Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Transitioning from ball pythons to hogs.
I have a male albino who will not eat for me. He is 75 grams.

Do they stop eating sometimes, like ball pythons do?

All the rest of my hogs (11 others) eat like machines!

Feeding is normal, non feeding when conditions are good is not.

I posted down below a 25 inch male, which means, they get much bigger then 75 grams.

Your task is to determine the animals health, then its supporting conditions. Not all individuals take captivity(a small box with limited conditions)the same.

Also, male hogs sometimes go nuts when around females. I have a male that will not eat if a female is anywhere around. Move him to another room and BAM eats like a pig, I mean hog.

Again, your task is to determine your animals health. Then compare what the animal is doing to your goals and its potential. Then change conditions to support that.

Best wishes and out hoggin I go, wish me luck

Well, he is around an adult female.
Hmmmm...

He is active, healthy weight. Cruises the tub.
Maybe I need to try other feeding options. The guy I got him from said he only ate pinkies for some reason. Would not touch food with hair.

Things are cooling off some now. Depending where you live, you might be able to brumate him now for a couple months. Just another option. Mike Bodner

I got the same thing going on with my male every other year. Just not this soon. In winter (usually around mid November) he will go off feed until around the start of February. His cage is in doors and remains the same temperature year round, his feeding just turns off then on. I have read that it does have to do with females because he is getting ready to breed (got to loose a few grams for the ladies lol). The only thing is I didn't have any female hogs until last night which is an Eastern not a Western. Also like I said he only does it every other year so this year he should eat through winter.

Also with the pinkies. Mine is 18 inches and well fed and he refuses fuzzies, only takes pinkies. I have known plenty of Westerns from breeders and friends who take fuzzies and some females taking hoppers. Is it possible that some snakes can just be picky about texture like some people can be?

hello, please do not take this bad. But its not about the snake. Its about how they are kept.

You as a keeper can do anything you want. So its your choice. And that is the important part, its your choice.

The point is, these animals live in an environment where they can and do, choose the conditions they need. As the year goes on, they move to heat until its not available. In your cage, they cannot do anything, they are restricted by YOU the keeper.

As you can see, I have been doing some field work with them and posting some.

The last hog observed in nature last year was, 12-31-12. The last day of the year, it was a neonate with a large food bolus in its stomach, a lizard. I also observed one out crawling at 54F and one at 58F. Which is pretty cool.

In nature, they have choices, and some use them. In nature, the conditions are always more and less then the need and any individual, as different as some are, can pick what it needs.

In captivity, you keep them all alike and wonder why some do not respond well.

Individualism in nature is a means of survival. It allows some to survive when conditions are poor(like droughts, or floods) Some make choices that are not important in normal times, but allow survival during testing conditions.

In captivity, poor or testing conditions, should never occur. Why, because you have the ability to chance them and make them good. And there is no food or water shortages, like what INDEED OCCURS IN NATURE. end part 1

There is no law or rules that you the keeper have to follow. Your allowed to change conditions to fit the animals you have.

Or you can let your very restricted conditions(compared to what they are designed for) stay the same and continue to have individuals that do not fit them suffer.

I am new to hogs, but they they consume large prey items both in nature and captivity. That one of you said, they only eat pinkies or fuzzies, is silly to the design of the animal. All of mine eat mice, even small hogs try.

So its something the keeper is doing or not doing. And its your choice.

As fall sets in, wild snakes move to warmer conditions. Particularly the next years breeders. They do anything they can to stay active for as long as they can.

Around here, surface activity is not restricted by winter cold, its restricted by lack of humidity, it get bone dry from Jan to the start of the rains in July, august. Yet by the time the rains start, the females have already bred and laid eggs. Best wishes

I am with you on that its how they are kept -in most cases, but what I don't get is:
1) What would cause a sexually mature male to go off feed at 87 Fahrenheit, and only bu-annually when I have no females around? I don't think it has anything to do with temperature or wouldn't that be an annual occurrence?
2) I give him fuzzies and he ignores them, I give him pinkies and he devours them, and he is of plenty enough size for the pinkies? If it would be an issue concerning his health I really would like to know. For the five years I have had him I haven't seen anything to indicate bad health or suffering, he is just picky about prey size.

