My female hognose may be my problem child, but I really do love her. But because of her, I have a few questions. (I’m mostly an invertebrate and gecko keeper, sorry if my questions seem really basic and I come off as paranoid).
The most basic one is, even though most of her shed came off in one piece, is it still comsidered a “good shed” if it was 1 large piece and 3 smaller, random pieces? 2 of the small pieces looked like it was rolled into a ball and the other small piece looked like stuck shed, but when I grabbed it, it came off easily. If the picture loads, that’s what the larger piece looked like. It did looked ripped, but it was hard to tell. The larger piece was found near her humid hide and the rolled pieces were found near her water dish (both are smooth surfaces, but she has 3 rocks, a branch, and a textured hide on the warm side of her enclosure). This is her first shed with me so I’m not sure if I added her humid hide a bit late in the process (she was well in blue when I noticed) or if I’m overthinking it. For reference, my other hognose’s sheds come off in one piece.
Along with that, she has always been defensive since I’ve gotten her 2 months ago. I’m trying my best to not stressing her out, but everytime I look at her, she gets hissy and strikes. I’ve been handling her for 15 minutes a day around 48 and 72 hours after feeding. I try not to handle her the day before or day of feeding. While she’s never bitten me, she does strike and flatten out when I handle her. She usually does calm down about a minute after picking her up, but as soon as I move, she gets defensive again. If the video upload, you can see what I mean (I also don’t normally hold my phone when I’m handling her).
What can I do to make her more relaxed while holding her? Am I going in the right direction? I don’t want to stress her out, but I also want her to be handleable.
With sheds, I pretty much consider any shed they get off without intervention to be a “good” shed. It coming off all in one piece would be what I consider a “perfect” shed. Do keep in mind that sometimes it may come off in one piece, but get ripped into pieces before you find it. Nothing you’re describing sounds super concerning, as it doesn’t sound like there was any truly stuck shed, though you might try increasing the humidity a bit on her next shed, or just leave the humid hide in there all the time so it’ll be there when she needs it.
Regarding her attitude, hognoses are pretty notorious for being the drama queens of the snake world. None of her behaviour is particularly unusual for the species. I’d say just continue with consistent, gentle, positive handling sessions, and she’ll most likely calm down. Many snakes also tend to be a lot more defensive and dramatic as babies (when they’re tiny and everything wants to eat them in the wild), and will gain confidence and settle down as they get bigger. So it may just take some time for her to calm down a bit.
Full disclosure, I don’t keep hoggies myself, so maybe those with more first-hand experience will have some other ideas for you.
Agree with @jawramik. Any time shed totally comes off a snake without human intervention is imho a good shed, regardless of whether it’s in 1 piece or several pieces. In my experience I have found that in general some snakes shed differently than other snakes even if they are of like kind in the same household.
As a general rule, when a hognose strikes it’s usually with its mouth closed. It’s not often that one gets bitten. As far as the striking goes, some hoggies are just more defensive than others or just like to be little bluffer bullies. The one I have now was supposed to be just that, or so his breeder warned me. However I have never seen that attitude in the year he has been with me. Hopefully her disposition will improve with aging. It just may be taking a little longer for her to adjust. Or maybe you will just have to accept her as she is.
There is one thing that you should check though and that’s to see if she possibly has retained eye caps. I had a baby BP that came to me with retained eye caps that I didn’t discover until a couple of months after I got him. He was constantly striking at me and then I realized he couldn’t see very well. This is probably not the case with your girl but it’s just a thought.
Also here is a trick I learned to stop a baby bp from striking that worked so you could try it just for kicks and grins. Cup your girl in one hand and as she is looking away from you cup your other hand over the top of her and hold it there for a few seconds. Then remove your hand. The best time to do this is right after she strikes.
It worked for me because that little BP turned into a sweetheart……but I don’t know why it worked. I just saw it on YouTube……
