Hunger strike week3

So little man went on a feeding strike about 3 weeks ago. After offering a few different scents. He is still refusing. Nothing has changed for him as far as temps and husbandry. In terms of causing him to go off food.

its been about a solid week with out me throwing any food at him. I thought it would be a good time to take him out and put him in a little container slightly bigger than a delicup so he can still move around a little. I scented a live pink mouse with salmon. I also put a little bit of the salmon in there as well. Hell I will be happy if he eats the salmon. In retrospect I’m thinking a live pink might just piss him off more. However it’s done. Got him in a quiet place with low light. Wish me luck! I will update.

Hognose can be picky especially males

Has he eaten from you previously?

What is his size? (weight)

How big is your enclosure?

What substrate do you use?

What are your temps?

How do you offer food?

He was born May 14. Had 5 meals from breeder. Was fed every 3 day. Xs mouse pink. I was feeding every 5 days. Two left out and a couple off the tongs. Also xs pinks.

He is a male. Came at 9. Got him to 10. Haven’t weighed in awhile. He does look slightly smaller. He shed and pooped for me. I stopped offering on tongs when he started striking at them.

Enclosure is 15 gallon, but has a lot of clutter and substrate. Aspen

he has a heat mat. Surface scanned temp is 88. Cool side 70-75 degrees. Humidity stays at 50%. I can’t get it any lower.

He comes out and plays with his rice sock every now and then. It’s tied up and he try’s to burrow through it. He doesn’t seem sick or super stressed. Stomach and vent look/feel ok. I can see why he would be sick of mice pinks though. I even tried leaving a pink out scented with Vienna sausages as I had seen you suggest. If this doesn’t work thinking about hard boiled egg.

Also he has a day/cycle with uvb

Well I am not surprise it is not eating.

First breeders are in too much of a rush to get rid of their animals and IMO they should not be sold before getting at least 10 unscented f/t meals, anything shy of that and a new owner is usually a receipe for disaster as hognose especially young ones will go down the hill fast if they do not eat.

First your enclosure is WAY too big and should be put aside until your hog reaches 50 grams. At this age for a well established animal I would recommend a 5 gallons tank at the very most and in most cases it does not work, if the animal is already showing feeding issue at that age it was either not well started or is not kept in optimum conditions and in this case it's a combination of both.

Get a 6 quarts tub or smaller 2.7 would be even better, have 1/2 inch of aspen as bedding and leave him alone.

Tempertures are too low as well on the cool side you need to bump that cool side to 78 and 80 would be best.

Humidity is too high as well ambient humidity 20% to 30% is what you need to aim for.

After that offer food give is 3 to 5 days to settle.

Offer as followed

Unscented Live pink

Scented live pink with the following in order

Vienna sausage

Tuna

Chicken (from chicken in a can)

Hard boiled egg

Sardine

Anchovies

Ok. Yeah that seem a little extreme feeding to me. I will definitely change his enclosure. Humidity is going to be a little rough but I do have a dehumidifier I can bring up and keep him in a different room. I will definitely follow to a T.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Igotsmallballs

Ok. Yeah that seem a little extreme feeding to me. I will definitely change his enclosure. Humidity is going to be a little rough but I do have a dehumidifier I can bring up and keep him in a different room. I will definitely follow to a T.

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Every 3 days is actually a great schedule until they are a out 15 to 20 grams because they have a high metabolism and the prey item is meaningless it's just they need to be fed a lot more before being released, I don't even let mine go anymore until they are 15 grams and really bullet proof.

One more thing when you offer food don't off with tongs, usually until they are about 15 grams it's a hit and miss for them, simply fold a piece of paper towel and put the prey item on it and leave it overnight

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stewart_Reptiles

Every 3 days is actually a great schedule until they are a out 15 to 20 grams because they have a high metabolism and the prey item is meaningless it's just they need to be fed a lot more before being released, I don't even let mine go anymore until they are 15 grams and really bullet proof.

One more thing when you offer food don't off with tongs, usually until they are about 15 grams it's a hit and miss for them, simply fold a piece of paper towel and put the prey item on it and leave it overnight

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Copy that. Thx!

Little man is in a 2.7 quart tub. Got him out yesterday to put him in and he was blue. Hopefully he can shed and adjust at the same time. Letting him chill. The enclosure does look way more suitable for his size. He his even using the much smaller hide I got for him. Which is a first for him. Normally he would borrow outside the hide while still being on the heat mat.

Trust in Deb. She got my Hognose boy eating a while back. He's been thriving ever since. :gj:

Here's the link if your interested (cool, but somewhat sad story of how he came into my possession)

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-to-the-family

Yep. My first bp enclosure was to big, but I cluttered it up and she thrived. Now that I look at it in retrospect compared to what he’s in now. That had to be a huge open scary world for him. Surprised he was eating at all for awhile.

I will check it out. Thx

Update!!!!!!!!

This morning I noticed he had shed out in one nice piece. Figured it would be a could time to feed. Plus the house was going to be silent. Left an unscented pinky out for him. As suggested. Just got a text from my gf saying the mouse was gone from the napkin!!!! Super stoked!!!

Tyvm very much Deb!!!

He will gradually be upgrading to slightly bigger enclosures as needed!

Cant believe I thought I could just clutter a cage that big up like I did my pythons. He was way to small!
lesson learnt!!

Took little man out today for the first time in awhile. Wellness check/15 mins of play time.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...547407aef5.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...547407aef5.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a068792d64.jpg


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Igotsmallballs

Update!!!!!!!!

This morning I noticed he had shed out in one nice piece. Figured it would be a could time to feed. Plus the house was going to be silent. Left an unscented pinky out for him. As suggested. Just got a text from my gf saying the mouse was gone from the napkin!!!! Super stoked!!!

Tyvm very much Deb!!!

He will gradually be upgrading to slightly bigger enclosures as needed!

Cant believe I thought I could just clutter a cage that big up like I did my pythons. He was way to small!
lesson learnt!!

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Glad to hear :gj: , a few more meals like that and he should be on track good job.

Meal two was taken today!

Late update. He is good to go and doing well! He’s a lot more docile now and when I get him out. He climbs onto my hand with some kneeling down and patience. I miss his sassy attitude. His overall health and welfare is the most important thing to me though. He’s doing chomps like a boss!!

I would like to eventually get him a future girlfriend. However I think I will hold of on lower humidity snakes for now. This summer has been rough humidity wise. I’m also $350 in the hole because of a dehumidifier. Southern Ohio weather is nuts. We shall see what the winter brings. He will probably thrive even more with lower humidity!

This will be the last update. I hope putting my blunder out there and assuming I could just clutter his cage up like my bp’s helps someone. It was probably the equivalent of putting a bp in a 120 gallon aquarium. Mine are in 20 gallon exo’s. Thx to all who helped out! It was definitely a humbling experience and a well learned lesson!