Problems With Regurgitation?

I've been looking at Hognose at a local store. They have a male and a female that apparently have some issues eating larger sized prey. The manager of the reptile dept. said that they feed them pinkies every other day instead of a fuzzy or hopper once a week, because they've both had a few instances for throwing up after eating the larger meal. Does anyone else have issues like this. I don't want to have to feed every other day. I always give my animals 48 hours to be by themselves after meals, that would mean I'd never get to handle it. The guy was also telling me that it's the fur that's causing the irritation since in the wild they normally eat amphibians. What do y'all think?

Sounds like a typical salesman to me. If it's at a pet store i wonder how long they have to digest before they are handled. If they're young and he's feeding them hoppers they may need more time to digest, if it's older and still not digesting hoppers could be a sign of a larger problem (infection, blockage, stress, temps, etc.)
I've only had one issue with a sick snake and then once with high temps. I'd be very cautious of that store.

I'm not sure I agree with you. If he was just being a 'typical salesman', why would he go to the trouble and tell me about the feeding problems they have. Both snakes are young, maybe a foot long. This store has a pretty good reputation around here, and I don't think they're just trying to make a buck. Obviously, I don't want to buy a snake that's going to have problems, I was just trying to find out if other people have had problems with Hoggies eating mice that are more of an appropriate size so the animal only eats about once a week.

Well, depending on the state, most have to give money back for an animal that has medical problems or dies shortly after purchase. It depends on the state so i could be wrong. Telling you of the issue could be because they don't want you to realize the problem within that certain time frame for return.
But, if the place has a good reputation than i would not worry as much. If it was a petsmart or petco i'd worry alot but if you trust them then by all means.
Personally, i have not had regurgitation issues except for sickness and once with heat issues. It's uncommon for a healthy snake to regurgitate anything appropriately sized, but not unheard of. The hair should not cause a problem for the snake because their 'mucussy' erm... snotty stuff and stomach acid USUALLY, but not always, would make their fur lay flat and smooth, not like an alfalpha do which would irritate.
Seeing as though i do not have first hand experience with an issue like unusual regurgitation, i'm not possitive. It seems to me like there would be an underlying issue that would cause regurgitation, but i'm no expert just a hobbyist :P
Feeding every other day seems very excessive for a long term thing.

I have three Hoggies and my oldest one eat's fuzzy with no problem. It may be that they handled shortly after feeding. Or if the temp's are to low can be a cause for regurgitation. The food size might be to big.

If they're a foot long they won't be able to eat anything with fur because the mouse would be too big. They still eat hairless mice at that age.

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Originally Posted by Hardwikk

If they're a foot long they won't be able to eat anything with fur because the mouse would be too big. They still eat hairless mice at that age.

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I have to disagree with that. I have a 12" 31 gram hog and she eats 2 mouse fuzzies every week for the past month and a half(that is how long I have had her) with no problems with regurgitation. I gauge the size of the food item by the girth of the snake (in most snakes, some thin snakes like carpets have no problem with something much bigger). So the girth of my 12 incher is a fuzzy.

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Originally Posted by Hyper Joe

I have to disagree with that. I have a 12" 31 gram hog and she eats 2 mouse fuzzies every week for the past month and a half(that is how long I have had her) with no problems with regurgitation. I gauge the size of the food item by the girth of the snake (in most snakes, some thin snakes like carpets have no problem with something much bigger). So the girth of my 12 incher is a fuzzy.

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My Hogger is 1' long and he's only big enough for the largest pinkies, and his girth is average (I've checked). Maybe he could take a fuzzy-can someone post a photo for size comparision?

I think this is quickly getting off topic. I'm gonna try to step in and get back on topic.

There is no reason to feed a snake every 2 days. Their bodies work much differently than ours and they don't use enough energy to need food that often. I doubt the store is giving them time after a regurge to build stomach acid back up (shortest time recommended is 2 weeks before next meal) This will cause more regurge. Regurgitation is a habit for snakes so I'd pass on these guys. Being a pet store, I'm sure that they let people hold them the day of being fed, or the day after. Western hognose do eat frogs and lizards in the wild, but once started on mice they don't have a problem with them. Their venom is so weak it wouldn't kill a full size mouse before it was able to inflict damage upon the snake.


