western hognose has been having problems with eating and shedding

[mm91187]

My brother has a femaile western hognose that he bought at the Dixie reptile show last June and he has been have problems getting her to eat and shed and i was hoping you guys can help.
He has a 10G tank and is using aspen as his substrate, he has a under the tank heating mat(unplugged because it was getting too hot). He has gotten her to eat 4 times since he got her, and its been about a month since she last ate(a fuzzy). The tanks humidty is at 45% and im not sure what the temperature is but last time i checked it was around 85-90F under the lamp. She has only shed once though. What should he do to get her to eat more and shed?
Here is a picture of his tank

[Colin Vestrand]

*may be a little hot, not sure. mine seems to be most active when it's right *around 82 (ambient) and he rarely uses his basking spot.
*how big is the snake? a 10g is suitable for an adult, but a smaller snake would feel more secure in a 5g or smaller.
*try using smaller meals (pinks). that sometimes will induce a reluctant snake to eat... i know mine slams pinks.
*take it to the vet and get it checked out... these are very hardy snakes and are usually ready eaters so if you're having problems, it may be a sign of illness/internal parasites/etc.

[mm91187]

she's a pretty small snake, about 6-8 inches long... I just got a Acu-Rite thermometer so Ill find out what the temp and humidity are. i was also looking for a dimmer switch for the UTH but I couldnt find anything

[mm91187]

oh yeah.. about the vet. we live in Montgomery, AL and I dont know if there are any snake vets here, should we take it to a regular vet (dogs/cats/birds)

[Colin Vestrand]

wow, sounds pretty undersized too. mine was born in september and it's about that size.
you can get dimmer switches (aka rehostats) at hardware stores, home stores, etc.
you really should get a smaller cage. you can 3-5 gallon tanks for cheap anyway...
i've never been to alabama, but just call all the vets in the phone book that say 'exotics' under the name.

[mm91187]

hmm ill have to tell my brother this. also, the rehostats, I checked are homedepot and I couldnt find any, the only things i saw were for lamps and they were dimmer(touch and it dims, low-med-hi-off) could you tell me what you use or what type to get?

[mm91187]

alright nevermind about the dimmer switches I found out what i need now I just gotta go to the store and buy some