Hey there!
I’m looking at getting a hognose later this year (maybe two) and I have a few questions, mostly about morphs and how they work!
First question: I’ve noticed on some conda hogs the pattern almost looks like smudges, is that something you’d see in a baby or does it happen over time? (It’s not my favourite, I prefer sharp, clean spots)
Second: has anyone combined lavender and toffee belly? Or lavender and caramel?
The hognose pattern is visible from hatch. As far as I know, it doesn’t change much into adulthood.
The morphs you’re asking about have been combined before. Although I’m not aware of any names for those particular combos.
Fair enough, thank you for the response!
Lavender toffee belly and caramel lavender are the accepted names for both of those combos, no distinct original name that I know of. If you like sharp clean spots, have you looked into arctics/super arctics?
Kind of but not a lot. I would have to do some more research into them.
I’m kind of leaning towards maybe a pair that could produce toxics? Or at least get me part of the way there? I really like how the toxic morph looks.
To get toxic you’ll need axanthic and toffee belly. They’re both recessive so you’ll need either double hets or visual of each trait in both hogs.
For example, an axanthic het toffee with a toffee het axanthic would have a chance for toxic. So would a pair of normals that are double het for axanthic and toffee belly. As long as both hogs have at least one copy of toffee AND axanthic, you have a chance.
If I can, I’d like to find a middle ground between cost and time as I don’t have a whole lot of money. I have enough to look after them, but want to keep things as cost effective as possible.
At the moment I can only get one pair maximum.
So if I’m understanding my research correctly, the most cost effective way would probably be to get one of each visual morph.
But that wouldn’t be as time effective because I’d have to wait for the initial pair to grow up if I got them as babies, and then the offspring would need to grow up too.
I wouldn’t say getting 2 visuals is the most cost effective. It’s certainly the most effective but not cost wise. Visuals will almost always cost more than hets. You could always go for one visual and one het. That gives you some decent odds.
Doing it that way woukd I have to make sure the het is double het?
Sorry if the questions seem really obvious but I’m struggling to wrap my head around this
Double het is just terminology for being het for two morphs. So if you wanted an animal that is het for both axanthic and toffee belly then you want a double het.
That’s correct. My apologies for the poor wording. 1 visual and a double het for toxic.
Yeah, I understood that bit, sorry, worded it badly >_< not the best at asking questions lol
Thanks for clarifying 
So in this scenario would you then hold back a pair of babies?
Would ghost or snow be any easier to produce? I know both are also at least double recessive combos if not more, but I mean more from the availability of het combos?
It depends on what your goals are. Find a morph that you really want to produce and go from there. Having something to work towards will keep you on track. Otherwise you’ll end up like me lol. I started with 1 hoggie last year, and now I have 16. Are you planning on getting into breeding?
Ghost and Snow take about the same amount of effort to produce. Although it will be a bit easier to find albinos vs. the hypo required for ghost.
I definitely want to try breeding lol. I am financially limited so I will only be getting one pair max haha.
I like the look of ghost, toxic and snow equally so I don’t exactly have a preference in that way but I don’t want something that’s going to be really hard to find good breeder candidates for for my first project
Sounds good. I would definitely recommend starting with 2 and working your way from there. Sometimes people will jump on the breeding train too quickly and they find out it’s not what they expected.
I would recommend working with snows. I love the look of toxic as well but they’re not as easy to find. Visual snows are pretty pricey but you can find some good deals for Albino het axanthic and Axanthic het albino.
Oh that’s cool, thanks for the input! If I enjoy it and end up making a little money off the babies I can always expand.
I know I’m never going to get rich off it, but I’d like it if the hobby could partially sustain itself
The most cost effective way would be double hets for sure.
I would see what’s available (unrelated of course) and maybe what you’re interested in single gene. Regular axanthic is a really cool gene and one of our favorites, and a het albino axanthic could be the start of a snow project.
Remember that females need to be much larger than males to breed, so if you are strapped for cash right now, it might be worth it to buy a female, grow her up and wait on the male.
I find that the most rewarding projects are the ones that take the longest to see to fruition.
I’m 6 years into a project that I could’ve easily produced 4 years back, had I purchased adults or visual 100% hets. I prefer pairing to produce my hets, raising them up and breeding in a few years
