Hognose

[meeksishere]

I am fairly new to snakes and new to this site also. I am wondering how well hognose's make in captivity. I saw a baby green hognose at the reptile show i just got back from over the weekend and i loved it but i wanted find out how well they do and if there is any downsides to owing one?

 

[Chuey]

I think there's one downside, the coolest thing about them are they play dead, but in order to do that funny thing that they do you have to agitate them. Catch-22

 

[Guest]

You have to work them up pretty good to get one to play dead ..There is good deal of hissing and striking that goes on before ... I can`t think it would be advisable to work a tame one up like that .. It could start not eating or something ..

 

[Chuey]

Exactly. Very cool snakes, just don't think that you will be getting him to play dead on command for your friends. Its not cool to agitate them like that.

 

[Guest]

They are way cool when they play dead tho . Their tongue hangs out and by then they smell dead . They lay on their backs and when righted turn back over in one barely discernible movement . you can hold them what ever [wild ones ] and you can`t [wake them up ]

 

[brutus13]

They are pretty basic snake, they can have a little attitude. Is this your first snake? I don't suggest agitating any animal to make them do such task. It's very stressful and not healthy for them. It's like people with frilled dragons. Just enjoy your new buddy.

 

[Chuey]

So let's just for a moment say you are not a malicious person and a great reptile keeper!

Lots of folks keep them and they are hardy but make sure you get the right type as they come in all sorts of colors and patterns. In other words read three a bunch of care sheets. Most of them aren't very big, can I assume you want a regular Western or Mexican? There are some that only eat toads and that can be a pain. Anyhoo I've never looked into owning one but I've read up tons on them, just because they crack me up so badly. I watch all the youtube videos of them playing dead.

In truth they are probably one of the coolest snakes out there, they are rear fanged like a Brazilian smooth snake, they hood like a cobra, they are patterned like rattlesnakes and shake their tail tips, they hiss, puff up and play dead that's a lot of stuff for a snake. And they appear to sit in your hand. Someone along the way is just going to tell you to get a King snake. And I'm going to be honest King snakes just annoy the heck out of me. They are fast and all they wanna do is runaway. Whereas my jungle carpet python will just chill and stay put. That and she's a bit of a retard and not very elegant crawling around on the ground. I say go for it. They're very very cool animals. I think I just always think the worst about people asking questions about some of the lesser asked about snakes. I love them personally.