Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have a pair of het albino hognoses which I want to put in hibernation for the first time next week.
The female is no problem as she weights around 450 grams.
The male is only about 110 grams and did not eat since approx 4 months.
I've tried so many things but he refuses to eat.
Can I take the risk to put him in hibernation?
To be honnest, I'm affraid to do so.

A brumation period would probably help him out. It doesn't sound like he is in bad shape at all. 100 grams is pretty big for a male.
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Ultimate Hognose

Your male's lack of appetite is a sign he's "ready" to be cooled. As an adaptation to living in a northern clime, many North American Colubrids naturally go off-feed in the fall to minimize the risk of being caught in a cold snap while trying to digest a meal. The trait is especially well-developed among the Lampropeltini (Lampropeltis, Pantherophis, Pituophis, etc.), but shows up in other lineages, too. Long-story-short: cool your male down, and soon, to prevent him from losing condition.

-Cole

John, I too would be concerned about brumating a male that has not eaten in 4 months. If I were you I would brumate the female and try again to get the male to eat. I don't think it is imperative that hognose be brumated for an extended period, so if you can get the male eating, and brumate him, even for a short period, I'd feel more confident. Having said that, I don't believe brumation is always necessary for successful fertility.

I wish I knew why hognose stop eating, other than pre-shed periods. I have found that some hognose lines are voracious eaters, while others are finicky. I had a female that would not eat any mouse that had hair on it. She would eat any size up to a fuzzy, but not beyond that. I had to break her of that by getting her to eat live hoppers.

What methods have you tried to get the male to eat? When mine go off feed for an extended period I try everything to get them eating again. Sometimes it is something as simple as changing their enclosure temperature for a day or two.

Wendell

I would cool them both off. As mentioned above, 110g is a pretty good sized male. He will most likely start feeding after a cool down period (even 2-3 weeks might do it). I keep my hogs at 55-58F.

Cheers,
Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

My adult male western has been off feed for at least 2 months maybe a little bit longer and I am putting all of my snakes down, today as a matter of fact. I do not have a weight on him but I am not to concerned. I have had him for 4 years now and he is ALWAYS my first snake to quit feeding. I used to stress about it, but not anymore. Now when he quits feeding I go ahead and turn off all of his heat sources and just let him sit at room temp until I put all of my snakes down. Sure enough every spring he begins feeding like a hog again.

On a side note, since I have noticed this pattern of behavior I have begun feeding him a little bit more come late July and August just to give him that added weight.

Good luck, but I think he will be fine.

Definitely, brumate him. He has made the decision for you. He has voluntarily began fasting in preparetion for cool weather. He is plenty big for a male, and will in all likelihood come out of brumation ready to eat any and everything. My males all stopped eating over 6 weeks ago, and I will begin dropping their temps this week. Good luck.
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Greg Jackson