hognose drinking and pooping questions

[hogmum]

Hi all, I'm a new member and a new western hognose mum,
I've read a bunch of posts but I have some drinking and pooping worries I hope I could get help with, I apologize for the long post.

A month ago I got two hogs, an alleged boy(currently 56g) and an alleged girl (currently 46g), first kept them in the small containers I got them in, two weeks later moved them into bigger containers with about 3-6cm aspen. Temperature is 23ish Celsius in the cool corner and around 29 in the warm corner, keeping humidity around 40-45%. Setup in the pictures.
https://twitter.com/petpicsmania/sta...47539627655168

In the small case, i had deep water bowls they originally drunk from in the reptile shop, but I noticed the boy wasn't pooping, and the girl's poop was powdery, so I called the reptile shop and they said this is probably the result of dehydration. They said I should drip water on their noses from my hands (no reaction other than them running away) and pointing their noses into water. I woke up to my boy bathing and pooping, success.
this was before moving to the big container, and after the move two weeks ago he had only pooped once, and I have a feeling he is not drinking again. He is active and eating twice a week. Girl was pooping every day for the second week I got her, now she is occasionally pooping, approximately once a week,but looking skinny, not very active, very nervous and started refusing food a week ago (may or may not be a separate problem).

Concerned about dehydration, I additionally got them little plates of water which they would accidentally walk into and hopefully realize it's water and drink, I've also pointed their heads into the water a couple of times since the move.
https://twitter.com/petpicsmania/sta...33872831160320
The water in small plates does disappear sometimes but I have a feeling they may be spilling it, as aspen around the bowl gets wet.
Questions: how can you be sure that your hog is drinking, does it drink quite a lot so it's obvious?
How frequently do they usually poop? Is once in 10 days a cause for concern? What is healthy poop for them?
i am concerned and wondering how I can make sure to get them drinking, and I wanted to get some opinions before I stress them out by a trip to the vet which I am not sure is necessary or not.

thanks in advance!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

A month ago I got two hogs, an alleged boy(currently 56g) and an alleged girl (currently 46g), first kept them in the small containers I got them in, two weeks later moved them into bigger containers with about 3-6cm aspen. Temperature is 23ish Celsius in the cool corner and around 29 in the warm corner, keeping humidity around 40-45%. Setup in the pictures.
https://twitter.com/petpicsmania/sta...47539627655168

When it comes to temperatures your temps war too low for this species you want to aim for 26 on the cool side and 32/33 on the warm side, with an ambient humidity 20%/30%

How frequently do they usually poop? Is once in 10 days a cause for concern? What is healthy poop for them?
i am concerned and wondering how I can make sure to get them drinking, and I wanted to get some opinions before I stress them out by a trip to the vet which I am not sure is necessary or not.

They drink however catching them in action is very rare, as for the rest Hognose are pooping machine, fecal matter is usually stringy, not firm, that would be the best way I would describe it, accompanied by urate. All this dry very fast and becomes chalky within a day or 2.

Unlike BP what goes in comes out rather quickly granted those animals are properly fed, at this size a small hopper twice a week if what you are aiming for when it comes to feeding.

[hogmum]

Thanks a lot Deborah!
I was following my reptile shop's temperature instructions as I'm seeing very mixed information between English and Japanese sources, as I'm in Japan. I will try raising the temperature a couple of degrees.
With humidity it was actually 35-40, I've got a dehumidifier on 24/7 but it won't bring the humidity any lower as it's around 60-70% in my room this time of year.

your poop explanation helped a lot, now I know it looks like good poop, it just doesn't seem frequent enough.
Would you say pooping once in 6-10 days is a reason of concern enough to stress them with a trip to the vet?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It's not something I am concern about knowing that his temperatures are much lower then they should this likely affect his metabolism slightly, even if it does not affect the other the same way.

As long as you do not have any signs of blockage (bulge near the vent area) and he actually has bowel movement you are good.

[hogmum]

Thank you Deborah, I'll see how they're doing with a warmer temperature and keep an eye out for bulges!