I have to go back to "typical salesman." Why wouldn't this guy pass his problems onto you instead of seeing these things regurge all the time and die on him? Reputable or not, a breeder online with a wide range of customers is your best option IMO. You could also go to a show, you'd probably find it cheaper there anyways, or a different color/better color.

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Originally Posted by Hardwikk

My Hogger is 1' long and he's only big enough for the largest pinkies, and his girth is average (I've checked). Maybe he could take a fuzzy-can someone post a photo for size comparision?

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Next time my hog eats a fuzzy(in a few days) I will send you or link you a pic.
I will also try to show it with a ruler next to it for size comparison.

I am pretty sure your hog can eat a fuzzy mouse. Mine can eat 2! I am about to start feeding her hoppers instead of 2 fuzzies. After she eat she shows a slight difference in girth at the "lump". Which is just noticeable.

**Sorry fo getting off subject.. **

I have a 2' male western and he eats a small ASF, hair and all, without any problems. So, I'm not convinced about the hair being the cause for a regurge...

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Originally Posted by Hardwikk

My Hogger is 1' long and he's only big enough for the largest pinkies, and his girth is average (I've checked). Maybe he could take a fuzzy-can someone post a photo for size comparision?

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Here you go.

Length - fuzzy and snake
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/v...a/IMG_1016.jpg

Girth - fuzzy and snake
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/v...a/IMG_1017.jpg

Eaten - Notice she is not overly stretched out if at all. She can actually take on a mouse hopper.
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/v...a/IMG_1030.jpg

The girl we ended up getting is about 16" now and she takes a fuzzy not problem and acts like she's hungry all the time. I was just thinking of this thread this morning as I was feeding her. Our girl was in shed all this last week and wasn't too interested in food lately. She shed yesterday afternoon so I figured I'd feed her this morning (normal feeding day anway) and she was going crazy. Normally, she gets close to the mouse and just kind of bites quickly and then starts swallowing. This morning, she was striking at the tongs and hissing, it was funny. That fuzzy didn't last too long.

Oh, and I did find out why those two at the LPS were regurging. They were being fed normally every 5 days. BUT, people would come in and say "ah cool you got hognoses in here, can you feed them so we can see them eat?" So, they would feed them; this happened multiple times a week. So they were being overfed. Sucks though, like i said before the store in general has a good reputation. We bought our BP and our corn snakes from them and they seem to take really good care of their stock.

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Originally Posted by Hyper Joe

Here you go.

Length - fuzzy and snake
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/v...a/IMG_1016.jpg

Girth - fuzzy and snake
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/v...a/IMG_1017.jpg

Eaten - Notice she is not overly stretched out if at all. She can actually take on a mouse hopper.
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/v...a/IMG_1030.jpg

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I think he can take that.

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Originally Posted by Hardwikk

I think he can take that.

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Check this out. I offered a decent sized hopper mouse to the same 12 incher and she took it no problem. :O

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/v...a/IMG_3529.jpg

And she ate it backwards!!!

These hogs are pigs..

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Originally Posted by Hyper Joe

Check this out. I offered a decent sized hopper mouse to the same 12 incher and she took it no problem. :O

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/v...a/IMG_3529.jpg

And she ate it backwards!!!

These hogs are pigs..

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Hmmmm, she seems to like it tail end first. You have a crazy snake there! Mine likes to take it sideways and crush it.

p.s. i just reread that and can SO see it going in 'completely out of context'

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Originally Posted by Dragnbaron

Hmmmm, she seems to like it tail end first. You have a crazy snake there! Mine likes to take it sideways and crush it.

p.s. i just reread that and can SO see it going in 'completely out of context'

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ours to! it looks so crazy! I try to make some pics the next feeding.

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Originally Posted by FastDad

ours to! it looks so crazy! I try to make some pics the next feeding.

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Please do! Danke!

With my short experiences with hognoses I notice mine will eat it anyway they want. Sideways, backwards front.. They just take it into their mouth and how ever it is positioned it goes down. I have yet to see them look for the head first then swallow. Since they naturally eat toads, and toads are fat, that is the way hognoses do it I guess. :weirdface