hognose not feeding

hi.my hognose has gone 6 weeks without feeding now.when i first got it it took pinkies no problems but now it doesn't want to know.it just has a hissy fit.i've left the pinkie in the cage for a couple of hours but no success.could it be with the weather been colder? is there anything to be worried about

Unless it is loosing weight it should be ok. If the temps have dropped then so has its feeding response. You can either go ahead and drop the temps and let him brumate or raise the temps and continue feeding.

hogs are notorious for going off feed this time of year... it'll be fine i'm sure.

It could be the whole brumation thing. If it's starting to become underweight, then it might be time for a vet.

P.S. To everyone else: I have no experience with Hogger self-brumation. Know why? Cause mine doesn't do that!

I agree with everyone. If it's not losing weight and fairly active it's fine. Before a vet visit i always try an 'assisted' feeding. I open the hogs mouth and set the pinky in there. Usually, they will start eating. sometimes they spit it up and i take them to the vet, but that's only after months of not feeding or any lethargy.

what age is it? i ask because you say its eating pinkies. if its small enough to eat pinkies should it be brumating? my adult male stopped eating in december, he wont start till march, as he did last year, but my baby female is eating her fuzzies as usual.

covah-my hognose is about 1 year old.it's fairly active and i've checked the snake over.can't see any signs of illness so i'm guessing it's brumating.just doesn't seem interested in feeding at all

You know, i'm curious because i think my male is doing the same thing.
If you up the temps, will that bring a hogger out of it's brumation cycle early? Or will it have to run its' corse?

mine always goes off feed this time of year no matter what the temp is. she just stopps eatting. this year i shut my heaters off late november....thats when she stopped and ill pick them up again in late feb. early march.

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Originally Posted by Lucas339

mine always goes off feed this time of year no matter what the temp is. she just stopps eatting. this year i shut my heaters off late november....thats when she stopped and ill pick them up again in late feb. early march.

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Ahh cool cool, thanks!
I think i may turn mine off too. I usually only try to brumate them if i want to breed them, but i have a small fridge that i use to keep a constant temperature (same thing i use for tortoises)

thanks for all the advice.just a note about switching the heat off tho.will the hognose snake be ok then with no heat until late feb.early march or will a heat mat be sufficent?

my snake room is heated so the temps never fall below 80. i breeder i know would keep them in a refriator with the temp bumped up a bit. they will be fine with lower temps for a while. not sure what you house temps are but someone suggested to put the snake in a shoebox serilite and put it in a closet so its dark. the snake should be fine with this.

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Originally Posted by ianpudlich

covah-my hognose is about 1 year old.it's fairly active and i've checked the snake over.can't see any signs of illness so i'm guessing it's brumating.just doesn't seem interested in feeding at all

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in that case i would say its doing what they ALL do. my wee guy stops eating end off november and does not start till beginning of march. it does worry you the first time they do it though, well it did me. now i know he does it every year. dont worry.:)

:gj:

There is nothing more to say.

fastdad i love you avatar! the hoggie is smiling!

my male hoggy ate on 9th january. he was early this year.

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Originally Posted by ianpudlich

thanks for all the advice.just a note about switching the heat off tho.will the hognose snake be ok then with no heat until late feb.early march or will a heat mat be sufficent?

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It depends what your room temperature is at.Try and keep it above 50 and even that is REALLY low for them. 60 or 65 is prefered.

This is interesting. I bought 3 hogs last year in Dec. I got 2 to eat scented (tuna water) pinks. The third just wouldn't eat. I told the person whom I bought it from and he said "oh.. he may be brumating." I didn't believe it because my temps were up (90 hot side, 78-80 cool side) which is pretty warm for a hog.

So about 2 weeks ago my friends fish got chomped on by its aquarium mate. so I took the 2/3s of a cichlid and barely wiped a pinky on it and WHAM the dang hogs loved it. All 3 eat with much gusto with this fresh Fish/Cichlid scenting.

My hogs eat at least once a week now but normally twice a week. That is 3 going on 4 weeks straight.