Exactly my point Charles!



Saying that the animal was an '08 really tells us very little about how old the snake actually is. For all I know, it could have been hatched in January of '08 which would make it over a year old which for a male and if he's of the right size could be ready for breeding. Even male hognose younger than that can be fed regularly enough to put on enough weight to breed in less time than a year. Is this advisable to do so? Not entirely, but it's probable and possible.



But I was merely hypothesizing for this male in question. Hognose in general regardless of sex can go off of food for whatever reasons until they are good and ready to eat again. I have an '07 female that back in '08 went off of food a few times which lasted anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. Only the last 5 months has she decided to eat more regularly and when she does choose to eat, she's a voracious eater until she decides to fast again. With males, this fasting behavior can be more common.



Another hypothesis to consider in regards to the breeding fasting for this male is the fact that there are two females. The OP is very vague about several key issues. He states that "They are in a glass enclosure" which technically means all 3 snakes are within one enclosure. Is this what he actually meant? If that is actually the case, it could help to understand a bit better if this male was triggered into a breeding response by ovulating females. The OP also does not state the age/size of the females, so we have very little to go on there as well.



Another key element would be the size of the male which was also not stated. Knowing the size might help to also determine the risk factor involved and also to know just how much weight is being lost if any. It's not unheard of for several species of snakes to go off of food during a juvenile stage for a short duration. In fact, I've noticed several of my hogs exhibiting this behavior when they would typically reach sizes between 30-50 grams.



Despite all this hypothesizing and whatnot, the best thing for the OP to do is to monitor the snakes weight on a weekly basis and try to determine if there is actually a risk involved with it's fasting before trying alternative methods to getting it to eat again.
-----
Troy Rexroth

Rextiles

[ Show Entire Thread ]