This is something odd, both with the animal and with keepers.



Salmon and tuna, are not natural prey items for hognose. Therefore, it cannot be something considered, "normal" to the animal. Not in recent times, maybe saltwater fish were a prey item in the distant past.



You said,Under the same conditions, I introduced all those scents first and she didn't take any of them. However, when I got to the salmon she took it without hesitation. Why is that?



The interesting part to me is, under the same conditions. This is what concerns me. Its as if your using the conditions as a standard, when in fact, captive conditions used by all of us, or marginal at best. The range of temps is so very limited in captivity, as well as chronic dehydration.



Both temps and hydration, play strong parts with feeding response.



I would think the first thing you do with captives that are picky, is change the conditions. Yet, there is some strong belief that our conditions are a rule and the animals must fit that and/or be tricked to fit that. Like with scenting.



You stated, that animal was previously feeding on pinks, or unscented items. Maybe dehydration is a factor.



Back to your tangent, if I were to theorize why hogs are attracted to Tuna/salmon scents, it may be something to do with brine, as our local hogs are very prejudiced to alkaline soils.(salt flats, etc) Maybe and again, theory, being dehydrated, they are lacking salt. Please let me say, its only a theory. And a forced theory hahahahahahahahaha.



Back to hydration, wild snakes do not expose themselves to drying conditions. When they do, its only for very short periods. Hogs do move on the surface in the day, but mainly in the humid times of the day and the humid times of the year. The rest of the time, they confine their activity to burrows and networks of burrows.



Last year I observed many many many wild hogs and their surface activity was aprox. 15 to 30 minutes, per individual.



With Hogs these times are fairly easy to determine.



For me, sticking to one small set of conditions, is a tangent. Best wishes

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