Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just recieved a pair of cb05 Tri-Color Hoggs, I was told they would both be feeding on ft pinks. The female is a great feeder but its been 2 weeks now and the male will not eat..I tried ft and live with no luck..Does anyone have any other tactics that have worked. These guys are awesome and I don't want to lose the male..

Thanks for your help,
Bill

My western just went 8 months without eating. I can say, however, that I just got her to eat successfully by dipping the F/T pinkie in tuna fish water, from the can. Remember to use water, and not oil. But apparantly hoggies can't resist the smell of fish. That is for a western, I'm not sure about tri-colors. You could try it, though.

Are you keeping them seperate? If not, I'd suggest seperating them, because that might reduce stress.
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0.1 Irian Jaya carpet python
0.1 Ball python
0.3 Crested Geckos
2.2.7 Leopard Geckos (male-jungle, hypo tangerine carrot tail. female-normal, albino. babies-leucistic, blizzard, normal)
0.1 Western Hognose snake
1.0 Eastern Milksnake (currently free roaming in my home =/)
1.0 Albino Lavender California Kingsnake
1.1 Bearded Dragons
0.2 Water turtles
1.0 Umbrella Cockatoo (belongs to my mom and I)

Hello,

I have heard that works good for getting Western Hoggs to eat..but not sure about the Tri-colors..I think I will try it though. I have them in their own cages.

Thanks for the reply,

Bill

Make sure temps are in the right range for them to have an appetite: upper 70s to lower 80s.

Try putting the pinky in a deli cup (with a few holes for air) with no substrate, then put the snake in with it. The snake will have no choice but to at least find the food.

"Braining" often works as well. With a razor blade or utility knife, put a 1/4" cut in the forehead of the pinky and give it a little squeeze so brain matter and fluid leak out. The smell of brain frequently triggers feeding response.

I would first leave the snake and food in a deli cup for a few hours/overnight. If that doesn't work, brain the pinky.

D

Bill,

Sorry to hear the male has decided to stop eating...If you don't get him going I will replace him!! Do you have a "hide" in with him? Also one thing that has worked numerous times for our babies to adults is to slowly take a pinky and push the pinky onto the upturned nose, usually they will just open up and say ah...!! We get them started usually by scenting with green tree frogs! PLEASE keep me posted and I will keep trying to throw ideas your way!

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MIKE
snmreptiles.com

Thanks everyone for the replies,

Mike..I am not worried about him, just so everyone knows..the pair Mike sent me are nice and Chubby...I haven't tried braining or just placing it in his mouth, but I'm sure one of those tactics will work..Mike thanks again they are awesome!!!

Bill

Try to get a toad, or lizard (anole or Met. Gecko), if it ate one it will eat again be patient.

I hope I cought you in time to tell you dont try any kind of scenting ! I have produced over 100 of these babies and I have never had to scent a pinkie. here is a care sheet I made to get them to eat. let me know if you need any more help. good luck.

JIM

I try to get mine to eat for the first time about two weeks after there first shed on a newborn size dead pinkie. I leave it in over knight and if its not gone by morning I take it out. then I try one again a few days letter. no luck? then I try it again a few days latter with a live pinkie. no luck? I try again a few days latter with a washed off (still wet) dead pinkie. still no luck ? then I try again a day latter the same way but with it split brained. still no luck? at this time I will wait them out for a week or so (only if they still seem strong and in good health) and try the hole process over again from just a dead pinkie. (it most likely will not take this long). but if it does then I will gently open the snakes mouth and put a newborn size pinkie in head first just enough so the snakes mouth holds it there while you (as calmly as possible) set it down and 9 out of 10 times it will go ahead and eat the pinkie. if it does give it a week and then try just offer it a dead pinkie and it may or may not eat it if it does then great if not then just put one in its mouth a few more times tell it starts to eat them on its own. now lets go back if it spits out the pinkie you put in its mouth then try it the next day but put it in a bit further so it would have a head time spitting it out. (all of this needs to be done in slow motion so the snake does not get to stressed and just keep spitting it out to get away). if by now they have not all eaten, let me know and I will try to help you more or by them from you and try to get them going myself ! please let me know at what point it works on any or all of them to help inform others with the same problem. thanks. and good luck !

JIM

Thanks Jim,

I am going to try a split brain tonight and see how it goes.

Bill

Hello,

Well, I tried the split brain, and it was a no go..I tried pushing the pink in his mouth but he would not open up..
They have tiny mouths is there a trick to get it open and then put the pink in?

