Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a baby hognose snake and when I first got him, he was eating frozen pinkies. Now he has stopped eating. I still offer him food but he hasn't eaten in a couple months now. I have other snakes but this is my first hognose snake. Is this normal for young hognoses to stop eating for a while? If not, how can I get him to eat again?

Have you tried live pinkies? sometimes that little bit of movement can entice a fussy or stressed snake. have you noticed any other changes in its behavior?
Zach
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lost in the jungle somewhere
Z

No, I haven't noticed any changes in its behavior. The trouble with feeding live pinkies is that I live about 30-40 minutes from the nearest pet shop and I don't think they carry live ones. I order bulk frozens from rodentpro.com. He started off eating them, so I wonder why he stopped.

You might try scenting a pinkie with frog, toad, or even gold fish. And then slowly bring him back around to unscented.

Check with the breeder you purchased him from see what he started scenting them on.

Several other factors could be his problem. Was he cooled this winter? What are your temperatures now? Exactly how old is he? Maybe he has stopped due to mating season.

Hope he comes around for you.

Dan

Or try "braining" or just cutting the head off. Some of my little problem eaters in the past have been stimulated to eat by the smell/taste of blood. Duffy

Hi, yes I've been cutting the pinkies in half because he's too small to eat a whole one yet.

He's only about 6 or 7 months old. I don't put my snakes through a cooling period because I haven't been interested in breeding yet. I have him in with a small corn snake, and she's been eating fine. Could it be that its not quite warm enough in his tank? I put a higher watt bulb in there to see if it helps. When it gets warmer out, there's lots of toads around so I'll try the scenting. I keep my other snakes at about 80-85, when I checked his tank, it was only at about 70. But he was eating when I first got him, under the same conditions.

>>He's only about 6 or 7 months old. I don't put my snakes through a cooling period because I haven't been interested in breeding yet. I have him in with a small corn snake, and she's been eating fine. Could it be that its not quite warm enough in his tank? I put a higher watt bulb in there to see if it helps. When it gets warmer out, there's lots of toads around so I'll try the scenting. I keep my other snakes at about 80-85, when I checked his tank, it was only at about 70. But he was eating when I first got him, under the same conditions.

Having him in with another snake...especially a different species is likely messing him up. That and if he grows a bit you may not have a corn at all. He will eat it. If it is too big for him to eat it is probably intimidating the heck out of him.

As for restarting him....sounds silly, but try WASHING a pinkie. My hogs were on F/T pinks. Went off, tried everything. Finally started taking washed live pinks. (discovered this when I dropped on on the dirty floor and had to wash it off to use it.)
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

I will separate him. When I got him the breeder said it would probably be ok to put them together since they were both small. I wasn't planning on keeping them together forever. It makes sense though, maybe he is just stressed.

Hi,

I would recommend against live, scenting, split braining, etc. Your snake was already taking unscented frozen thawed, so it knows its food. Don't go backwards unless its an emergency. It's not unsual for a hog, even a hatchling, to go off food for a while. I would post your issue on the hognose forum. There are some very knowlegable folks there who can make sure you doing everything right.

Thank you very much, I didn't know there was a hognose forum. Is it at this site?

Oh! I found it...guess I shoulda looked a little harder.