Lucy arrived today!

[LittleHollah]

I just got Lucy and I am IN LOVE. It was hard putting her in her tank right away and heading to work but she seemed very relaxed and not temperamental at all. I put her in the warm side because she felt a little cool.

I know I'm not supposed to handle her for a week but is it okay to try offering food after a few days left on a yogurt lid or something? I think thurs/Friday was her typical feeding day and she's so tiny I don't want her to go longer than needed.
Thanks!
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[AnnieHeart]

I just got Lucy and I am IN LOVE. It was hard putting her in her tank right away and heading to work but she seemed very relaxed and not temperamental at all. I put her in the warm side because she felt a little cool.

I know I'm not supposed to handle her for a week but is it okay to try offering food after a few days left on a yogurt lid or something? I think thurs/Friday was her typical feeding day and she's so tiny I don't want her to go longer than needed.
Thanks!
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Congrats!!!

[Bogertophis]

What a cutie! Welcome Lucy! And I see you've recently joined us, so Welcome to you both.

I know you want to do everything you can to help her settle in, so let me just advise you that for BEST results, you should not handle her until she has
fed easily at age-appropriate intervals at least 3 times. You asked about offering food in a couple days, & without a crystal ball, I cannot tell you whether
she'll be fine with it & digest well, or if she'll still be stressed and barf it up. She is yours now, so you'll have to make the decision about whether to wait &
follow "best practices". If a snake regurges a meal, it's a set-back...because it takes time for them to regenerate their digestive enzymes, and if you feed
them again too soon, they'll regurge again. So, it's safer to wait at least a week before offering food if you want to be sure it stays down. Keeping snakes
is an exercise in patience for us all...but they're worth it.

Hard to be sure, but from the photo above, her eye looks a little cloudy to me...so she might be going into shed anyway.

[LittleHollah]

What a cutie! Welcome Lucy! And I see you've recently joined us, so Welcome to you both.

I know you want to do everything you can to help her settle in, so let me just advise you that for BEST results, you should not handle her until she has
fed easily at age-appropriate intervals at least 3 times. You asked about offering food in a couple days, & without a crystal ball, I cannot tell you whether
she'll be fine with it & digest well, or if she'll still be stressed and barf it up. She is yours now, so you'll have to make the decision about whether to wait &
follow "best practices". If a snake regurges a meal, it's a set-back...because it takes time for them to regenerate their digestive enzymes, and if you feed
them again too soon, they'll regurge again. So, it's safer to wait at least a week before offering food if you want to be sure it stays down. Keeping snakes
is an exercise in patience for us all...but they're worth it.

Hard to be sure, but from the photo above, her eye looks a little cloudy to me...so she might be going into shed anyway.

Thank You! Lots of good info here I actually didn't know about the enzyme regeneration so I definitely will wait a while to feed her.
I was thinking she might be coming into shed a little too.
Here's another pic from last night when she stopped down in Toronto that you can see her lovely colors more.

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[Craiga 01453]

Welcome to the forum!! Hognose are a really fun little species!

As for feeding, I say go for it. As long as temps are fine and she's left alone a regurge is highly unlikely. But, on the other hand, it won't hurt to wait either.

As for handling, I also highly suggest waiting til your snake has eaten three consecutive meals without refusal. Hognose can be a bit tricky to get started, and getting them eating is priority number one.

Hognose have a very fast metabolism, so juveniles eating pinkies should be fed every 3-5 days. Since pinkies are mostly water, they will be digested quickly.

Assuming she has no refusals, that's less than three weeks before you're handling your new pet. Big picture: you've got lots of years ahead to handle, so it's worth it in the long run.

Anyway, good luck with your new girl, she's beautiful by the way!!

[Jus1More]

Welcome Lucy!! Your girl is very nice... I just LOVE my little guy. These snakes are such clowns, all that huffing and puffing.... so funny! Thanks for sharing

[Bogertophis]

She's a pretty little thing! I find the easiest way to tell if their eyes are cloudy is by using a penlight (small flashlight) in a dark room, & shine the beam
from the side, across the curve of their eye: the milky-gray cloudiness shows up easily if they're somewhere in shed. It's always nice to know, so you
don't waste food trying to feed them, or you'll know there's a good reason why, if you go ahead and they happen to refuse to eat. It beats worrying.

About their digestive enzymes, snakes can actually die from repeated regurgitation (like if someone keeps giving them food) because they get dehydrated.

Pinky mice do digest easily & quickly...as mentioned above, there's not much to them. You'd "probably" be ok to feed him one in a few days, but again,
if he's in shed, he may refuse by then anyway.

Also: both shedding & digestion uses & pulls water from the snake's body to accomplish; while some snakes may accept food while in shed & digest fine,
with others it messes up their shed, because for whatever reason, age or poor hydration, they cannot "multi-task" very well. If or when your snake ever
has a "bad shed" this is something to consider (& not panic about). It's easy to miss that a snake is just starting to cloud up & proceed to feed them: it's
not the "end of the world", but we all feel better when our snakes shed normally (ie. in one or very few pieces). Other health issues can cause "bad sheds"
so it's helps to know it can also be of no importance...don't assume the worst (as many new keepers do).