4 Weeks No Feed (Hognose)

[NennaMeerkat]

It seems stress has caught up with my replacement hoggie I got from my breeder in Februrary. It has been 4 weeks (possibly more by one or two) and she is not eating. Everything screams stress. She hisses, fake strikes, flattens her neck, and coils up on herself almost constantly when you touch her, bring her out for food, and even in the food feeding tub.

So following advice from a friend on another site I have moved her to our bedroom where there is NO foot traffic except at like 3am when we head to bed and then around 9am when we are getting up. If we do go in there it is for a few moments and then out again. Anyways, we also are getting a new couple of hides that are completely flat. Cork bark flats to be exact. Apparently a hoggie will feel even more secure if they feel something on top of them when they burrow, like a nice piece of lightweight wood.

Hopefully with these two combined moves she will eat by the time I come back from a mini vacation in about 2 weeks. If she doesn't eat after these two weeks I am gonna get live pinkies to see if that helps. It did help my previous hoggie (who turned out had a jaw problem) when she didn't want to eat F/T. I also have some really old frozen frog pieces that the breeder gave me, but they are so covered in ice I am not sure if anything is left...so to speak.

Meanwhile our two new leopard geckos are now on top of the bookshelf where she used to be. Hopefully they won't feel the stress like she did until our new table gets built for our office.

So maybe someone else might have any other ideas I could try?

[2006gt]

i dont know if you tried this but put her in a paper bag with the food item for a couple hours undisturbed see if she eats hope that works used to work for an old ball python i had!! GOOD LUCK!

[NennaMeerkat]

i dont know if you tried this but put her in a paper bag with the food item for a couple hours undisturbed see if she eats hope that works used to work for an old ball python i had!! GOOD LUCK!

Thanks, more than one person has said this. I will try it in two weeks and see what happens. Do you know why this works so well? And how do you keep the snake from finding its way out? I assume just rolling/crinkling the top.

[Jay]

Try putting a cellpho.... just kidding. When was her last shed and ^^ That sounds good if I have a Snake that didn't feed I limit all contact except spot cleaning and fresh water. Your mini vacation should allow her enough time to settle in. I would recommend that you feed her in her enclosure (where she feels the safest) GOOD LUCK

[NennaMeerkat]

Try putting a cellpho.... just kidding. When was her last shed and ^^ That sounds good if I have a Snake that didn't feed I limit all contact except spot cleaning and fresh water. Your mini vacation should allow her enough time to settle in. I would recommend that you feed her in her enclosure (where she feels the safest) GOOD LUCK

Oh man yeah that is all I need! A cellphone! OF COURSE!!

It is in question if it is her tank stressing her out or just the busy environment that she was in before tonight when we moved her. I haven't touched her except to feed her even before she went off feed. As for a shed...she hasn't had one at all. And hasn't shown blue eyes or any other sign that she is about to.

As for feeding her in her enclouser...I will consider it. There is a decoration that has a flat bottom with a lip on the inside of it that keeps the substrate out of it. Can put the f/t (or live) pink there without worrying it getting out or substrate getting in. And since it is the back of a decoration she might feel secure since it is "hidden" for the most part.

[stephanbakir]

Try putting a cellpho.... just kidding. When was her last shed and ^^ That sounds good if I have a Snake that didn't feed I limit all contact except spot cleaning and fresh water. Your mini vacation should allow her enough time to settle in. I would recommend that you feed her in her enclosure (where she feels the safest) GOOD LUCK
Feed her in her enclosure for sure. I'm going to assume her humidity and temps are dead on, Have you tried breaking open the skulls to expose brain? scenting the food with other food?

[Jay]

I would honestly try fresh kill or live depending on the size of prey your feeding as for feeding inside her enclosure just put the prey item on a plate.

[NennaMeerkat]

Feed her in her enclosure for sure. I'm going to assume her humidity and temps are dead on, Have you tried breaking open the skulls to expose brain? scenting the food with other food?

Her temps and humidity have not changed from the day I have brought her home. I check temps 3 times a day with a digital reader since I know those tank thermometers can be faulty. Temps have been steady 80 degrees and I don't use a heat lamp (we like our house a little hot). For night she has a heat pad that is on a dimmer and more times than not I find her not using it...home is still kept fairly warm even at night. Gotta love Texas right?

Our breeder said that normal house levels of humidity would be enough and that I wouldn't have to take special measures. And as far as I know these levels haven't changed since we brought her home either.

I haven't brained...don't like to do it. Funny as it is I would rather feed her live pinkies than a brained f/t one. As I mentioned somewhere I have bits of toad that my breeder gave me, but it has been in the freezer since Feb. without being used. I am not sure if it is good anymore to use.

[NennaMeerkat]

I would honestly try fresh kill or live depending on the size of prey your feeding as for feeding inside her enclosure just put the prey item on a plate.

She is on pinkies still. If I had to keep her on live I am cool with that...live or freshly killed. To be honest I think you can't beat the quality of live or fresh killed anyways. Worried though about putting anything "new" in the tank since she seems so hyper sensative and spooks so easily. Would much rather put it in the decoration piece. She gets back there all the time anyways so it is easily and safely accessable.

[Jay]

If shes only on pinkies I would say try a live pinkie, and through a towel over her enclosure. If you must peek in just try not to disturb her.

[NennaMeerkat]

If shes only on pinkies I would say try a live pinkie, and through a towel over her enclosure. If you must peek in just try not to disturb her.

I will try that after I get back from my trip. Husband will be here but he works all the time during the day and gets back later at night. So no one will really be around to disturb her as she gets used to being in the bedroom.

[stephanbakir]

Toad? I was under the impression that only specific snakes were immune to toad poison??

[TeaNinja]

i bet he'll settle down and eat eventually. when nigma was nearing 5 months i reaaaally started to get nervous but he picked it right back up again after.

[NennaMeerkat]

Toad? I was under the impression that only specific snakes were immune to toad poison??

Well I don't have the toad poison glands that are on the sides of their heads. I have like a couple of legs and a bit of the body. Not an entire toad.

[Lankyrob]

Is it around breeding season for Hoggies? Just wondering as my BP didnt eat for 12 weeks during breeding season and he is not anywhere near breeding size or age.

[NennaMeerkat]

Is it around breeding season for Hoggies? Just wondering as my BP didnt eat for 12 weeks during breeding season and he is not anywhere near breeding size or age.

Well it is a female...does the breeding season make females go off feed?

[sassy_snake_lady]

I would leave her be. She will feed when ready.

My male hoggie who is only just 1 year old, went off his food for 6 weeks. I tried everything, including live but he wasn't interested. One week he just decided to eat again and hasn't stopped since.

[stephanbakir]

Our males never eat during breeding season, and when they do its small meals, females sometimes eat but rarely and never when prego.

[NennaMeerkat]

Our males never eat during breeding season, and when they do its small meals, females sometimes eat but rarely and never when prego.

So during breeding season both male and female hognose can go off feed? And if that is the case how long is breeding season? She can't really afford to not eat meals.

[Lankyrob]

Is she losing weight/condition? Is that why she cant afford to miss meals?

[sassy_snake_lady]

Has she actually lost any weight, if so how much. What are her before and after weights.

They wont lose much in 4 weeks. I think my boy losy 4g but he wa 80g to start with so no real problem.

[NennaMeerkat]

If I had thought to weight her when she was eating regurlarly I would be able to tell you for sure if she has lost weight. However I *think* she *might* have lost a little. She seems trimmer than she was but since I didn't want to stress her out and thus didn't make a habit of holding her daily I couldn't say.

What I DO know is that she would only eat one pinkie a week...usually a small one (though I always offered 2 pinkies since they were small most of the time). When I first got her she would eat 2 pinkies every week but it slowly decreased to the one pinkie. Now we are down to none. I think it is stress causing this decrease however and not something else.