RJD Hognose Snakes

01/07/2023

This is amazing!!! Well done Manx Morphs.

Baby couldn’t decide what morph he wanted to be, so he chose both 😊

30/06/2023

At the recent International Herpetological Society show I picked up two gargoyle 🦎 geckos. I’ve wanted one for ages and when I saw the female I just had to have her and then when I saw this male I knew that he would be a perfect mate for her. I haven’t managed to get decent photos of the girl yet but here is the boy and even though he isn’t fired up here he still looks stunning and just look at his eye. And look how he blends in with the branch that he is on.

24/06/2023

shouldn’t really have fruit (apart from some tropical tortoises) but the odd treat can’t be too bad, especially when they clearly love it so much. Sid the went crazy for some today and it was great to watch him devour it and eat from my hand for the first time.

16/06/2023

So we have a new addition, Sid the leopard tortoise who joins Sophie the sulcata. The two types of tortoises 🐢 are often kept together as they have very similar care needs. They have both been loving their outside run in the hot weather we have been having, perfect for tortoises who come from Africa. Sophie is one and Sid is 18 months and is currently bigger than Sophie but that will definitely change over time. I absolutely love them both, I didn’t know it was possible to love tortoises so much. But be warned if you see this and fancy one, both sulcatas and leopards get VERY big so do your research!

05/06/2023

Exciting times here with a teeny tiny viper gecko hatching. I literally don’t think that I’ve ever seen an animal that is so small, it can fit on my thumb nail. It’s shedding which they do after hatching before they will eat. In the picture is the egg sitting in a milk bottle lid, which gives you an idea of how teeny they are and one of our adults. We have more eggs in the incubator so hopefully more will follow.

02/06/2023

Wow!

Can someone help s*x this hognose? 🤔
There can be some very tricky ones. Then every now and then there's some prominently we'll endowed hogs 😳.

28/05/2023

Finally!! I had almost given up hope of getting any hognose eggs despite having had what had looked like promising pairings and pre-lay sheds so when I thought I’d better have a quick check today I was delighted to see two eggs in with Lois Lane who had been paired with Superman. When I picked them out I soon found that there were actually eleven eggs and all looked perfect with no obvious slugs. Well done Lois Lane!

23/05/2023

The chicks are growing so big! We have built their chicken run so now we are waiting for them to get their adult feathers so they can move outside but for now Sophie the Sulcata is enjoying the space 😂

10/05/2023

Talking of big, this is Sophie, a one year old sulcata tortoise. We think she’s a she but it’s too early to tell yet but s/he will get BIG! We have thought long and hard about getting one as they are a massive commitment as the third largest tortoise in the world but when the opportunity came up to get Sophie I couldn’t say no. She’s pretty small now so is inside but in a year or so she will move outside. Sophie is pretty shy right now but I’m sure that her character will come out soon enough. So excited to see her grow but a little bit scared too.

10/05/2023

Tarquin the African bullfrog is something that I’ve wanted for ages but never thought that I’d actually get one. But when my favourite reptile shop had some babies in how could I possibly say no? He’s so cool and a very good eater. We’ve had him two weeks and he has grown so much! We don’t know whether he is a boy or girl yet but either way Tarquin is going to get BIG!!!

10/05/2023

I used to keep chickens and loved them and home produced eggs are by far the best eggs you will eat. I’ve wanted to get chickens again for years so when I saw these little chicks who were three days old I just couldn’t resist. They are all little girls and I can’t wait to eat some yummy eggs in five or so months!

10/05/2023

My daughter eventually got her way and she now has a Pacman frog called Donald. He is very cool and is just a little baby.

10/05/2023

Next are a pair of Norwich canaries that belong to my son. They quickly set about making a nest and this morning we were delighted to find an egg in the middle. Hopefully she will lay more over the coming days before sitting on them for fourteen days. We’ve only had them about three weeks so they haven’t messed around. Hopefully the hognoses will take note.

10/05/2023

Lots of updates for you today as we have somehow managed to add to our collection. But firstly to the hognoses who have been disappointing so far. Only Tabitha has laid and she gifted us eight slugs 😪 and nobody else has laid anything yet, although some are in blue so 🤞🏻 that they will lay soon.

But I’ll start with our new giant day gecko who hasn’t got a name yet. S/he is only a baby but we absolutely love watching him as he’s really active during the day unlike so many of our geckos. Isn’t he beautiful?!

27/04/2023

Well we got out first eggs of the season. Tabitha laid four eggs but sadly they are all slugs. I’m hoping that there might be more to follow but I don’t have high hopes.

Better news from our viper geckos who laid an egg. It’s tiny, the size of a pea. Hopefully more to come. The egg in the photo is sitting in a milk lid so you can see how small it is.

