Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had my hognose for about 4 or 5 months and she has never had this problem before. I went to go get her more food and since she is about 2-3 feet in length now, I thought maybe she could handle a rat pup but bought the small white mice as well just in case. I tried to feed her a rat pup and she didn't want it. Understandable, it was bigger and rats tend to smell different. I'm well aware that they eat frogs and toads and whatnot in the wild but what my biggest concern is here is that she is PISSED OFF. She is striking at the mouse and my hand and hissing at anyone that comes in the room. Her temps and humidity and her day/night cycles are normal so I've ruled that out. I've tried leaving the mouse in there overnight and all she did was move it. I was told that maybe she is shedding and to keep an eye on it. No shed as of yet and she seems to be losing some weight although it does not look like enough to be a big concern; more to just keep in mind. As of today (1/25/2016), she hasn't eaten in a week and a half. I do not want to take her to the vet unless it is absolutely necessary.

Sorry but i had to laugh reading the part about not eating in a week and a half.
Hogs can go long periods without feeding. Their unique that way.
My 4 month old didn't eat for about 6 or 7 weeks and then starting eating.
If it's not losing weight, dehydrated, or other signs of being sick I wouldn't worry.

She IS losing weight. That's why I'm so worried.

How much weight is she losing? Defecation cause a noticeable weight drop, easily in the double digit grams. My female Eastern Hog recently made a 10 gram drop when she finished digesting her most recent leopard frog. After that she has dropped a few more grams as she continues to defecate a little extra that wasn't part of the "initial load". This has all been over approximately a 2 week period (just a few days short).

Unless your snake starts to drop grams fast I wouldn't worry. Sometimes snakes just don't want to eat back to back weekly meals in captivity. I've had snakes go from eating weekly to refusing food for about a month before they would start eating again. Nothing was changed with their living conditions, the snakes just had no interest in food for a while.

The best thing you could do at this point is just offer food every 2-3 days, leave it for a few hours. If the snake shows no interest, take it out and try again a few days later.

Also with the shed cycle, the start of the cycle isn't very obvious. Their eyes just don't go "blue" overnight. They gradually get a little dull. The dull hue is hard to notice, but seems to be most easily observed on the ventral side of the snake that is a bit more "glossy". I've seen the first signs of a shed cycle appear as early as 3 weeks before the eyes start to go opaque.

I wouldn't worry if the weight isn't dropping very rapidly.

I can't even take her out of the tank to weigh her. Every time I stick my hand in to grab her, she strikes and hisses at me. She strikes and hisses at anyone who walks into that room.

Sounds like a snake that is going into shed. They often get pissy. Not just hogs, but many other species as well.

Do you have a hide on the warm area for this snake? Please put one in if not. Reptile Basics sell inexpensive black plastic low-height hides that work well. Of course, a hoggie will gladly just burrow into substrate if it is deep enough to cover the snake with at least an inch.