hognose going off food

[wolfgirrl]

I know it's pretty common for hoggies to go off feed but I'm having a frustrating time trying to figure out what might have caused it. He hasn't eaten for 3, almost 4 weeks. Thing is, he keeps coming out and searching for food the same way he always does when he wants to eat. He's about 7 months old (born early Sep 2014). Not in shed. Humidity and temperature is correct and has remained steady since I got him. He's been eating once a week like clockwork since I got him but just went off suddenly.

I fed him in his usual tub with his usual size, thought maybe the tub was finally too small for him (it was a deli cup more appropriate for a hatchling) so I tried a bigger tub. Didn't work. Tried bigger prey item, didn't work. Tried smaller prey item, didn't work.

His weight is keeping steady. I'm just not sure whether I should be concerned or not when he's had a perfect track record for 7 months but suddenly stopped. I don't think the food strike worries me so much as I've dealt with those before with my other snakes, but I am a little concerned about him acting hungry but not eating? I also can't help but feel bad for him because it looks like he keeps looking for food...

This is my first snake I've raised from a hatchling, I usually just buy adults. Is this some kind of puberty behavior?

[artgecko]

I have a male hognose that I've had for close to 2 years now with the same issues... Mine went off food after I'd had him for 2 months (I got him at the end of summer during July). He has stayed off food for the majority of the time I've had him since... I will get him to eat maybe once every 5-6 offerings, but that's it. He will typically be off food for about 1-2 months, then take a meal, then go off again. I have tried everything except live feeding him at this point.

I would try playing with your light schedule...That might help. The times when I do get mine to eat are usually in the middle of the day when the lights have been on in the snake room.

Good luck! Hopefully yours will grow out of his feeding problems.

[bcr229]

Just keep offering. My male has been off/on since we got him a year ago, he's almost two years old now. I have found that once he does eat there's little point in offering another meal for at least 10 days. This past winter he ate once every 3-4 weeks.

[George1994]

Are Hoggies quite fussy eaters? I am thinking of getting one (probably end up with about 12) in the future!

[John1982]

Are Hoggies quite fussy eaters? I am thinking of getting one (probably end up with about 12) in the future!

Not in my limited experience. Picked up three females and a male last year. After I got a couple of the smaller ones going the females have never skipped a meal while the male seems content feeding intermittently. I just figured it was something male nasicus do and I don't fret over it. He is still gaining mass but at a slower rate than my females.

To the original poster, so long as your hognose isn't losing body mass I wouldn't fret over him skipping some meals. Males can and do breed when they're younger, and smaller, than many would think. Heck, even adult males are rather small compared to females. If he has been feeding for you steadily the last 7 months my guess would be he is of a size, and age, where he simply has other things on his mind. We're at the tail end of hibernation and the beginning of breeding season so it makes sense that a sexually mature male would be trying to figure other things out right now while leaving food on the back burner.

If you're still worried you could always try to mix up offering methods. A lot of folks advise against going back to scented but I don't see it as a big deal. This might have something to do with the ease of the scenting method I use, or simply my affinity for boiled eggs, but if I had a snake that was losing mass I wouldn't hesitate to scent.

After having limited success with tuna, salmon and toad scents I went with the easiest route - boiled egg - and it worked like a charm. I'll boil up an egg, enjoy myself a snack save for a small piece of white, then thaw out the rodent in a little dish of water with the boiled white. I read these guys will eat reptile eggs in the wild and I reckon one egg smells much like another. While I've had refusals, and successes, with all other methods I've personally tried I have never had a refusal using egg scent. My experience is limited to a few snakes and only 2-3 weeks worth of scented feedings - take it for what it's worth.

Another method you could try is the soaking rodent. Remove the water dish the day before feeding. Dip your f/t rodent in water, get it nice and soaking. Then offer it nose first to your hungry, and now probably thirsty, hognose. They will often start drinking the water right off the rodent and move straight into swallowing the prey. I used this method a couple of times and it worked but I'm not a fan of withholding water so will opt for boiled egg white scenting when I want to get a stubborn hognose feeding in the future.

Another method I've heard of but not used is mock brumation. You can cool your snake for 2-3 weeks, which will also slow his metabolism and cause him to lose less mass if that is an issue for you. Snakes coming out of brumation tend to have a more ravenous appetite as they need to put on mass fast so they can compete with others for breeding rights or, in the case of females, produce eggs. This method makes sense to me but I've never tried it personally so am just passing on second hand information here.