Vanessa
Grammostola Groupie
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2016
- Messages
- 2,424
I have three - an adult male who is around seven years old, a juvenile male just over a year old, and a juvenile female who will be a year old in October.
All three have distinctly different personalities, so you can't judge them by their reputations, or the experiences of others. My adult male is a bit cranky inside his enclosure, my juvenile male has never even hissed at me once and is as sweet as can be, and my juvenile female is an absolute drama queen who hisses and faux strikes even if I'm just walking by her tank. All three are just fine once you get them out and completely calm down. I don't handle them that often, but I do make an effort to get them out for short periods so that they remain sociable and so I can take a quick look at their condition.
I wasn't looking for snakes, but I encountered a situation where the males needed a new home fast. I won the female in a contest. I did some very quick research and figured that I could handle their care and I do have friends with a lot of hognose experience who I could rely on. They really are very easy to care for - they are a temperate species and are extremely hardy with a much wider window of error than the more tropical species. Fasting is a bit of an issue and is the only con for a brand new snake person. Also, they are rear fanged venomous and some people can have a very bad reaction to being bitten. Bites are extremely rare and usually always take place when someone is being careless while feeding. Despite the show they put on, they are very reluctant to go beyond hissing, flattening, and faux striking with their mouths closed.
My adult male, Gabriel.
My juvenile male, Oliver.
My juvenile female - the drama queen - Bianca.
All three have distinctly different personalities, so you can't judge them by their reputations, or the experiences of others. My adult male is a bit cranky inside his enclosure, my juvenile male has never even hissed at me once and is as sweet as can be, and my juvenile female is an absolute drama queen who hisses and faux strikes even if I'm just walking by her tank. All three are just fine once you get them out and completely calm down. I don't handle them that often, but I do make an effort to get them out for short periods so that they remain sociable and so I can take a quick look at their condition.
I wasn't looking for snakes, but I encountered a situation where the males needed a new home fast. I won the female in a contest. I did some very quick research and figured that I could handle their care and I do have friends with a lot of hognose experience who I could rely on. They really are very easy to care for - they are a temperate species and are extremely hardy with a much wider window of error than the more tropical species. Fasting is a bit of an issue and is the only con for a brand new snake person. Also, they are rear fanged venomous and some people can have a very bad reaction to being bitten. Bites are extremely rare and usually always take place when someone is being careless while feeding. Despite the show they put on, they are very reluctant to go beyond hissing, flattening, and faux striking with their mouths closed.
My adult male, Gabriel.
My juvenile male, Oliver.
My juvenile female - the drama queen - Bianca.
