Movement elicits a defense behavior in Hognoses

Posted by Colchicine on November 27, 2002 at 15:09:30:

In Reply to: Note for those with trouble feeding posted by Paul August on November 26, 2002 at 20:57:23:

I find that if you really know snake behavior, you can easily get them to overcome their perceived fear of the food with some patience. Especially with Easterns, they probably think of a mammalian smell as a predator first, then as prey. Since hogs use chemoreception, but not nearly as much of movement to elicit the feeding response as other snakes, it is better to quickly get the mouse within smelling range and KEEP IT STILL. They will hood at first, and then after a tongue flick, will take the mouse. If you continue to move the mouse, move your hand, or bump the container (or even breathe on it...HA!), the hog will continue its defense. So unlike most herps, it is better to use nonlive prey, because the movement instead elicits the defense behavior. As you can see, I spend a lot of time examining hognose behavior!

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