Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought an adult western hognose snake (normal) at the Northern Va. show a few weeks ago from the superconda guys. I love this snake, he's very nice looking and easy to handle. I was told he was feeding on f/t hoppers on Tuesdays. I bought him on a Saturday and on the next Tuesday (the 14th of Dec) I gave him a f/t hopper and he took it right away. I fed him in a separate container (6 qt rubber maid) on a paper towel. I took him right from his container (a 16 qt rubbermaid) and put him in the box then introduced the mouse. He was chomp'n on it before I was able to put the lid on the box. That was the last time he's eaten. I waited a week and then gave him another one and he didn't want anything to do with it. I've tried every 4 days since then and he has shown no interest at all in the mouse. I've also tried feeding in his tub rather then the feed box he just ignores it there too. I know these guys can stop eating for lengths of time, but I'm a bit concerned that I'm doing something wrong as it's apparent he's been a good eater (good weight and very active snake). Here's the setup he is in.

16 qt rubber maid with 3 in of aspen, a single hide (he never uses it he's always buried if he's not up running around the tub), a small water dish. His "hot side" is 90 degrees and I have the room heated with a oil filled radiator, it gets to 80 during the day and drops to about 75 at night (I'm not doing anything special here, the room just cools a bit at night). Humidity is around 40% (cheap petco gauge) I've popped as many holes in the tub as I'm comfortable doing (over 100) trying to keep humidly low and airflow high.

He's pretty well mannered, he is a bit cage aggressive (hisses, flattens his head and bluff strikes) almost every time I go to get him out. Once he's out though he is fine. I've taken to using a small snake hook to get him out with, he seems to respond better to that then to my hand. I try to handle him for 10 minutes a day. Am I doing anything wrong?

YOU CAN TRY THIS MAKE SURE YOUR HOGNOSE IS KEPT AT A ROOM TEM. OF 73-75 CANNED SALMON,OR TOADS WORKED FOR ME IN THE PASSED OR TRY A PINK FIRST ... TRY RUBBING THE TOAD ACROSS THE PINKY FOR SCENTING. BEST OF LUCK!

Doesn't sound like anything is wrong,necessarily. The hogs seem to sometime desire to fast one meal or several. They will usually start eating within a few feedings. If you are really concerned with him, try scenting the thawed fuzzy/hopper with salmon or tuna juice.
Though it is not common at all in hognoses, I have had a male go for as long as 8 months without a single meal and a female go 14 months without a meal. For no apparent reason, they began feeding and adding weight. For me this was long after vet checks and treatments and it bewildered the vets.
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Thank you,
Kevin Rhodes

www.spiderhognose.com

http://www.freewebs.com/spreptile/index.htm
http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/cc314/lifesciences/?action=view¤t=09-09hognose001.jpg

Well that makes me feel better.

Should I just stick to the once a week attempt or should I extend/ shorten that? I'm doing every 4 days now but I'm running through hoppers pretty quickly (they're cheap but still...)

I'll pick up a can of salmon and give that a go for scenting. I'll wait until this weekend and try again. Getting a toad might be a bit of a trick as I don't know that I can find one (it's cold here) and I'm not thrilled about buying something from the pet store that might not work as I'd then be stuck with a new pet.

I'm not too worried as I've seen him eat and it's not been that long, I'm just used to having snakes that eat like clock work. (this is my first hognose). I also have a new kenyan sand boa that is basically doing the same thing (eaten once since the 14th). Just frustrating.

Thanks for the help.

It sounds like your doing everything right to me, hognose can go off feed for many reasons, fast change in temperature or barometer change , my guess is that its coming up to breeding season .When this happens hognose can go off feed for two to three months

Keep us posted
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Brent Bumgardner
bwbumgardner@aol.com
703.431.1776
Superconda Website

I would not bother scent feeding especially at this point... You have nothing to worry about and it sounds like you have everything covered... Hogs can do this from time to time... Could be because of breeding and it could be due to it "wanting" to brumate...

I'll hold off on the scenting and try feeding him once a week until he takes. If it goes longer then 2 months I'll try scenting the mouse.

Thanks everybody I feel better now then I did this morning.

Might also consider handling him less.

Best of luck,
-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

This past September I bought a well established, yearling Shanklin Albino female. She's healthy in every way, however, has only eaten about two or three times (all within about the first 6 weeks) and then stopped all together. These three feedings were also about 2-3 weeks apart, and each very small meals. After about a 6-8 week fast, with nothing, it was finally cold enough in my garage to go ahead and brumate her. I also moved her, temporarily, into a much smaller (1.2 liter Sterilite) tub. Many hogs feel more secure in smaller containers.

So now my fingers are crossed. I'm hoping that come Feb 1, I'll begin to warm her up and she'll have flipped a reset switch or something. I'm not too worried though, she didn't get as big as she is by NOT eating. And just fyi, and I don't know if it matters or not but I think it's worth the consideraton, she was shipped from Florida, to California...totally different temps, climate and air pressure I suppose. So who knows, maybe this move causes them to take a little more time to acclimate. Not quite sure, but after all the other feeding tricks fail, try brumation.

Anyway, good luck with yours.

Hope you have a water bowl in there while you brumate...

yes. a 3oz portion cup. ty though for your concern.

I personally don't feel that you are doing anything wrong, and his cage setup seems great. I always feel that some animals take a slower time to acclimate to newer surroundings, temps, scents, etc., than others. The fact that he ate for you on the first feeding is a positive sign. He may just need a little more time to feel secure and comfortable. While I feel handling your snakes is a good thing, since he is in a new home, maybe cut back a little for the time being on the handling and see if that helps. He may just be stressed.

Also, perhaps adjust the temps maybe a hair lower or higher and see if there are any changes.

Take care.
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Genesis 1:1

I'm letting him be for the rest of the week (not even looking at him) and I'll try again on Sunday and see how things go. I just realized that Brent / superconda.com is just right down the road from me (I'm in Ashburn VA, he looks to be in Leesburg), small world.
I was waiting for the show so I didn't have to ship my snakes, I bought a snake from Brent and a KSB from the outback guys....I guess I should of scheduled a pickup from both of these guys as they were local and got my guys in October. Live and learn I guess.
I thought my snake had traveled a lot further then he did, so I don't think "moving stress" is to blame as the little guy didn't go that far. I'm hoping it's just a change in setup, or that he's wanting to go down for a couple of months. We'll see.

Thanks everybody for the helpful hints. I'll follow up when he's either eaten or I'm in a complete panic!

He ate yesterday!

I'd left him alone except for feeding attempts once a week, and I lowered the room temp about 3 degrees.