Help...

[Nicky]

hey everyone,
its been three weeks since i got my baby hognose which has been eating its whole life well until i bought it. the first time i tried to feed it things went great she went up and started swollowing it as fast as she could but then my brother walked in and i got up to tell him to leave and i think i scared her so she spit it back out so i waited a week wihtout handling and tried again without any luck and then same thing on monday without any luck. first of all i'm wondering why she won;t eat i understand the first time which was my fault. but noe she/he just ignores it. also how long can they go without eating because i;m starting to get really worried the dude at the pet store says i can bring it to him and see if he can get her/him to eat but i;m going away soon and don;t have time to bring her until around the 20 th but can hognoses go that long? i know corns can but i;m not sure about her/him especially since bob's still small. if anyone has any ideas about how i could get her to eat id love to hear them
thx in advance kayla

[JD@reptiles]

go rub a bufo americanus agianst the pinkie.

[Joe]

One thing you could try is putting the hog into a small deli type container to feed her, just leave her in it over night in a dark place(like in your closet or something) and give her a smaller item then you would normally, and if you have always offered live, try dead, and vice versa.... It's hard for us to say it would be ok until the 20th because we have no clue on the size and weight of the animal....anyways I wish you the best of luck.

[sapphire_moon]

Isn't this when hognoses are just begging to go off food anyways???

All you can do is try.

You can also try a little tease feeding. just tap the pink on his side, he may get mad enough to take a bite and realize it's food.

[Classic]

Nicky: I have a couple new neonates also and one has eaten for me and one has not. It's not that big a deal for my situation yet. The non-feeder has checked out the food items but just ignors it as you say yours does. I have done the fresh kill and the frozen thawed as well as the live. I have done all of this in its enclosure and in a small tupperware container. Mine is just over 2 weeks but i'm not to worried about it as of late. If you start to notice that your little fellow is looking (not himself so to speak) then start to worry as it might be already too late. How are his weights? Mine has not lost any body mass. Has yours lost any? Do you take its weight regularly? It is very important to monitor your animals weight during its entire life and record it. This is how you will know when to worry.

Brian
HighWaterHerps

[Nicky]

ya i'm hoping to pick up some sort of scale to wiegh my hognose in does anyone know any good places and brands that i could use? thx

[Classic]

Nicky: i ordered from here for my scale and they are very good to deal with. The 6001T is a very practical scale that will do the job unless you intend to get into very heavy reptiles. 6000 grams.
It cost me $100.00 shipped.
http://digitalscales.ca/NewWEB/Mediumscales.html

Brian

[Nicky]

thx um does anyone know if there are any cheaper ones i mean i'll buy it if thats i;ll i can find but soemthing a bit cheaper would be great

[Linds]

You may be able to find a cheaper scale (used) on ebay. In comparison to most other scales, however, that scale is very cheap. I also have a 6000it model and it works great. Accurately weighs everything from a hatchling leo up to a 12 lb snake :D

[Auskan]

Nicky, I got a scale for $30 at walmart (USD) that does a good job. It weighs in 2g increments, but I find if the scale can't seem to decide if the weight is 10 or 12g, that probably means the "true" weight is 11g, so I record that. It also does ounces but I'm not sure what the increments are on those as I only use grams when weighing.

[Stockwell]

There is a great little digi scale at Business Depot, made by Sunbeam. It's around 50 bucks with 1 gram resolution, and tare function.

Hognose snakes are notorious for either not eating or eating then going off food, sometimes for months. This is more prevalent in young specimens, as I've never had it happen with adults. Some neonate don't feed until/unless they are brumated.

Along with toad scenting, sometimes they will take a surprisinly large live rodent meal. I've had hatchlings that wouldn't touch pinkies,take down live hoppers

[Will]

Look for digital postal scales at Office Depot or Staples. I got a decent one that goes in 1g increments up to 2.2kg. Don't know if that goes high enough for a hognose, but it works for me. Cost $40-45 CDN...

[Classic]

Roy, Is your hopper ratio equivilent to a newborn pinkie rat?

Brian