From what I gathered FR, from what you wrote, if a Hognose Snake is not feeding on fuzzies when it easily can, and it has something to do with temperature. And also that it (my male hognose) is going off feed for a reason other than mating purposes because it would be seeking a warmer area if it wanted a mate. I sincerely would like input on how to upgrade him to fuzzies and get him to take at any time of year (every year as I previously mentioned it a bi-annual occurrence).

Some details:
Cage size is 18 inches long 18 inches deep 8 inches high. His substrate is aspen bark that is 3 inches deep. He gets fed 2-3 pinky mice every other week currently because he refuses to take fuzzies. His water is changed daily and his basking spot is 87 degrees Fahrenheit (should I get a higher output bulb?)
I do not brumate him so I don't believe his bi-annual late Nov - Early Feb feeding strike to be a mating thing but that is all I can put my finger on from reading as many care sheets that I can find that address this behavior.

I would like to find out what you recommend for getting him to take fuzzies because about 7 months ago I purchased a bag of 50 fuzzy mice in anticipation that he would eat them, but he has chosen that they don't smell right to him or something? The fuzzies I use are Arctic Mice but I don't think the brand has anything to do with it because that is where I get my pinkies from too.

I cannot say if its temps or not. Its just odd.

It goes back to this, Is he healthy and is he doing what you want. Is he as large as he should be? Those are some questions for you.

I too have questions about haired mice and hogs, I am going to ask today on a new thread.

I think you should try different fuzzies, and work from pinks back up to fuzzies and see what happens.

When I respond with temps and conditions with picky feeders, its normally about neonates, as neonates must feed to grow. Adults particularly males, may not have a need for anything other then maintenance feeding. In nature, adults feed to a point and go down(lower temps and conserve) On the hog sites I work, neonates feed or attempt to feed all year. Adults, not so much.

Again, adult males, good luck with that, hahahahaha, I remember back in the day when I worked kingsnakes, I have some males that I raised from the egg that grew large and strong, and during breeding season STOP feeding and only work females. To a point, I thought they were going to die, but they didn't die, they would get to a point and feed and gain their weight back.

So my question is, does this vacation from feeding take away from the snake?

Doesn't take away from him at all. I don't have a scale but I do need to get one for reasons other than my own snakes. He is 18 inches long and has a firm body, not soft and not skinny. I don't worry about it any more because he comes back in feeding like I said.

Its just odd and in the new thread I would be very interested in reasons that may be brought up other than mating (unless nothing triggers it and its just instinct).

What instinct are we talking about? I ask because, what folks call instinct may not be very accurate at all.

In nature, when the first cold wave hits, snakes move to more supportive areas, ones with more sun exposure. Then stay active, sometimes they do down for short periods. They do tend to stay active for all long as they can find supportive conditions(suitable temps and humidity)

Also, at the same time, the groups and pairs that have separated attempt to local their groups and mates, at the first cold wave(big drop in temps) They then move to what we call dens, congregations etc and spend the winter with their prospective mates. This is what RESIDENT ADULTS do.

Transient adults, have no set pattern and search for homes and mates, most fail. normal populations are 80% transients and 20% residents. But that varies from year to year and local to local.

With hogs in particular, the males will start to attend females in mid to late oct(here) Then stay with them until after the breeding season.

Back to your case, I fear your using the word instinct as a trash bag to put what you/we do not understand. And sir, there is a lot we do not understand. But everything they do HAS REASON. If your animal is healthy and your happy, then observe it and learn.

Lastly, males can grow much larger then 18 inches. Best wishes