanted it to have as little human contact as possible so when we did our presentation the snake would play dead. (He'd come across an Eastie one day while doing a hike with 150 grade schoolers and 150 times that Eastie rolled over and played dead in a kid's hand!)

But wouldn't you know it? That Eastie wouldn't even strike! Dave was flailing around, jumping, yelling, got his face right down an inch or so away from the Eastie's - to the horror and screams of our visitors! - and that Hoggy didn't do a thing! Never did play dead - which is what I love the Hoggies so much for - until I let the little booger loose. Within seconds he reverted back to his natural mode.

I'm praying Kenabec will continue to strike and play dead, but am not betting on it. I will still love him. From the time I saw the video Dave got of a Hoggy he came across in the park, I've wanted a Hoggy. They are the big fakers of the snake world and so much fun and Cool!

If I knew then what I know now... Twenty plus years ago while hiking in an other state park I came across a 'dead' snake on the path. If ONLY I knew about Hoggies then!!!

Even though there are no Westerns in this side o'the state I'm going with a Western as I read there's some consideration about Easties developing a fatty liver if raised on rodents. The jury's still out on that but I want to take no chances. And even though Kenabec is not found in the park he IS found in the state, so it will be okay to use him to inerpret to our visitors.

Sledge is such a pretty guy! It took me awhile to come to like the Westies pattern over the common Easties. Also, I think the Easties have a cuter face, their nose isn't as turny-uppy. LOVE the name Sledge. Is so fitting for a Hoggy!

[Garter_Gertie]

What I'm going to need help on is is care. I'm thinking, from what I've been reading here is the garters can get away with no heat in the summer (unless in AC) but my Hoggy is going to need the heat? That I have to keep temps higher for Kenabec? That I'll have to have a more stable graident for him?

[Lori P]

Gertie, just for you-- one of the hognose soaking this morning.

A soggy hoggy!!!!



SUCH a CUTE face!!!!!!

[Garter_Gertie]

You've a Hoggy, TOO???????? The Hoggy Muskaterettes! They are cute. Their nose - no pun - has grown on me. I'm so excited to be getting Kenabec!

[Lori P]

I have two, Harry and Hedwig. :-) It was the nose that got me at the beginning. LOVE them. :-)

[Garter_Gertie]

Well look at us girls! We're sssoooo speshul!

Love the names!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I actually have always preferred the westerns for their little noses!!! even my boyfriend, in all his manliness... gets all soft-like when he holds sledge!! haha!!!