New Snake owner, hasn't eaten since august 8th :(

[Jamille Christman]

I have had geckos, turtles, and amphibians for most of my life so I am no stranger when it comes to reptiles. I have recently moved out of my moms house which had a 'no snake' policy and decided to get a little male western hognose. He is about 2 years old and about 15 inches long. I got him from a reptile specialty store, and he seemed very active and healthy. The owner said he keeps him in a 10 gallon and at 75 degrees, though through reading caresheets I put him in a 20 long with a hot spot of about 93ish and the coolest spot being 78ish. I have him in coconut fiber, and his humidity is just the room humidity which stays about 50%

I was told by the owner that he was eating frozen adult mice with no problem, something I made sure to ask before I got him. About 7 days I tried feeding him and no luck, I have been trying every week since than to try to get him to eat. I have tried a small dark feeding cage, feeding him in his normal cage, pups, adults, different colors, live. He is very active and explores his cage daily, generally doesn't hiss when I hold him(pretty much only when being moved to his feeding cage) and seems in good shape.

I was told that males will go off feeding during breeding season, but from the temps I have been keeping him and the very mild WA weather, I dont think thats it.

In attempt to save his life, I took him to the petstore this to see if they could get him to start eating, they said they would call me once he does. Though the store has routinely lied to me through this whole process(he apparently wasn't fed frozen, only live, and he wasn't even there long enough for them to feed him as many times as they said)

If he doesn't eat for them or has to be force fed I am considering leaving him there, for a first snake I dont think I am ready to force feed.

Please help if you can, I love my little guy

[I-KandyReptiles]

What are you using to monitor temperature? Is it an analog
Thermometer or a digital one with a probe?

Is your Uth/lamp on a thermostat or at least a lamp dimmer?

Hot spot should be 88-91, with cool spots 80-82. 75 was way too low and could easily give your snake a respiratory infection.

Husbandry is usually the #1 reason snakes go off food.

In your tank, are there two snug fitting hides? Do you remove him and put him in another container to feed?

We need a bit more info.

[I-KandyReptiles]

Oh snap, this is about hognoses.

Sorry

I don't know anything about them as they're illegal to own where I live.

[interloc]

Get him back and here are some ideas. How I feed mine is I take the ft on my tweezers and try and bump his nose with it. With mine that usually works. Another idea is to take the lid off a little container and put a ft on it all night. Usually he stumbles across it and scarfs it down. You can also try scenting the ft with tuna water. I've heard that works for some people. Keep us posted.

[TJ_Burton]

- How exactly were you offering food?
- How did he respond or act during your attempts to feed him? Was he defensive (hooding/hissing/false striking)
- Was he ever without proper heating for a significant period of time? (i.e. during transport from the store to your home for longer than an hour)

[Jamille Christman]

- How exactly were you offering food?
- How did he respond or act during your attempts to feed him? Was he defensive (hooding/hissing/false striking)
- Was he ever without proper heating for a significant period of time? (i.e. during transport from the store to your home for longer than an hour)

I at first tried using tongs, I wiggled the mouse in front of his nose until he started to smell it, he at this point would become disinterested and start trying to climb up to smell my hand. When I put him in a feeding cage he would generally hiss when introduced to the food, whenever I saw him hissing I would place the mouse in view and leave him alone so he wouldn't get too stressed. I only live about 25 min away from the store I got him at, and that is the only time he was away from heat.

Get him back and here are some ideas. How I feed mine is I take the ft on my tweezers and try and bump his nose with it. With mine that usually works. Another idea is to take the lid off a little container and put a ft on it all night. Usually he stumbles across it and scarfs it down. You can also try scenting the ft with tuna water. I've heard that works for some people. Keep us posted.

I have tried those, he would start hissing and trying to move away from the mouse, the reason I haven't tried scenting was because I was told that once you start scenting you can get a snake who is picky for life, and since the previous owner(reptile store) didn't, I didn't want to start him on something making it harder to convincing him to eat.
The owner of the store called today to say they couldn't even get him to eat, and would have to assist feed. I decided that since he was my first snake, I wouldn't be able to handle force feeding him. I miss him terribly but I think I made the best choice possible for his health. I do plan in the future to get another hognose once I have more experience in caring for snakes in general. I am thinking switching to ball pythons would be a bit easier, especially since the area I live in there are so many people are trying to rehome.
Its a hard day for me, after 2 months of having his cute little stub nose exploring his tank, its really hard to say goodbye.

Without going completely off topic since this is a hognose section, aside from the slightly different heat and humidity changes, how different are ball pythons? And what are some important questions I should ask the owner/store? The thought of having another snake I would have to return would be too much and I want to make sure I have a good eater.

[MorphMaster]

Ball pythons are not the best eaters by any means TBH. If you have snakes, I know you don't want to here it, but sometimes assist feeding is absolutely necessary. Corns I have heard are good eaters though.

[I-KandyReptiles]

This is about hognoses

[GuNDeZZZ]

Our baby hog isn't eating well either. Try scenting with tuna, salmon, lizard, or frogs. They eat amphibians in the wild, so sometimes they can be very picky when they are young before they get used to rodents...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[Jamille Christman]

Ball pythons are not the best eaters by any means TBH. If you have snakes, I know you don't want to here it, but sometimes assist feeding is absolutely necessary. Corns I have heard are good eaters though.

I completely understand that, but I guess for my first feeding EVER it was a bit much. I pretty much am looking for a snake that needs a new home, so I am open to either species, just that I am leaning toward ball pythons.