IS MY Snake Eating TOO OFTEN/Please Respond

[jaleely]

Most of you have seen the photos of my hoggies. I've never noticed them being thin, even when they've gone off food for a shed. But when they are not shedding, they are actually begging me for food. I feed them every few days.
My "hard to feed" male has now turned into a garbage can, and my "easy" to feed male has now turned into the pickiest eater I have out of all my 16 snakes *lol*

I try to feed my picky one, Copper...and if he won't take it, i try again the next day. He usually will, then. (All conditions have to be accurate! Braining...opening the skull...it has to be the perfect warm temperature. It can't be wet...and it can't hover over him, it has to be presented head on with the tongs *lol*)
Anyway, i've found that my "garbage can" eater seems to prefer fish. I've switched him from mice, to fish *shrug* i just add caclium to the small fillet. He gobbles it down. I fed him just about every other day, when he was little. He's almost full grown now, i'd say. I feed every two-three days. His photos are through my profile and you can see he's not fat!
They poop after every meal.

[ILuvMyHognose]

Hello everyone, I would like to thank everyone for their replies and advice which I take very seriously. Especially when it comes to my animals well being.
I just read the other posts of fellow Hoggie owners. I have read in several articles that the metabolic rate of a hognose is quite fast. Which is why I was struggling with the idea of feeding them every 7-14 days. The breeders care sheet did not indicate whatsoever that the frequency of feeding should be tapered off as they grow. My snakes are clearly not obese nor mal nourished, I can show you when I take pictures of them this week. I will however feed them a little less just to be on the safe side. I will feed them maybe every 4-5 days. I am just not comfortable with some people saying that it is a danger and some saying that the snakes would be underfed if they weren’t fed every 2-3 days. As you can see it is fair to see why I would struggle with the information I am given. I know you shouldn’t trust every little thing that a breeder says, based on the pure fact that I don’t personally know the man but seeing how successful he is and seeing how beautifully his snakes and other species turn out I can’t help but think that he has to be doing something right.
So like I said, due to the different directional pull of the members opinions I think I will every 4-5 day feed. That seems like a right in the middle number. If that doesn’t work out for me in the next few months there is always my trusty exotic animal veterinarian I can take a trip to see with my hoggies for a checkup. I will update everyone on how it is going with them. I will make sure I get some pictures up of my little guys soon!!
Thanks Again all of you for your advice!!! Greatly appreciated.

[ILuvMyHognose]

I just showed my dad all of the posts and he tends to agree with the every 7 day method. He said he thought that every 2-3 days was alot. But he also notes he has never owned a hognose and doesn't know their eating habits as well as the king and corn snakes so that is why we were going by what the breeder said. He also mentioned the term "power feeding" (as someone mentioned above) as a method some breeders use to beef up there breeding stock. He said that maybe that is the method that the breeder was using when I talked to him, mentioning that I was concerned that the snakes didn't seem big enough. I haven't talked to the breeder in a long time. I think I am going to shoot him an email and tell him my concerns and ask him if I misunderstood what he was telling me to do. I am just curious to see what he has to say.
AGAIN!! THANKS!!!

[Gregg M]

The breeders methods are not power feeding. It is the proper feeding for Heterodon nasicus.

Look at the people who are telling you to feed every 7 days or so. They are people who either do not keep the species or are not successful with the species. The peope who are telling you every 3 days is the proper feeding amount are peole who have great success with keeping and breeding the species, including myself.

To me, its a no brainer. The opinion of those who have experience and success with the species you are looking for info on are the people you should be listening to. Those who do not have success or experience with hognose snakes are full of opinions based on nothing but information they have read about other species.

Keep in mind, these are very successful breeders in the hobby.

Here are a couple of links to other breeders care sheets.

Bennett Reptiles - Hognose Care Info

Hognose Snakes

Hognose Caresheet

[ILuvMyHognose]

Originally Posted by Gregg M

The breeders methods are not power feeding. It is the proper feeding for Heterodon nasicus.

Look at the people who are telling you to feed every 7 days or so. They are people who either do not keep the species or are not successful with the species. The peope who are telling you every 3 days is the proper feeding amount are peole who have great success with keeping and breeding the species, including myself.

To me, its a no brainer. The opinion of those who have experience and success with the species you are looking for info on are the people you should be listening to. Those who do not have success or experience with hognose snakes are full of opinions based on nothing but information they have read about other species.

Keep in mind, these are very successful breeders in the hobby.

Here are a couple of links to other breeders care sheets.

