Okay, I have several western hogs and have ZERO experience with this. One of my females started twitching and jerking a couple of days ago. Have not changed anything at all. She has not had a male put in with her yet. It's the twitchy jerk almost like the corns do when I very first put a male in their tub, but like I said, no male yet. She also seems to continue the twitch when you pick her up, almost like muscle spasms through her whole body. If you put her on her back she does correct herself immediately. She has hit the side of the tub a couple of times with her face when doing the twitch with a lunge. She doesn't seem to be having any other kind of problem, there's no URI issues, there's no bugs, there's nothing else at all that I can find. I've never seen anything like it in any snake before.:dunno:

Just a guess but could it be any kind of poisson? Hognose can be very sensitive to toxic stuff.

Sara,
It sounds like she wants to breed to me... My females do exactly what you are seeing when there is a male with them or near them... Are there any males close by to her??? I bet she will be receptive to a male if you introduce one...

That sounds like a possibility. Most of my females do all kinds of crazy movements when a male is with them. I've never had one do it when a male is not with her but it's possible that it's that she just senses a male maybe.

Hmmm, since she hasn't had any changes maybe it is a want to breed? Thinking about it, the female above her shed the day that she started acting strange, and had tossed a male in with that one. So yeah, there was a male in the tub directly above her. I never would have thought of that at all. (And dang, even stated in the original question it's almost like the corns when I put a male in, doh!) I always have waited for the first spring shed before a male intro, but I'll try that tomorrow and see what happens.
Thanks to both of you!!

I hope that's all it is. If you plan to breed her I'd just put a male with her. I've stopped waiting for sheds to put stuff together.

I hope that's all it is. If you plan to breed her I'd just put a male with her. I've stopped waiting for sheds to put stuff together.

I've never not waited for the shed... shoot, I'm pairing up EVERYTHING tomorrow!:wamma::lmao::lmao::cheers:

I've never not waited for the shed... shoot, I'm pairing up EVERYTHING tomorrow!:wamma::lmao::lmao::cheers:

get with it, Sara - those girls are twitching for some action...

get with it, Sara - those girls are twitching for some action...

Now I feel like a jerk for withholding, poor girls... That's horrible, No Nookie For You! :o:lmao:

Best kept secret; put your pairs together right out of brumation.

Out of over 15 females this year I only had 3 shed out of brumation. The others only shed 5-10 days before laying. I missed females last year waiting. I usually do 3-4 days in for breeding, pull males for feeding then put the males right back in the next day.

Best kept secret; put your pairs together right out of brumation.

Out of over 15 females this year I only had 3 shed out of brumation. The others only shed 5-10 days before laying. I missed females last year waiting. I usually do 3-4 days in for breeding, pull males for feeding then put the males right back in the next day.

Question for you doing it that way... Have you ever had a female chow down a male? That is in all honestly my biggest worry. Haven't had it happen, hasn't looked like it was going to happen, I am just seriously paranoid about it. I've never had it happen with any of my kings, hadn't had a problem with the milks, did have it happen to one of my corn males (yeah, not the cal kings nor the sins, but the corn for goodness sakes) so I shouldn't be as worried about it as I am. I even have extra unused "back up" male hogs just for that reason, just in case.

I've had females go after males for a split second but usually they figure out he's not food and let him go or leave him alone. This year I had 2 bite the male then let him go right away. I had one female last year chomp down on a male. I had to pry her off.

Most of my females are insane feeders so I open the bin most of the way then put the male in the back of the bin. Then I watch the pair for a few minutes. I like to watch until the male starts coming on to the female. That way I can see what she's going to do.

To be honest I do worry about the female eating males because of there feeding response. Most of my females chomp down on the first thing they see or feel. Usually once the female feels the male touch her she will start doing her love dance.

If it makes you feel any better I worried more about my kingsnakes back in the day eating the males than I do my hognose.

First time this year i saw a female twitch like that it freak me out as well, she jerked around and whipped her tail all over. got 2 females looking to breed atm and it always weirds me out .

Yeah, I think if there was a male in with her it wouldn't have gotten me so worried.

Thank you again everyone, very very much!

Sara.
This season I put 5 pairs together right after the females first meal... I fed them the day after I pulled them out of brumation... The males did not feed until they got to copulate... I did not see any of the females looking to eat the male... Hognose snakes do not eat eachother very often and I am not sure where this misconception even came from...

As far as waiting for a pre ovulatory shed with hogs goes, they are non-existant... Many people have missed ovulation with hognose snakes waiting for that shed... I never understood what the waiting was about... It never made a bit of scense to me to be honest because in the wild, when reptles first come out of brumation, especially North American colubrids, the first order of business is to breed... Then they start the hunt for a meal... It is not any different in captivity...

Gregg, I don't know either on the eating each other thing, but like I said, had a corn male get eaten and then thrown back up by the female. Know it's happened with younger hogs kept together, could be from that... I feed non feeder baby corns to the kings, etc, etc.

And, paired up darn near everything today, wooot!

Sara, yes, I have had a western eat another western, and lost a male to a female (2 separate occasions). Just have to make sure that feeding response is turned off when you introduce them.

Good Sara... Cant wait to see what ya hatch this season...

Sara, yes, I have had a western eat another western, and lost a male to a female (2 separate occasions). Just have to make sure that feeding response is turned off when you introduce them.

Luckily it does not happen often... I saw the post when the one juvinile ate the other in one of your posts... Crazy...

I also agree to introduce the male when there is no feeding response... However, that is near impossible with some of my girls... LOL

That sounds crazy , i would freak if i saw one of my females munch on a male , since there rather large in comparison to males i can easily see it happening. prob the reason i make sure the female is full b4 i let the male join her.

I also agree to introduce the male when there is no feeding response... However, that is near impossible with some of my girls... LOL

LOL!!! I can relate there! When I put a male in the females tub I put a cup over her head first, that's what I do when they are getting cleaned or water dishes cleaned, but never when being fed. So just kind of following the "this is not food" pattern, haha!:cheers:

Sara, spray bottle gets them out of feed mode real quick.....

Sara, spray bottle gets them out of feed mode real quick.....

Its like keeping a cat from scratching the sofa... LOL...

Its like keeping a cat from scratching the sofa... LOL...

Or a moluccan cockatoo from eating the kitchen table.:o:cheers: