My new hoggie!

[savvylr]

Well, I don't have an actual picture of her yet (didn't think about it while I had her out changing her enclosure). I purchased her almost two weeks ago from a breeder whom I'd sold my beloved Bearded dragon to about two years back. She is a normal 100% het toffee.

To start, I had her on paper towels and had quite a simple setup with a hot hide and a cool hide. She had been started on f/t pinkies with the breeder, but she has yet to eat for me. She had her first shed with me a few days ago and I offered the next day, no luck. I was reading a bit about how to make her feel more secure, so I picked up some shredded aspen and a fake plant and I redid her enclosure. I'm hoping that it will help her feel more secure so she will start eating for me. I'm going to be offering a pinky to her on Wednesday. Oh! And she is 8 grams right now, but has good body tone. She's a pretty girl. Hopefully she'll eat here soon so that I can finally get some proper pics haha.

Nevertheless! I figured I would snap some photos of her setup, since I had to change it. She has a mini reptitherm mat hooked to a JumpStart thermostat that maintains a pretty constant temp of 89-93 degrees. She also has a low-watt heat lamp that is helping with the humidity and also helps keep up the ambient temps (it gets pretty cold in my house). Anyway, here are the pics!


In my desperate attempt to get the humidity down (it was at about 88%; I do live in a very humid part of Florida), I went ahead and cut out a large rectangle in the lid (kept the sealing and locking part of the lid intact for security). Drilling holes in the tub just wasn't getting it.


Can you find her?


From the side.

Anyway, that's that. I also need a name for her! Any suggestions are welcome!

[macandchz]

congrats! looks like you are all set. good luck with her.

[Mother_Goddess]

Lol, I'm trying to hard to find her!! I am in the process of getting my temps right before picking up my new baby and running out of patience! I think I'm going to get her some vines to give her more hiding space other than her warm and cool hides.

[JellyBean]

Looks good!
How big is your setup? (Hard to tell in the pics)

If she is indeed only 8 grams, you may want to either
A. Put a LOT more stuff in the enclosure for hiding under more plants etc, or
B. Use a sterilite shoe box until she gets a bit bigger, which won't take long at all once she eats

She is just stressed from the move, and with a hog so small, I believe she actually has too much space. (And I don't usually agree with "too much space" for most, but definitely for tiny hoggies).

One last thing, because hognose don't eat from trees, don't dangle above the head, it scares them. Just slowly slide the mouse along the bottom of the cage with your tweezers, or just leave it in the box with your baby girl.

Those are tips we got from a hognose breeder, hope it helps you!

[savvylr]

macandchz - Thanks!
Mother_Goddess - You can see just a portion of her by the bottom left corner of the hide haha. Hope you get everything up and ready soon for your baby!
JellyBean - I believe I have a 15 qt ziploc tub. It was the smallest I could find and I chose it for the security that it provides in keeping the snake in. She is a little over 8 grams and probably around 7 inches long. When she is stretched out completely she is about half as long as the tub. Right now I suppose I'll see about getting some pvc hides and more plants, and maybe I can figure out some dividers in order to make this enclosure smaller. I'm going to see how she does for the next yew days then implement dividers if she doesn't eat Wednesday.

And thanks for the tips for feeding! Last time I tried to feed her I definitely tried the above-the-head thing. No wonder she threw such a hissy fit. I will definitely just leave it in there next time

[JellyBean]

I wish you luck and hope she eats Wednesday!
But if not, don't give up. It's actually pretty common.

Can't wait to see pics of her once she feels a little more secure. They are so cute!

[Mother_Goddess]

Ah yes, I had to read instructions and increase the size of the photo. Gah, I know you can't wait for her to get to eating and love on that baby.

[savvylr]

Welp. She still has not eaten.,but she honestly does not seem at all stressed out by her enclosure like she was in the beginning when she was just on paper towels. Then she would stay in one spot curled up all the time. Now she is very much an explorer of her tub. I see her out and about several times a day. Yesterday morning I got up and went in the tub to grab her water and she was right there hanging out on the plant to greet me. She is not shy at all. And this morning I woke up to find her little head poking out of one of her tunnels to observe what was going on.

[savvylr]

Told my hoggie that if she didn't eat for me today I was going to have to move her to a much smaller enclosure so she could enjoy some alone time with her food.. After giving me a hissy fit she finally decided she didn't want to relocate.

[Piggybuns]

Awww congrats! I'm glad she finally ate for you!

[SWDK]

Congrats! Glad the threats worked in your favor and it ate for you. It's always a nice feeling when the hunger strike ends.

[savvylr]

Yes! Thanks guys. I was going to wait until Sunday to give a feeding another try, but she was a little lethargic today and I figured I'd give it a shot. So glad she's eating. Then I can finally play with her a bit and get some nice shots of her in a few days!

[JellyBean]

YAY! Congrats on the feeding. Silly thing made you revert to threats

[savvylr]

Thanks! A couple days ago I was able to handle her and get some photos and she ate again yesterday! Yay! She accepted the meal more quickly thank last time but it was still a five minute ordeal. Hopefully each time it gets shorter until she just decides to eat right off the bat. Anyway, here she is!

[JellyBean]

Adorable! Love their little turned up noses