First Feeding Attempt

[brobertson]

OK, so I took the pet store's advice( i know, i know, but they were reptiles only and seemed quite knowlegable) and tried to feed my little girl just 4 days after I bought her. She did not take. However, I am interested to know if she just didnt want it or I presented it wrong, so here is what I did

Thawed the pinkie, then heated it up with a heat lamp.
Dug my girl out of her substrate(she hissed a lot)
Gently pushed the pinkie into her nose

She hissed the entire time, and only wanted to run away from it.
Did I do something wrong?

[RetiredJedi]

Yea, she is obviously still stressed. You need to read the caresheets and make sure your temps and humidty are good. Then leave her alone for 7 days unless of course you need to clean or refresh the water. Then when you do feed, make sure the f/t is properly thawed, heat the head up more than the rest using a hair dryer or something and present the f/t. Wiggle it a little and be patient.

[RetiredJedi]

Yea, she is obviously still stressed. You need to read the caresheets and make sure your temps and humidty are good. Then leave her alone for 7 days unless of course you need to clean or refresh the water. Then when you do feed, make sure the f/t is properly thawed, heat the head up more than the rest using a hair dryer or something and present the f/t. Wiggle it a little and be patient.

Patience is key.

[Sarin]

Also a pinky is too small. Try a pup. Don't touch her nose, it'll stress her out. Hold the F/T rodent about 2" away from her head and wiggle it slightly. And just wait. If she doesn't take it after 5 minutes of wiggling, then you can just drop it and see if she'll eat it on her own overnight.

[jdouglas]

I wouldn't have dug her up either. If she did not come out hunting from the smell of the rat, I would assume she was not hungry.


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[awesomehognoses]

Also a pinky is too small. Try a pup. Don't touch her nose, it'll stress her out. Hold the F/T rodent about 2" away from her head and wiggle it slightly. And just wait. If she doesn't take it after 5 minutes of wiggling, then you can just drop it and see if she'll eat it on her own overnight.

A pinky is not to small for a western hognose, even an adult will eat one if you let them.
Maybe try putting it in something like a brown paper lunch sack, plastic shoe box, or cardboard box with the mouse and leave it alone for a while. If it won't take the f/t mouse then maybe try a small live pinky.
Westerns sometimes need the see something moveing (either the mouse or something by the mouse) to realize that it is food.
It's ok to dig them up out of the substrate to get them out to be fed. When I dig mine out, some of them will instantly start going to and trying to bite anything that moves (usually that's my hand)

[Sarin]

A pinky is not to small for a western hognose, even an adult will eat one if you let them.
Maybe try putting it in something like a brown paper lunch sack, plastic shoe box, or cardboard box with the mouse and leave it alone for a while. If it won't take the f/t mouse then maybe try a small live pinky.
Westerns sometimes need the see something moveing (either the mouse or something by the mouse) to realize that it is food.
It's ok to dig them up out of the substrate to get them out to be fed. When I dig mine out, some of them will instantly start going to and trying to bite anything that moves (usually that's my hand)

My mistake, I neglected to read the area of the forum this was posted in. I tend to only get my posts from the "new posts" button. My mistake for assuming it was BP related.

Hopefully your Hoggie eats for you soon!!