A long while back Connie and I caught a baby hog down in southern Maryland that had the most brilliant colors on it. Not that I wanted a toad eater, but this little guy sure was gorgeous looking. So I brought him home, figuring I would work with him.
I eventually got him to take scented pinks and then onto scented mice. Eventually he would take mice even without the scenting. So he wound up not being a problem to keep at all. But I eventually gave him to a friend of mine. Weeks went by and my friend calls me up to tell me that the hog won't eat a thing for him and he was getting worried about it. So I told him to thaw out a mouse and I'll be over in a few hours. When I got there, I opened the hog's cage and dangled the thawed mouse over his head and he immediately reached right up and grabbed it and started eating it. My friend was astounded! Evidently the hog got used to being fed that way, and my friend had been merely laying the mouse in the cage with the snake. So he just didn't recognize it as food.
Oh, btw, that gorgeously colored baby hog turned jet black as an adult. Go figure....
I have to admit that whenever I would stumble upon a hognose snake in the wild, it would just brightened my day. They are neat little critters.
