Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My name is Rich and have been browsing this forum for quite some time. Lurking, but in a non-creepy way.

I recently purchased a pair of eastern hogs. Nice red coloration, decent temperment, etc. Really nice first round of Heterodon.

Well since I love a good challenge, I decided to purchase a pair of non-rodent eaters. I thought - hell, I switched garters to rodents like a charm...how hard could it be for Eastern Hogs. Well, much to my chagrin, it has been pretty damn hard.

I have tried all of the usual and unusual things:

1. Frog scenting pinks (paratoid and urine scenting)
2. Live frogs and toads
3. Dead frogs and toads
4. Canned tuna scenting
5. Fresh tuna scenting
6. Uncented pinks

All of these methods have been done while tease feeding and keeping the snakes with food source in a deli cup overnight.

The husbandry stuff seems fine. They are kept between 75 and 85 degrees. Have decent, but not overwhelming humidity.

Currently I have been forcefeeding them mouse tails in egg yolk (thanks AC from GradeA for that bit of advice).

Has anyone ran into this situation before and if so what would be the best way to remedy the issue?

P.S. I apologize if there is an old photo of Mr.Pig, my northern pine at the bottom of the page. I do not know how to get the photos removed, but I just may have this time.

Is this a pair of adults or hatchlings? Are they WC or CBB? I've switched adults but it took many many weeks to get them on scented rat pups using the various methods you outlined. I've also had success with another method where you take a frozen toad and unthaw it in a shallow dish of hot water along with a pinkie at the same time. The pinkie gets a REALLY good scent that way. I've had no problems with CBB hatchlings, and have found that dropping a small toad in the enclosure gets them going enough to try a scented pinkie for the first time (as long as you scoop up the toad before they get to it!) I've also noticed that some prefer to be hand fed and some will only eat if you leave the food in their enclosure. Please let us know when you succeed!

Oh sorry. Forgot mention they are hathlings. Captive born, but not captive bred.

Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna make some pinks in toad broth right now.

This might sound silly but,try canned salmon "juice" it has worked for me several times! Good Luck!! Jeff