Dizzy the Derpy Herp

[Prognathodon]

Introducing Dizzy, my husband's new normal Western Hognose. We first saw her in Reptile Rapture's e-mail newsletter a week or two ago, and yesterday failed to resist any longer.

She's about a year old, and a special snake - she was listed as pet-only, as one eye is bigger than the other. Turns out it isn't just the eye, it's the whole side of her head. She was handed to the store owner by her breeder (Reptile Rapture often places rescue herps), since he couldn't/wouldn't use her for breeding. Staff says her biggest issue is that she can't catch live mice, which is not a big deal since we feed f/t. She also does a kinda twitchy thing sometimes, that we haven't seen yet. They'd named her Dizzy, husband decided to keep the name.

While he was handling her at the store she was shoving her nose into his hand (something our sand boas do, too - like they're trying to burrow). And then she did it again, with her mouth open, trying to bite the back of his hand. Silly Snek, hand too big! She struck at us from inside the deli container a couple times on the way home, and hissed at my husband this morning, but we're not buying that she's a Big Scary Snake (especially compared to my 6'+ carpet python when she's grumpy).

So now she's in quarantine in our bedroom. Pictures from last night, while she was exploring her quarantine enclosure:




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[JodanOrNoDan]

Glad to hear it found a good home.

[Eavlynn]

What a sweet girl! I'm glad she found a good home with you. She's beautiful

[Prognathodon]

Beware the man-eating hoggie!

Dizzy was out last night, and tried to eat my husband. She started with his chest, then his stomach, and finally moved on to fingers:


She didn't seem at all upset or aggressive, she'd cruise around, find a body part, nudge, then slowly try to eat. Hungry and/or derpy, it seems. And really, funny. I feel kinda bad making her wait until Thursday if she's that hungry.

we think she's pretty, too. I like normals better than albinos, but albinos seem to be more common.


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[cheosamad]

That is the first time I've actually seen a hognose bite someone! Adorable lol.

[olstyn]

Super cute, but I wouldn't let her chew on people like that. Their venom is pretty mild, but some people can have significant reactions to it:

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/heter...bate-over.html

By no means should you be afraid of her, as their venom delivery system is not terribly effective, but be aware that it's possible for it to have an effect on you, so letting her do more than a quick bite and release is not a great plan.

[Fraido]

Super cute, but I wouldn't let her chew on people like that. Their venom is pretty mild, but some people can have significant reactions to it:

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/heter...bate-over.html

By no means should you be afraid of her, as their venom delivery system is not terribly effective, but be aware that it's possible for it to have an effect on you, so letting her do more than a quick bite and release is not a great plan.

Except, the snake is gonna bite if it wants to.

[Prognathodon]

She never did break skin - as far as we could tell she was skipping straight to trying to swallow - no chewing or attempt at envenomation that we could tell (just a little drool). We're aware of the risk, and figure it's comparable, or even less than the risks of working with honeybees, which my husband has not always worn a bee suit for. "Less than" because one snake is easier to keep track of than several hundreds or thousands of flying little bees.

Our son is 22, and the youngest semi-regular visitor is a HS senior who likes snakes, wants one of her own, but we trust not to handle one without asking first. If Dizzy doesn't figure out that humans aren't food, she'll only get handled by family, or other "snake people" that clearly understand the risk.

And as Fraido said, snake's gonna do what snake's gonna do. I'll take an attempt from Dizzy to swallow my finger over a bite from my big Bredli!


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[Fraido]

Could always attempt to stop her from doing it, maybe having a nasty taste on your finger and let her have a nom.. don't think it would help much, though!

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[Prognathodon]

So last night Little Miss Derpy Herp tried to eat a blanket. We were laughing too hard to get a picture, and after a few seconds she gave up. I swear she made a "Tiggers *don't* like hunny!" face!


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