Food Refusal / Fear Response?

Hello everyone,
I have a male hognose that we got at the end of july. He ate 4 times for us on f/t, which is what the breeder had him on, then he went off food and has not eaten in about 35 days. We've tried a lot of methods and none seem to work. I know this can be common with male snakes, but what has me puzzled is his response. He doesn't just ignore the food item, he fear strikes and hisses at it... Not sure if this is towards the feeding tongs or the pinkie mouse. When left alone with the pinkie, he ignores it.

Is it normal for snakes refusing food to show this "fear" response, or is this abnormal behavior?

Thanks for your help!
Artgecko

How long have you left him with it? Sometimes with mine, they'll strike and ignore for about 30 minutes. I'll then put the feeding bin inside the enclosure, covered with a dark cloth. Obviously, I feed in a separate enclosure lol.

Maybe a couple hours at a time... Also tried keeping him in a smaller enclosure in his tank and feeding in it after a week...Didn't work either. Tried putting him in a deli cup with it covered in his tank and had no success... He's stubborn, lol.

Sounds like my little turd! Have you tried dunking it in tuna juice? Also, how big is he, what are you feeding, and what's his temps like? Maybe try a live pink to get him started if you haven't already

I tried chicken broth (recommended by breeder) for scenting.. no luck. Have not tried a live pink yet, but that is on the list for next weekend. He's 19 grams now... down from 21 before the hunger strike. His temps are 90 hot side and mid-low 80's cool side. Feeding f/t pinkies (was on peach fuzzies, but have been trying smaller food since he has been refusing to eat).

Thanks for your help!

Sounds just like my Wilbur. When I first got him over a year ago, he was right on the money and ate every week. Then all of sudden he would only hiss and strike at his f/t hopper and leave it alone. He did that for over a month and just a couple of weeks ago started back on his regular schedule. He just took a chunky hopper yesterday with no hesitation. Hang in there and your's should do the same thing. Keep us posted.

I've had a hognose do this before and what I found worked for me, which I tried after two refusals was I put a live small pinkie and put it in a brown paper bag with him and closed it, put it more towards the warm side and fold it over. I would usually have to leave it there for 30 mins to an hour sometimes and after a few times of that I didn't have a problem with him for the months following a trade where he went to a new home. Good luck.

Thanks for your input guys! I'll definitely try feeding live this weekend and will see how that goes. I hope that he'll decide to start eating soon since this is stressing me out. I never knew how stressful a snake not eating could be until this little booger. :/

Thanks again for your time and help! I'll keep you updated... I'll probably try and feed him on Saturday.

Artgecko