Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My hognose shed then stopped eating and ate after 2 and a half months. So i assumed that she would start eating again, but i was wrong. It has been almost 2 months since she last ate and i am worried. She has only ate once in about five months.

She is a year and 3 months i keep her in a tupperware container with aspen and the temps are 85 on one side and 75 on the other and she has a humid hide that she likes.

She is still active and frisky, just looks too thin

any sggestions???

thanks

In addition to heading the advice of others on this forum with more hognose experience than I, I do know that it's time to take this one to the vet for some intervention. If I were to assume that you aren't tracking body weight's, then visually noticing that it is looking thin would approximate at least a 10% loss, which is the point where nutritional intervention is necessary. While you may be able to stomach tube yourself, bystepping the vet's exam and advice might short yourself of a more long-term cure.

Good luck with your snake
Your temps sound good, is there another reason your snake may be too stressed to eat?

Ian

stomach tubing seems pretty drastic, and potentially injurious. What have you tried to get your hog to eat? Have you tried live, tried scenting, any of that sort of thing? Personally I'd try forcefeeding rather than tubing--once you get it partway in their mouth they usually swallow it on their own and it seems a bit less likely to cause damage... but there are other things you can try before that. If she's never eaten well for you, deworming might be something to consider. It's thought to find a herp vet in some areas though.

Sorry, I guess I assumed that you've already tried things like different prey items and the like. My main message was that if it doesn't start eating right away that vet visit is needed, as it's already looking like it's at the point where intervention is necessary. www.arav.com for a herp vet, if you need more pointers to find a vet, just ask. It's not has hard as some may make you believe

Ian

I have tried to feed her with:

Live
tuna scented
split brained
thawed

She used to eat real well, but after her first shed, scince i have owned her, she began to fast and has continued to starve herself for continued months.

I have no experience with force feeding at all, could someone direct me on how to do this?

Try assist feed first. Kinda the same thing except you just put it in her mouth and hope she does the rest. Make sure you lubricate the feed first (water is fine) and make it smaller than what she normally will eat.
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Louie

How do you open the snakes mouth?

How far do you have to insert the food?

Any other instructions would be nice.

thank you guys for all your advice.

I'm sorry I'm very good at putting instructions into words but here goes:

-Grab the snake by the back of the head gently but firmly

-get the pinky, fuzzy or whatever size you are using and dip into water

-grab the mouse near the head

-gently work the head near the back of the mouth

-the snake should open its mouth fairly easily

-don't get frustrated as it is easy to do the first few times

-gently push the mouse towards the back of the mouth to where she has no choice but to swallow (this might take a bit of wiggling around)

-don't force it down

-put her down gently into her feeding area and walk away quietly

-she should hit the feeding response and start to swallow but try not to be disappointed if she doesn't take it happens.

if she doesn't take, then let her be for a few days to get over the stress you just put her through and you may try it again if you don't feel comfortable doing this then I suggest to take it to a vet and they will force feed it.

Good luck let us know how it goes.
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Louie

Unfortunately, all of your questions are things that cannot be adequately explained through text. It is the general consensus among professionals that force feeding is not something that should be attempted without at least being demonstrated by a knowledgeable person. The potential for damage is just too great. And besides, if you look at my post above you'll see that using a feeding tube is a much better approach, at least temporarily, than force feeding.

First of all, force feeding will not correct any problems, you must heed joeysgreen advice on seeing the veterinarian.

If you AND the veterinarian decide that force feeding is necessary, and if he is not able to demonstrate it for you, quite certainly there is going to be a nearby zoo, aquarium, or nature center that will have someone knowledgeable they are to ask and demonstrate.
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Virginia Herping
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VaHS
Virginia Herpetological Society
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS

"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has... to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine

... nature has ceased to be what it always had been - what people needed protection from. Now nature - tamed, endangered, mortal - needs to be protected from people. When we are afraid, we shoot. But when we are nostalgic, we take pictures.
Susan Sontag

np
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Louie

I agree with all who say see a vet. I also think that if the female is reacting to the male on the other side of her cage, that may be stressing to some extent. As far as assisted feeding, here is a web site that shows a nice technique. The web site is about tri-coolored hogs, but the technique should be applicable to your western. The key is to hold the pinky in the hogs mouth till you see it begin to chew then gently put it back in it's cage or some container and watch it swallow.
http://www.hognose.co.uk/13.html

good luck,

Bret

thanks to all your advice.

I have decided to make a vet appointment for wed. @ 4 pm at east mill plain animal hospital.

I have no experience with assist feeding and if that is what needs to be done i would like someone with experiece to show me how.

i shall get her wormed and see what the vet reccomends.

thanks again

>>stomach tubing seems pretty drastic, and potentially injurious. Personally I'd try forcefeeding rather than tubing

I couldn't disagree more. A feeding tube has a lot less potential for injuring the snake than a food item that is five times larger. Force feeding can be extremely stressful on a snake, I have even had a young Eastern hognose death feign while being force fed.
I have used a product called Jumpstart, a caloric supplement. I simply diluted it in a 3 cc syringe with a little bit of warm water and use a stainless steel feeding tube. You don't have to physically put something in the stomach to get it to go down there. Unlike force feeding, I could do it by myself and in under 30 seconds, with no blood.
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Virginia Herping
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VaHS
Virginia Herpetological Society
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS

"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has... to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine

... nature has ceased to be what it always had been - what people needed protection from. Now nature - tamed, endangered, mortal - needs to be protected from people. When we are afraid, we shoot. But when we are nostalgic, we take pictures.
Susan Sontag