Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone had a hog be very aggressive only to tongs. My female hognose gets very aggressive when ever I use tongs to try and feed her. Could it be that they are shiny, silver, and/or bigger than her. She is never aggressive when being held or picked up and can obviously make a distinction between my fingers and tongs. My male never has a problem with them.

Is there any way to break her from striking at the tongs and ignoring the food item?

Thanks,
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Thomas M. Marcy
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Madison, AL
Computer Scientist
Hognose Enthusiast

Try holding the food item away from her. Dont move it just let her come to it. I have a few hissers and headbutters that I feed that way.
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Please don't talk about snake prices when my wife is around!!

Thomas, I use a hemostat rather than tongs, as the tongs did seem to intimidate a few of the picky eaters. If I offer a hog a meal with the hemostat, I try to keep it as horizontal as possible, with the food item presented to the snake. I did discover that odors on the hemostat are readily detected by the hoggies. I had been using one hemostat to dip pinkies in tuna water for a couple new hatches that wouldn't eat. When I used the same hemostat to put a thawed pinkie in with a youngster that had been eating unscented pinks, it hissed and struck out at the hemostat and pinkie.

Wendell