Thanks,
Bill

how long has it been since its first shed? and has it ever eaten before ? and if so when ? and what? and can you show a pic of it to see if it is getting thin ? and make sure it has good water access as well. it may just need more time. let me know.

JIM

Hi Jim,

It seems like his first meal was 8/20 and last 9/14..total of 4 meals. Not sure on the first shed. I was told he was feeding on ft pinks. I want to double check wit hwho I got him from..there may have been a mix up, I could have received one that was feeding on scented Tree frogs.
Jim, how do you go about putting pinks in their tiny mouths?

Thanks,
Bill

Here is a pic of him

I wouldn't worry at all if I were you right now... He seems to be plenty chubby enough to try EVERYTHING you can before scenting.

Like I told you in the email, Jim is the guy who gave me those guidelines for starting tri's, so I'm sure he'll be able to give you some good advice as far as assist feeding goes.
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-Ross Payan - www.LeosAnonymous.com
Leos Anonymous
Ball Pythons, Red Striped Leos, Albino W.Hognose
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Signature file edited; [phw 9/26/04]

He looks fine in the picture, (not to thin). Are you sure his is not going to shed soon? if your sure he’s not then here’s what I would do. Put him in a small round deli cup with a small amount of water in the bottom (like just so it covers the bottom) then put him in a warm (80 to 83) quiet place for 2 days and don’t bug him. Then as calmly as possible put in a f/t pinkie and a f/t split brained pinkie late in the evening and leave him alone overnight. I think one or both pinkies will be gone by morning! But if not, remove the pinkies and wait a day or so and try putting in a live pinkie the same way. If its not gone by the next day (I would give him another week or so and try all this again) but if you think he is in need of food right now, here’s how I open there mouth. I hold them in one hand just behind the head and put my thumb under the bottom jaw and put a small amount of pressure like you are trying to stretch the skin from his bottom jaw towards his tail, sometimes that’s enough to get there mouth open just enough to put the f/t pinkies head in just a bit while they try to get away. If it does not open enough thin you may need to use something small and flat and made of metal or something that wont catch on his teeth, and gently pull down on his bottom jaw while you or a helper puts the pinkie in his mouth then hold the pinkie from coming out and put him down on the table and hold him there tell he is still and slowly let go of him and move away real slow and watch to see if he eats it or spits it out. Its all about the sloooow mooootion so he thinks he’s alone and safe to start eating. OK if this does not work for you or you need more help you can call me and I will do all I can to help you. I might even buy him from you and sell you one of mine. I still think what I said in the beginning will work or he just needs more time.

call if you need help.
after 5:30 pm west coast time.
JIM 951-471-0618

Jim and everyone else that took the time out to help thanks for the pointers..just 10 min. ago he ate a ft pink!!. I just left him in the shoe box and pushed the pink against his snout and he opened up... Typically I do not have the patience for snake species that are picky feeders but these guys are awesome and have so many selling points that they are worth the time.

Thanks again!!! now I can go to sleep

Congrats on getting him to eat... I'm sure he'll be well worth the effort.

With my small westerns I usually feed them out of tons until they start feeding and seeking out their food aggressively, some of them don't seem as willing to aggressively "seek out" their prety until they are a bit older.... then they start trying to eat you from the moment they get a wiff of the mice.

It's always funny to watch them circle their tub, mouth wide open until I drop in their grub.

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-Ross Payan - www.LeosAnonymous.com
Leos Anonymous
Ball Pythons, Red Striped Leos, Albino W.Hognose
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Signature file edited; [phw 9/26/04]

Interesting. Would you mind saying who you bought them from? I bought 2 females from a breeder that I know did not produce them. He told me both of them had eaten 4 times for him. They were both a major hassle to get to feed, one of the females still needs to have the pinky put in her mouth 2 months after her first meal. I wonder if you got them from the same person and if they are just passing off nonfeeders as feeders.

The pair I received were definitely feeders..they are both chubby when I got them and the female eats ft all the time. I just think the male was being a bit picky.

if you look at the respond to this post by snmreptiles you will see that they sold him his tri-hogs and they give a link to there site. let me know where you got yours. I like to keep track of the good and bad tri-hog people ! thanks.

JIM

Yeah, I saw the post by SNMreptiles but I read bblacks response wrong. Anyway, I'll shoot you an email with the vendor. He is still advertising them on kingsnake now.