Southern Hognose Help Wanted!!!

My name is Courtney Guinane and I need your help with my project.

I recently entered a competition and had to write an article on some reptile of my choosing and what issues it is facing today, I chose to write it on the Southern Hognose(Heterodon simus).
I have learned that there is no conservation effort being put in place for them at all despite going extinct from Alabama and Mississippi and in rapid decline in its last few states. I talked to my Herpetology professor Dr. Guyer here at my university, Auburn University, about doing a project on breeding and reintroducing H. simus back into our state of Alabama, where it has become extinct.

Where I need your help!
I am looking for people who have H. simus for sale, donation, or loan (preferably the last two).
I am also looking for information on how you breed and incubate your H. simus.

As of right now I have no funding, I will be talking to some people at the end of May for funding towards the project. I do have cages, food, and anything else the snakes could need on hand in the lab.

For where they will be reintroduced will be in Conecuh National Forest, where a long term project is in place and has been happening now for a while to restore the native long leaf pine and other native plants. This is the perfect habitat for H. simus, also a project here at Auburn to reintroduce the Eastern Indigo snake and release Gopher tortoises into the forest is also happening.

To contact me to discuss what you can do to help or questions you may have.
My email is ccg0008@auburn.edu

Craig should be able to tell you why picking simus up from the hobby is a bad idea for reintroduction. You may consider speaking with him more after you've completed your paper on issues facing snakes in the SEUS, particularly those that use the sandy longleaf.

As far as conservation efforts, USFW and Florida FW have both begun the process of considering them for listed status.

Well I am looking to hobbyist to help out as well since I don't really know any where else that might be able to help me out right now.

I think the point is that there may be issues introducing hobbyist snakes into the wild - things like inbreeding and/or disease.