Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it safe and easy to attempt an (assist) force-feed? I want to see if it will get my Female Western Hog eating again. Directions would be appreciated.

Heres the story of "why" I want to force-feed. Tell me if you think it is the next viable step. I received the hog last August. It ate every week up until Oct 28th. Then it ate again in January for 3 meals. she stopped eating again on January 28th. Hasn't eaten since. She is still very active and doesn't look sick or "too" skinny.

Heres what I have tried:

tuna-scenting
Frog-scenting
split-braining
leaving her overnight in a brown bag with the food

Heres what may have caused the stopage in eating:

I noticed she stopped eating once I got another snake. I have a big tank and all 3 of my hogs are in the same tank, I have dividers set up withing the tank. They can't get to each other, but can see each other. I don't think this is the problem since my other two have no problems eating.

Also, I live in NJ and my parents are against me having the heat turned up like crazy so its been tough for me to find a stable temperature. I have a heat pad on one side of the snakes tank with a temp of about (90-95) and the cool side temp ranges from (60-75). I have a heat lamp on the tank as well. Its just hard to get the temps constant on the cool side when the room temps are consistantly changing. The hot side is no problem due to a thermostat. Even with these temps she ALWAYS stayed on the cool side. Did she go into hibernation?

I've also noticed that the male and female want to get it on. They constantly try to get to one another through the glass. Is the stress of not being able to mate having any effect?

I am going to wait a couple more weeks before I try to (assist)force-feed because it is starting to get warmer out now that spring has come. Maybe her "hibernation" is over.

Do you notice any problems with my husbandry that would account for the lack of eating? My other two Hogs are eating fine. Its just this one.

Thanks, and any help with assist feeding would be great.
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1.0.0 Common Snapping Turtle (Aggro)
1.1.0 Bearded Dragons
1.1.0 Western Hognose(hets for albino)

I would seperate her into her own tank away from the others for a while. She may be stressed by them even though they have no physical contact.

ep
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Occupants not paying rent:
1.1. balls
1.1 corns
1 everglades rat
1 w. hognose
1 bearded dragon
2.1 cats

....and it doesn't need to be a big aquarium if you are worried about space or expense--sterilite plastic containers with holes drilled in them for air work great, and you can set them over a heating pad too. They are smaller, cheaper, and easier to move around than an aquarium. Maybe you could keep track of her weight? if she's maintaining weight then you probably don't need to worry too much, if she starts dropping then you might start thinking about getting food into her. Also, are you *sure* it's female? I think I've heard that males are more likely to go off feed during what would be their breeding season.

I appreciate you spelling everything out, and it's great that you have genuinely tried different techniques. You've gone above what most other people have done posting on this forum But I agree with the others that nothing drastic should be done until the hognose is separated out in its own container.
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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