Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I read the other thread. Heres our situation. Any advice would be helpfull
We have a western, a little over a year old
He was eating pinkis at first, then fuzzys every week. occasional green tree frogs or small toads were a treat he liked.
Late this summer I bought about a dozen green trees and put them in his cage. It didnt seem like he really ate to many and months went by and the frogs were able to avoid him for the most part. When I held a frog for him, he'd show intrest but refuse. Now, all frogs were removed over a month ago and he has not ate a fuzzy.
HE hisses if you try to offer him food. I't been 6-8 weeks since hes ate.
Temps were 80-82 in cage but 2 weeks ago I put a small heat pad under one side of 2o gallon tank and the sand and substrate is noticably warmer on that side. He seems more active but still not eating.
HE looks ok except maybe a little skinny.
3 other snakes (corns) are eating great so I know the food is ok
Any ideas?
Thanks You!

The important thing to remember is that this is the typical time of year for most reptiles and amphibians to stop eating. Your situation also represents the anecdotal observations often reported on this forum about mixing up prey items. Supposedly, and this is more true for Eastern hognoses, that switching between frogs and mice can cause the snake to refuse mice.

One factor for your snake's anorexia that must be eliminated is positively from the frogs you fed it. These invariably introduced potential pathogens and parasites. The parasite load of a captive reptile or amphibian as an overbearing effect on its health. If there is something wrong with your animal, you need to eliminate parasites from the equation. Captive herps should be tested at least once a year for parasites, and I have always recommended every six months for hognoses because of their inherent heavy parasite load. There is no need to feed a wild frog to a hognose, they don't need nutritional diversity, wild animals should remain in the wild, and it is only a source of disease and parasites.

Six to eight weeks is not at all unusual for anorexia and hognoses. But positively you should have a gram scale to keep track of the weights so you can see if this snake is losing weight, or if it is just your perception. 80° is too cool for a hognose, they should have a basking temperature available to them in the mid-90s. Hopefully the heating pad has helped. Otherwise, try scenting with tuna fish.
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Virginia Herping
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VaHS
Virginia Herpetological Society
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS

If there is a just God, how humanity would writhe in its attempt to justify its treatment of animals. - Isaac Asimov

Thank You so much Colchicine.
I Remember last year at this time he stopped also but did not have a record of how long.
Excellent advice. Im going to get a 2nd thermometer for the other side of the tank and a gram scale tommorow.
I Remember the tuna scent trick also.
I'll update as he progresses. Hes really a cool snake.
L.