Hognose bit me

[valasidria]

Hey so I got a brand new baby (not hatchling, but very young still) hognose about a week ago and let him settle into his new enclosure. Today I took him out for the first time. He seemed rather calm and slithered from hand to hand for awhile. He showed no threat display, no flattened hood, no hissing, no playing dead, and no false strikes, he just crawled from one hand to the other and as he got to the other he dug for a little bit into my hand with his nose and then with no warning bit me. (don't worry, didn't hurt at all really). So I kept handling him for a little while and then put him back into his enclosure. I read that it is incredibly rare for a hognose to bite, especially without warning. So my question is, are they typically nippy when they are little? Also is this incident rare? What should I do try and keep him from growing up into a nippy adult?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It is actually rare I have been keeping and breeding this species for 5 years now and it is the one species that actually has never bit me everything else has, I am sort of a bite magnet. I have been bit BP, Rat Snakes, Kingsnakes, Honduran Milksnakes, Carpet Pythons etc but the worse I have seen from Hogs is the cobra pose which is all bark no bite.

It's likely one of those weird thing, make sure your hands are clean prior to handling (no dog, cat or small animal smell) and try not to let this incident prevent you from enjoying our hognose.

[valasidria]

update: I went back to try and handle him after awhile and he started getting hissy and huffy with me. Maybe he is just hungry and upset because of it. It is feeding day.

[piedlover79]

Mine always hiss and huff until picked up then they calm down instantly. I did have an albino that did that same sudden slow motion bite but she only did it a few times before giving up on trying to envenom me.

[John1982]

Test nibble to see if he could eat you. Turning their head in and biting or advancing with a full body slither, maw gaping, are simply "i'm going to eat this" food moves. I have never in my life seen a proper, open mouth, strike from a hognose. They'll huff and puff a bit and do a couple feigned(closed mouth) strikes but if this doesn't work they'll do their darnedest to retreat or play dead.

So, to answer your question, they are not nippy in the normal sense of word. They are a bit mouthy though, as they are very food oriented little critters. This just means you need to pay special attention when working with them until you learn their individual habits or "train" them out of thinking your digits are food through regular handling sessions.