Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought my 1st hog at a show last month. I have him on shredded aspen, as I was advised. He has eaten 4 pinkies over 3 weeks, but not yet pooped! He is fairly active, moving around daily. Advice?

Also, is corncob an acceptable substrate?

I've covered this topic numerous times throughout the years. Here are a couple of links to my responses (about using rabbit pellets):
Link 1
Link 2

Don't forget to scroll down to the bottom of the posts to see other people's responses and suggestions relating to the original posted topics.
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

I use Sani-Chips from the day I set them up.
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Hognose, Sand Boa & Ball Python Morphs

Greg Bennett | www.hognose.com

Personally I would use paper towels. Mike
Link

I use paper towels until they get a little bigger. If it hasn't pooped in three weeks of feeding your temps might be too low. I keep babies with a low 90s warm end.

He has eaten 4 pinkies over 3 weeks, but not yet pooped!

I neglected to touch on this concern of the OP...

If it hasn't pooped in three weeks of feeding your temps might be too low. I keep babies with a low 90s warm end.

That's a tough one to say whether that's an issue with his husbandry regarding temperatures or not as I am currently keeping the majority of my hatchling-yearling collection in ambient room temperatures of 76-79 degrees and none of them have any problems with digestion or defecation. In fact, they all have a normal metabolism and eagerly eat once to twice a week and are growing at typical rates and they always defecate 3-4 days after eating. So who knows whether that is an issue for his snake or not.

Part of the problem might be that the shredded aspen could be masking the defecations as it might be smeared around and thinned out and much more difficult to see, at least that was the problem I used to have when I kept Mandarin Ratsnakes on shavings; for as big as those snakes were and as much as I knew them to defecate when i briefly kept them on rabbit pellets, their defecations were much more "invisible" when I kept them on aspen shavings.

That's the one really nice thing about rabbit pellets, the defecations clump up like cat litter because of the absorption of the pellets and are very easy to spot and clean up.

Is corncob an acceptable substrate?

Corncob substrate hasn't been recommended for a long time due to concerns/issues with possible ingestion/impaction problems. I've never used corncob personally, so I'm merely passing along what others have mentioned over the last decade or so on their personal usage of corncobs. Perhaps there are people out there that feel otherwise?
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

Thanks to ALL for thoughtful answers!