Finally Got my Hoggie to Eat

I posted on here a couple times about my female western hognose who refused to eat. After several months, a million different scents, I am happy to say she is finally eating! She was born last July, sold to me in December at about 7g. Since then, she only ate two pinkies and I had to resort to assist feeding mice/rat tails. I finally got a green tree frog and was able to scent a pinky with that and she took it down within a few minutes. I am beyond excited right now and hope this is the start to actually enjoying having her. Special thank you to Deborah, who answered dozens of private messages and gave me a ton of advice! here is a picture of the little girl right after she ate: https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...1/img_5755.jpg

Congrats! I know the feeling when your bebes just won't eat. I hate that anxiety. I just got my hognose yesterday and luckily enough she was established already. She ate within the day.

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That's awesome!! Congrats!!

Deborah is awesome, she helped me out a lot too.
I'm "snakesitting" a hognose for a friend who couldn't get hers to eat. He came to me in March having not eaten in months for my friend and months for the previous owner. He was a tiny 11 grams. Deborah answered a bunch of PMs from me, I made some adjustments and he ate! And then ate again, and again... He has now eaten all 13 offerings without refusal and is up to 14-15 grams.

I've had the little guy since March and the owner barely asks about him, barely replies to my texts and hasn't been by once to see her snake. So I'm almost sure she's just going to tell me to keep him.
I kinda hope she does, I like the little guy. :D

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Originally Posted by IDorko

Congrats! I know the feeling when your bebes just won't eat. I hate that anxiety. I just got my hognose yesterday and luckily enough she was established already. She ate within the day.

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

That's awesome!! Congrats!!

Deborah is awesome, she helped me out a lot too.
I'm "snakesitting" a hognose for a friend who couldn't get hers to eat. He came to me in March having not eaten in months for my friend and months for the previous owner. He was a tiny 11 grams. Deborah answered a bunch of PMs from me, I made some adjustments and he ate! And then ate again, and again... He has now eaten all 13 offerings without refusal and is up to 14-15 grams.

I've had the little guy since March and the owner barely asks about him, barely replies to my texts and hasn't been by once to see her snake. So I'm almost sure she's just going to tell me to keep him.
I kinda hope she does, I like the little guy. :D

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I was almost at the point of giving up and gonna try to rehome
her. Honestly it was my own fault for not trying an actual frog scent sooner. Congrats on the new hognose and Craigafrachette I hope you get to keep him :) Hopefully, this is the start of consistent feeding so I'll be able to start really enjoying keeping this species. I've barely handled her since December and can't wait to watch her grow

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Originally Posted by cron14

I was almost at the point of giving up and gonna try to rehome
her. Honestly it was my own fault for not trying an actual frog scent sooner. Congrats on the new hognose and Craigafrachette I hope you get to keep him :) Hopefully, this is the start of consistent feeding so I'll be able to start really enjoying keeping this species. I've barely handled her since December and can't wait to watch her grow

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I hope so too. If not I know who to contact to get one of my own :gj:
I've tried to handle this guy as little as possible so I wouldn't get attached, but lately it's been tough to just check on him and not want to hang out with the little guy. He's an awesome little snake. He's definitely becoming part of the family.

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

That's awesome!! Congrats!!

Deborah is awesome, she helped me out a lot too.
I'm "snakesitting" a hognose for a friend who couldn't get hers to eat. He came to me in March having not eaten in months for my friend and months for the previous owner. He was a tiny 11 grams. Deborah answered a bunch of PMs from me, I made some adjustments and he ate! And then ate again, and again... He has now eaten all 13 offerings without refusal and is up to 14-15 grams.

I've had the little guy since March and the owner barely asks about him, barely replies to my texts and hasn't been by once to see her snake. So I'm almost sure she's just going to tell me to keep him.
I kinda hope she does, I like the little guy. :D

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I hope you get to keep him! He sounds like he's better off in your hands. It would be really shady if you put it in all that work then your friend comes in and swoops him off your hands once he's well established. I think I'd be [emoji35]

0.1 Desert Pinstripe (pet only)
1.0 Pastel Spectre
0.1 Anaconda Western Hognose

Future Aquisitions
0.1 Sunset (July 2017)
1.0 Hypo Hog (June 2017)

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Originally Posted by IDorko

I hope you get to keep him! He sounds like he's better off in your hands. It would be really shady if you put it in all that work then your friend comes in and swoops him off your hands once he's well established. I think I'd be [emoji35]

0.1 Desert Pinstripe (pet only)
1.0 Pastel Spectre
0.1 Anaconda Western Hognose

Future Aquisitions
0.1 Sunset (July 2017)
1.0 Hypo Hog (June 2017)

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Well, that was the agreement. I agreed to try to get him on track and eating and once he was established and eating regularly she would take him back. Then after a handful of successful meals she asked if I could keep him a bit longer because she's looking for a new apartment. It's been over a month and no mention at all of taking him back.
Now I just hope she says keep him. But, he's hers and I will return him if she asks me to.

