Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi I have a male western hognose and he just won't eat. I know they can go a long time without eating and things will probably be fine, but everyone always says how hogs are great eaters so I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with tough eaters. First of all, how often do you feed? We have a bunch of different snakes and they all eat weekly aside from our Borneo short-tail who eats biweekly. Maybe I'm trying to feed the hog too often. We have tried mouse fuzzies and pinkies, scenting with vienna sausage, anchovy paste, salmon juice, tuna juice, but no dice. He used to eat on occasion but now it's getting further and further apart. He's so small I don't want to try force feeding, and I honestly don't think he's gone long enough that that is required, but I really want him to eat. I know that the pet store I bought him at force fed him, and also figured I'd ask if anyone knows about how jaw damage might impact their eating habits. I've never had a snake with jaw damage, but his mouth seems a little off, so I'm not ruling it out. Sorry I wrote so much, I just figured I'd throw out as much information as I can so anyone who wants to can answer the best that they can. Any advice on how to get him to eat would be great.

You mentioned little, which is a difference then a sexually mature hog. Male sexually mature hogs, prefer to spend a lot of time chasing girls and not feeding so much.
I feed neonates daily, but miss a day here and there. That also depends on temps. feeder often requires higher temps etc.

ALso, if you have a damaged animal, that makes it complicated. Particularly if they FF actual prey items. The snake can indeed associate those items with stress and pain and avoid it.
You did not mention important details like husbandry conditions, so offer some of that.
If your conditions are suitable and your hog is abused(from the petshop) you may have to force feed until the snake gains strength. I highly recommend using pinky pumps for that. They are plastic and metal, nothing the snake can associate with future prey items.
In the meantime, find small toads or lizards. Smooth skinned lizards, like utas or earless. I do not know where to purchase pinky pumps now. But they are worth it. Hopefully you never need one, but when you do, its good to have one.

I googled it up and they are available and with instructions. Just google, pinky pump. I attach some rubber tubing to the end so its soft on the snake. You can get that clear rubber tubing at most hardware stores, I also cut the end of the tubing so it slides in the mouth easily.
Also, start of with a tiny bit, and work up. Again, Force feeding should be a last resort. With a mentally and physically injured individual, this tool may be of help.

Thanks for your input! We had him in a ten gallon tank, but thought that the size might have been stressing him out so we moved him into out juvi rack. He's usually bedded on aspen but we are currently having a mite problem so all of them are on paper for the time being. If this was just a one time thing I might think it has to do with the mites, but it's happened before when he didn't have them. The temperature is around 84 degrees, but it gets warmer because it's pretty hot where I live. He has access to water and a hide at all times, and he lives alone. He used to do this weird thing when he moved that looked like he was swallowing and there was no saliva build up but that seems to have lessened since we moved him to the rack so maybe it was a stress thing.