newbie snakes

[thomas1123]

ok thanks for the information. ill go by some stores and see what kind they have a other stuff like that. Do you have one of these thermostats? Which one of these would you recomend?

[sickvenom]

Originally Posted by thomas1123

ok thanks for the information. ill go by some stores and see what kind they have a other stuff like that. Do you have one of these thermostats? Which one of these would you recomend?

if i *had* to recommend one, it would probably be the zilla: Zilla Temperature Controllers at PETCO

i just read some of the other posts in this thread (didn't have time until now) and you have been given some good advise, and some advise i wouldn't necessarily follow.

first, your size of tank is HUGE for a hog. females get larger than males, so you could get 1 female or split the tank and get 2 males. never house 2 snakes together. because your tank is so big, make sure you have plenty of hides because snakes will get freaked out if they feel stuck out in the open.

make sure your hog has been feeding on f/t mice for at least a few months before you buy it. hogs eat lizards and toads in the wild, so they can be very hard to turn over to mice when they are first born. a lot of shady breeders will sell their neonates even if they aren't feeding, and just tell the buyer they are eating f/t pinkies. a good way around this is to only buy them after they are a few months old.

did you know hogs are venomous? they are.

they burrow, so you should be fine with the substrate you ended up with, just make sure there's a lot in there.

no high humidity requirements, as you've been told, so no need to mist unless shedding is problematic. if that's the case, only mist when in shed.

hogs have a very high metabolism rate. some will eat once a week even when adults. because of this, i like to keep mine in the upper 80s, instead of mid 80s. they don't really care about a cool down period at night, so that's up to you. some people just turn off their heat source at night at it maintains a high enough temp until morning.

hogs are one of the few breeds of snake that will successfully breed without a brumation period! i know you aren't breeding yours right now, but i thought i'd throw that in there for a fun fact.

hogs are GREAT first time snakes, as long as you pay attention to everything i just typed. the feeding thing is most important.