Having a young hognose not eating is never fun, but now I have a feeling that you are on the right tract and will finally be able to enjoy being a hognose owner, they are fun to keep and when on track really easy to care for and enjoyable.

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Great to hear, I remember you posting a few times and that's a long time to go without on such a little snake, really stresses you out when they won't eat.

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

Great to hear, I remember you posting a few times and that's a long time to go without on such a little snake, really stresses you out when they won't eat.

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It's been a long few months..:rolleye2:

Congratulations! I have a little male hognose who's an inconsistent eater, so I understand the frustration. Meanwhile my little girl hog eats like a pig. I wish she would teach him how to do it!

Thanks! I was so happy to get a species that are know to be voracious once they get going because my BP decides to eat whenever he feels like it lol Between her and my BP going on a 5 and a half month fast I was so frustrated. Between February and now I can't believe that I can say I was happier with the BPs feeding than my hognose

I think this is my last question but I've seen a lot of different opinions on this. Is there such a thing as overfeeding these guys? Deborah I know you suggested twice a week but she's eaten 5 meals for me over the course of the last 16 days and 3 times this week already. I know their metabolisms are very fast and since she hasn't eaten for so long I don't want to deprive her of food. Should I continue feeding this way for the next 3 months and then pull it back? I know pinkies are mainly fat so the last thing I want for her is to get sick but she is an absolute garbage disposal at this point

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Originally Posted by cron14

I think this is my last question but I've seen a lot of different opinions on this. Is there such a thing as overfeeding these guys? Deborah I know you suggested twice a week but she's eaten 5 meals for me over the course of the last 16 days and 3 times this week already. I know their metabolisms are very fast and since she hasn't eaten for so long I don't want to deprive her of food. Should I continue feeding this way for the next 3 months and then pull it back? I know pinkies are mainly fat so the last thing I want for her is to get sick but she is an absolute garbage disposal at this point

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I feed every 3-4 days as their metabolism is much faster than other snakes, like ball pythons for example. Adults are fed every 5-7 days but I keep my male to once a week.

After a fed her today, she still looked hungry so I defrosted a pinky and she took it unscented! I'd say thats a good sign but am I overdoing it?

I like to feed every 3 days until they are about 25 grams than every 5 days until they reach about 100 grams than about once a week.

Usually that put my yearling around 55 grams for males and 75 grams for females on average.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

I like to feed every 3 days until they are about 25 grams than every 5 days until they reach about 100 grams than about once a week.

Usually that put my yearling around 55 grams for males and 75 grams for females on average.

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Well I've been doing it a little backwards then. I've been feeding every 3 days with the goal of 75 grams or so for my females before going to every 5 days. I'll have to scale back the feeding. I know they have a high metabolism but was under the impression and from care sheets I read that up to 70-75 grams they are fed every 3-4 days.

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Originally Posted by andrewross8705

Well I've been doing it a little backwards then. I've been feeding every 3 days with the goal of 75 grams or so for my females before going to every 5 days. I'll have to scale back the feeding. I know they have a high metabolism but was under the impression and from care sheets I read that up to 70-75 grams they are fed every 3-4 days.

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Once they start to eat meaningful preys (no longer feeding on pinkies) they put on weight relatively fast which is why after 25 grams I feed every 5 days, there is always a fine line between feeding enough and feeding too much (also many people don't feed their colubrids enough), I could feed them more and they would eat but I do not want my animals to grow too fast and more importantly too fat.

At my feeding rate my females reach 200 grams by their second's birthday which is pretty much on target.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Once they start to eat meaningful preys (no longer feeding on pinkies) they put on weight relatively fast which is why after 25 grams I feed every 5 days, there is always a fine line between feeding enough and feeding too much (also many people don't feed their colubrids enough), I could feed them more and they would eat but I do not want my animals to grow too fast and more importantly too fat.

At my feeding rate my females reach 200 grams by their second's birthday which is pretty much on target.

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Ah. That does make sense. Currently, I have one female who is almost a year old and a male who is less than a year on peach fuzzies. Adult male is on hoppers but 53g currently. Everyone else is still on large pinkies. I'll have to update my feeding schedule. Thank goodness for online calendars.