finally ate!!

[Lucas339]

i had to take drastic measures but i got my hog to finally eat!! she stopped eating back in november and has come out, shed, and pooed but refused food for the last 2 months. she dropped a little weight (2 grams) so i decided to step up my techniques.

i tried f/t (her old usual), tuna senting, frog senting, braining, and nothing. but yesterday she took a live frog so hopefully she will jump start this season.

FYI this girl has been a problem feeder for me from the get-go. to give you an idea of why i got worried.....she is a year old an only weighs 18g.....so i felt it was time to jump start her!!!

[llovelace]

[shn tlly]

congratz!!! I have one that is terrified of anything that moves so I have to be careful not to freak it out with the F/T hoppers lol.

[Neal]

Hopefully she stays back on feeding for you. I've never really had any snakes that were problem feeders, but I do have a scorpion that likes to skip meals(though its like really fat). I was worried about my Rufous when I first got him, but I managed to get him to eat, he refused the meal the first week, then the second week he did also, so what I did is I put him in a brown paper bag, with 2 F/T pinkys(one of them I cut the skin and pulled it off the head a bit) and then I put a live pinky in there, then put him in and folded the paper bag over, and I checked it 20 mins later and the little booger ate all 3 pinkys(he was only suposoto eat one). So try that your next feeding with your western, put the frog in there, and take whatever you were feeding him prior to frogs and fold the bag over and put it in the tank and check back, see if that helps him eat. When I had a western hognose thats the only way she would eat is if she was put in a brown paper bag so it was dark. Make sure the paper bag is about the length of the snake.

[Lucas339]

ive tried every version of feeding with her normal prey with no results. this weekend im going to sent a pinky with frog and see what happens. she is a shy eater and tends to freak if left in containers too long so i hope this will work out.

[Neal]

Oh, I was just offering some insight on what I use. The paperbag trick has helped me get 2 snakes to eat for me when they wouldn't. Hopefully after a few feedings with my Rufous he will become a non-shy eater, because I would definately like to make a video of him eating, since I can't seem to find any. Plus I was reading that they kill by envenomation & constriction, so it would be neat to watch.

[Dundee85]

Lucas,

Your hognose sounds just like mine... his eating is hit or miss, and I never know what he wants. Sometimes he'll take toad scented, sometimes tuna scented, most of the time he doesn't eat at all. He was my first snake, and fortunately all of my other snakes are nothing compared to him when it comes to feeding (a ball, a corn, a boa).

He's cute but just an inconsistent eater. I stopped worrying about it. He'll eat when he wants. So I totally know what you're going through with your girl... I can relate!!

[Dragnbaron]

I have a similar issue. Once my hoggies come off of brumation they are picky eaters. I used to feed mine rat pups f/t and now they won't touch a f/t or a live one.
I tried f/t fuzzies and hoppers and had the same issue. Right now they will only eat live pinkies with no fuzz but i have to work them back up to larger prey. Luckily, they are eating, though.

[Lucas339]

yeah mine is consistantly taking f/t again finally!! but they are sented with frog water. next time im going to try no sent and see what happens.