24/04/2023

Our gorgeous girl Blip is going into blue so hopefully she will have her prelay shed soon and then she can get on with laying some eggs! Tabitha is also in blue and Lulu is eating me out of house and home. I don’t think that Sally is gravid but tonight she just about bit my hand off trying to get to her mouse so who knows, I’d be very happy if she is as I desperately want some sable babies. Here is a pic of Blip in her humid hide, peering out to see if I had food for her, which I did.

07/03/2023

How cute does Henry look? He’s our het PPA boy who has been with Tabitha but they were separated so they could both rest and eat. Henry is not interested in food, he just wants his girlfriend so he’s keeping a close watch on what we are doing in case he is going back in with Tabitha.

03/03/2023

So one of the best reactions we had was from our female albino hognose who hasn’t had a boyfriend before so it really was nature taking over for her. She’s out huge lady who we are hoping will make some lovely babies.

03/03/2023

Well today has been a very exciting day here as we have paired up some of our hognose snakes! We have four pairs together, one pair still to do, and we have had some great reactions from the introductions with some classic ‘twitching’ from our females. I’ll share a video in another post but here is a photo of two of our pairs.

26/02/2023

Exciting day here, it was the first feed for our big snakes who are out of brumation. Only two girls took the mouse from the tongs so we left the mice there for the others in the hope that they will eat them later. I need the girls to eat so they aren’t too hungry when their boyfriend goes in with them.

18/02/2023

Well I’m exhausted. Nobody warned me of what keeping snakes involved or how expensive it would be! My big snakes needed to come out of brumation but I needed somewhere to put them with consistent heat and something better than what they were in before. Snake racks are really expensive so I decided to DIY it.

I did loads of research and went with an ikea pax wardrobe as the base with shelves for the rubs to sit on. First the wardrobe came with no screws so we had to go to ikea to get replacements which took hours. No blood was shed building it but there was definitely sweat and tears. It took way longer than expected but finally we have a snake rack for or big snakes. They are in 33 litre rubs which gives them room to stretch out and we’ve put as much enrichment in as we can. They seem happy but who knows. Time will tell.

Let’s hope that we have a decent breeding season ahead! We still have a few snakes to move over but the hardest part it over!

09/01/2023

I fed my hogs in their new rack today. So easy and I got this great photo of Brian enjoying his dinner and really got to see how much they smile when they eat.

08/01/2023

And here is a little something different. Definitely not a hognose but instead a pied Yemen chameleon called Peppermint. He is absolutely wonderful but very grumpy!

08/01/2023

I haven't posted in a while, life has been hectic! But RJD Hognose Snakes has been very busy. Not only are some of our bigger snakes in brumation but our babies are up and keeping us busy. Plus we have added to our brood. We got a few babies at the last IHS show in November but a couple of weeks ago we added 12 (yes TWELVE) new snakes from a breeder who is stepping back from hognoses and I just couldn't resist them and got some amazing morphs and both adults and babies. And then I couldn't resist a red conda that will go with our boy, Superman. So she had to be called Lois Lane of course. I'm excited to see what they produce. Photos will follow but not tonight. I have a new rack that was necessary to rehouse all these new additions and I'm exhausted from moving everyone's house. Photo of Lois Lane.

31/12/2022

If you are into your hognose snakes there is a lovely group called Destination Hognose that you should join.

28/12/2022

This is great and really useful. Thank you Hognose Best!

19/10/2022

Exciting times at RJD headquarters as today a dream morph joined our clan. This stunning boy is a yeti which is basically a snow anaconda hognose. He should be ready to breed in the spring and I am so excited as he should make beautiful babies with one of my females who is a proven het snow and with Ebony once she is big enough. He is very sassy and clearly thinks that he is very scary. In the meantime I will spend a lot of time looking at this boy who my daughter wants to name Angus but I’m not convinced!

01/10/2022

It’s so hard to choose photos of Superman as he is by far the most photogenic snake I have. He’s a stunning superconda hognose with an amazing orange tint to him. He really is very handsome.

01/10/2022

This is Sugar and she is a watermelon hognose 50% albino. She isn’t green but she certainly is sassy. She’s a proven female so she has laid eggs before and she’s our biggest hognose. She is by far our most destructive hog who enjoys wrecking her home so I have to rearrange everything and she especially loves filling her water bowl with her substrate so I have to clean it out but then whenever I go in to sort it out she hisses at me.

01/10/2022

This little lady is Maple. She’s a conda hognose but again we don’t know what hets she might be hiding. She was so teeny when we got her but has got much bigger, I really must get updated photos.