Bennett Reptiles - Hognose Care Info

Hognose Snakes

Hognose Caresheet

I absolutely respect your success as a hognose keeper. Which is mainly what I was looking for. Someone who, knows the species, keeps the species, had success with them and mainly has experience with the snake, especially who has had success keeping this particular snake to a ripe old age. Those are the people that I have been looking for. Because the breeder seems to know what he is doing and is the type of person I dealt with in the past with other things like lizards and such and has never done me wrong with any of them. That is mainly why I came to this forum to get different opinions based on experience with hognose in particular. The question that has been bothering me the last few days is “why would the breeder stear me in such a wrong direction?” it just didn’t seem to add up to me, especially since I have become such good friends with him over the years. I have seen his breeding stock and they all seem healthy and happy. I hope my own decisions with my own hognose with lead them into a happy, healthy, long life with me. We will always learn from experience and I hope my hoggies and myself benefit from a good one. I thank you all for your advice and opinions, I have gathered lots of info from just this thread alone that I can go ahead and make a good decision on my own. I greatly appreciate all of your input!!!! I also hope to become a long lasting member on this forum. I am sure I will have lots of questions as a new hognose owner and I am excited to learn more about them. I just really love these little guys. They are awesome!!! I also have many other reptiles that I would love to share with all of you.

[BarelyBreathing]

Every breeder I've ever spoken to has advised me to keep him on this schedule, and they keep their snakes on this schedule, as well. He is not undersized, I've been told he is what is to be expected for his age.

[Gregg M]

Originally Posted by BarelyBreathing

Every breeder I've ever spoken to has advised me to keep him on this schedule, and they keep their snakes on this schedule, as well. He is not undersized, I've been told he is what is to be expected for his age.

BB,
Who is every breeder you have spoken to? Seriously, I know and am friends with pretty much all the top hognose breeders in the hobby. That is where I learned how to keep and breed them.

How old is your hog and how much does it weigh? I am not trying to be a tool. Just want to know who is stearing you in the wrong direction.

Hognose keeping has coe a long way over the last few years.

[BarelyBreathing]

I've only spoken to Colorado and Kansas breeders. I've never weighed him, but he's between six and nine months old I believe (I will double check with hubby).

[Toronto1977]

Originally Posted by Gregg M

The breeders methods are not power feeding. It is the proper feeding for Heterodon nasicus.

Look at the people who are telling you to feed every 7 days or so. They are people who either do not keep the species or are not successful with the species. The peope who are telling you every 3 days is the proper feeding amount are peole who have great success with keeping and breeding the species, including myself.

To me, its a no brainer. The opinion of those who have experience and success with the species you are looking for info on are the people you should be listening to. Those who do not have success or experience with hognose snakes are full of opinions based on nothing but information they have read about other species.

Keep in mind, these are very successful breeders in the hobby.

Here are a couple of links to other breeders care sheets.

Bennett Reptiles - Hognose Care Info

Hognose Snakes

Hognose Caresheet

Thanks for providing such great info Gregg. I will be following your recommendations with my Hoggie.

[jaleely]

Don't forget to post pics! I want to see your little hoggies!
I forgot to agree that their metabolism was higher than a lot of other snakes. It is, so Gregg is right on the ball and it is not power feeding for them.

BB we need pics of your hoggie too!

[BarelyBreathing]

You know, I don't think I have a single picture of him. That needs to change. Tonight.

[Gregg M]

Originally Posted by BarelyBreathing

I've only spoken to Colorado and Kansas breeders. I've never weighed him, but he's between six and nine months old I believe (I will double check with hubby).

I do not know any hognose breeders in those States. Can you name one or two?

Not many breeders in Colorado because of the fact that you can only have up to 12 at any time. Breeding and hatching one clutch would put you over the limit and would cause you to be breaking the law. Also, even if captive bred, they can not leave the State of Colorado. Also, those of us, outside the State of Colorado are not allowed to ship hogs into the State of Colorado.

Here are the laws.

Except as provided in #015.A. of these regulations, up to four individuals of each of the following species and/or subspecies of reptiles and amphibians may be taken annually and held in captivity, provided that no more than twelve in the aggregate may be possessed at any time:
Plains spadefoot
Woodhouse’s toad
Boreal chorus frog
Painted turtle Ornate box turtle
Common sagebrush lizard
Ornate tree lizard
Common side-blotched lizard
Prairie lizard
Plateau fence lizard
Gophersnake
Terrestrial gartersnake
Plains gartersnake
Common lesser earless lizard
Tiger whiptail
North American racer
Plains hog-nosed snake

[BarelyBreathing]

I am familiar with the laws in Colorado. It just so happens that the breeders here breed eastern hogs and tri-colors. Mark, Dan, and Katie to name a few.

[Gregg M]

Originally Posted by BarelyBreathing

I am familiar with the laws in Colorado. It just so happens that the breeders here breed eastern hogs and tri-colors. Mark, Dan, and Katie to name a few.

That might explain your stance on feeding. If we were talking about Easterns or tri-colors, feeding every 7 days would be enough and I would agree with you. However, we are talking about Westerns which require different husbandry than both the Eastern and tri-color hognoses.

See how easy we can get to the bottom of things when you provide information?

[StudentoReptile]

In light of this new information, I'm actually astonished how many herpers out there seem synonymize all the hognose species with each other.

I was actually familiar with easterns long before I was familiar with westerns/plains.

But I have encountered a surprising amount of hobbyists that think there is only "one" type of hognose.