Malagasy Hognoses.

Hello. I am the new owner of a Malagasy Blonde Hognose, who goes by the alias of Dr. Jones (From indiana jones, big hero and all.). I have had almost zero luck on finding information about them. I had my heart set on a W. hognose, but unfortunately there were only 2 at the show I went to, one was a snippy female, and the other was a red albino for 1500, but my oh my was she beautiful. Anyways, I saw Dr. Jones and I fell in love. I talked to the man who sold her, and he said that the care was basically the same for both snakes (w. hognose and malagasy). I was just wondering if you all could give me some information about them that differs from W. Hognoses.
Also, I fed Dr. Jones last wed. 2 pinkies. (He is about 3 1/2 feet, and the guy said he was only feeding him 1 hopper every 2 weeks.) Last night my step sister touched his face, tryiing to look at his nose. Now he has never been snippy in the 2 weeks I've had him, but he opened his mouth at her. Now, I thought they weren't really biters. I guess I am wrong, or he's just got a little ass on him. Anyways, I took him back to his cage and he got really jumpy and kept opening his mouth. I left him alone until this evening when I placed him in his rubbermaid and fed him another pinkie. He ate it with zeal, so perhaps he was just mouthy because he was hungry? Any comments.

The guy that gave you the info is an idiot, they couldnt come from more differrent climes. I keep mine on a sphagnum moss peaqt mixed with humid sphagnum moss and orchid bark, they have a humid hide boxes too. I have a pair of babies that are feeding but i have just aquired a pair of adults that are having none of it. You are very lucky to have him feeding for you.

A word of warning!! I have been tagged by one of these hogs, a hatchling, my ring finger and pinkie finger went numb for 2 days, so i expect an adult bite would be more severe!!!!!

They are also not a good hog to handle, they stress easily, that is what yours was doing, stressing out, if you want a snake to handle i suggest you get a western!

Oh my. Thank you so much for replying! I feel so horrible that I am stressing him out. I feel like a bad owner! But now I know so I won't bother him anymore.

I told the guy I was a beginner and that I wanted to make sure it was good for beginners. He was like "yeh, yeh".

The strange thing is, though, he was pretty chilled for the first week. I had him out starting for about 5 minutes the second day, 10 minutes the third day, so on.

Honestly, do you think perhaps I should sell him (or trade him) to a better owner? Or not better, persay, but more experienced? I don't want to make him suffer or anything. (By the way in his cage I have papertowel, about 4 layers on the cool side and 8 on the warm side, substrate, 2 hides, a dogfood bowl filled half way with water {He doesn't like it, though} and a little twig thing, which he's too big for, but I thought maybe he'd like it for when he shedded).

About the eating- He's a very good feeder! The guy had him on live hoppers, and at first I fed him a f/t but he wouldn't touch it, so I read about "Scenting" and I rubbed one of my beardies down (giving him a good bath afterwards) and he immediately ate it. He also ate another. Then I fed him last night 2 more pinkies, which my dad later told me was too much, so I felt bad, but he seems okay.

Thansk for your reply!

I dont think you need to get rid of him unless you really want to.Why not set up a natural looking viv and keep him in there, a few nice branches a log hide and a substrate like i described above. If you want a snake that is really handleable get a corn, westerns can have thier moments too.

By thew way, thanks for the beardy tip, Ill try that NOW!

Well, my brother has a kingsnake, so I don't want another worm snake. Do you know of any good caresheets, because like I said, I can't find anything. What are the typical prices of blondes/goldens? I paid $40 but I don't know if I got hosed.

I really like him, I just dont want to stress him or anything.

The beardie trick words well. Just make sure you give your beardie a bath afterwards, or use a piece of shed (none of ours were shedding at the moment).

Thanks!

I tried the beardy rubbing trick on rat pups....didnt work!!!! tried by new guinea blue tongues too, and frogs! Perhaps fish next!

$40 is very cheap, i paid about $500 for my pair!!!!

I've decided that Dr. Jones is best with me. I think he will be fine. He's coming out of his hides now more. Today he sat straight up for about 30 minutes. Good times!

Nice looking snake mate, glad you decided to keep him.