Western Honose still a baby after 3.5 years!

Hello everyone. This is my first post here, and I really hope someone can shed some light on this mystery.

I bought a baby western hognose snake in 2008. I had experience with snakes already, and had two Columbian boas, as well as a gorgeous Argentine boa. My wife had a coastal carpet python, and two Mexican black kingsnakes. When I decided I wanted a western hognose, I started my search at Pet Advantage in South Burlington, VT. They are a nice privately owned store that specializes in fish and reptiles. I asked if they could order a hognose for me, and they agreed. They gave me a call when they got him in and I picked him up a few days later.

We had a lot of trouble getting him to eat at first--but suddenly, after a few months of being fussy, he suddenly developed a healthy appetite. Since then, he has been entirely normal--Eating one pinky a week without problems, and shedding regularly. Except that he has not grown at all! I have asked everyone I know that has knowledge of snakes, and everyone is stumped.

He is in a 10 gallon aquarium style tank with a screen lid and ceramic heat emitter. His tank is roughly 85 on the warm side 75 on the cool side, give or take a few degrees depending on ambient room temp. He has aspen bedding, a ceramic water bowl, and a hide which he never uses as he just likes to burrow in the aspen to hide instead. He also has a small humidity box made from a plastic raspberry container like you get at the supermarket with sphagnum moss in it, but he doesn't seem to even know it's there.

The following pictures were taken in 2008 and 2012:

2008:


2012 (taken today, actually):


All I can say is: WTF?

But seriously, can anyone tell me what would cause this?

He's male. He also looks big enough for small fuzzies at this point.

Shiari said:

He's male. He also looks big enough for small fuzzies at this point.

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Even pinkies are a little fatter than he is.

Then keep feeding him the pinks, and maybe try feeding two or feed every 5 days instead of every 7. But the main reason he's tiny is he's a boy.

Shiari said:

Then keep feeding him the pinks, and maybe try feeding two. But the reason he's tiny is he's a boy.

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He should have reached adult size within two years. Adult size for a male (I knew he was male when I got him) should be around 15 inches. He is only about 7.5.

It could be he needs to eat more often. And animals that went on hunger strikes can have a hard time playing catch-up.

I had a snow that went on a 6 week hunger strike as a hatchling, and was then a picky eater for a while longer. At three years old he was barely 2 feet long.

Shiari, I am curious...how can you tell the hoggie is male from the photo? Curious minds want to know....

Karoni said:

Shiari, I am curious...how can you tell the hoggie is male from the photo? Curious minds want to know....

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Western Hogs are sexually dimorphic. The males have longer, thinner tails. Females have short, kinda fat, stubby tails.

The western hognose has an amazing metabolism. They can, and will, eat every 2-4 days if you let them. However, even on a 7 day schedule and being a picky eater, your male should be bigger. My 2011's have doubled in size since birth at the end of August, although they have only shed once.

I would suggest offering food every 3 days. And don't be shy with the food, they can get quite a bit in there.

Throwing it out there... how does his poop look like? Is it sometimes liquid'ish/paste like/has distinct color?

Kokopelli said:

Throwing it out there... how does his poop look like? Is it sometimes liquid'ish/paste like/has distinct color?

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Seems normal. Mostly solid, brownish to black, with a little white.

My guy was doing the same thing. I had already moved up to large pinkies, so started feeding every 5 days. He's almost doubled in size now, since last summer. I give him a fuzzy every week now. I just got a scale, so I can finally weigh him!

tress29 said:

My guy was doing the same thing. I had already moved up to large pinkies, so started feeding every 5 days. He's almost doubled in size now, since last summer. I give him a fuzzy every week now. I just got a scale, so I can finally weigh him!

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How long did he stay tiny before starting to grow? Ra is almost 4.

Sweets is a 2010, so about 18 months old before he really beefed up. (If you can call a male hognose beefy!) After 4 years... I wonder if someting happened to stunt his growth?

Try switching to rat pinks. Also, maybe coat a little calcium powder on the pink? The bones of baby mice and rats are quite soft, so maybe he needs a boost of calcium to help his growth. I can't see it hurting.

I have a 4 year old male western hoggie and hes only on large fuzzies/small hoppers. He weighs about 70g. I thought he had an issue too, as Im only used to having corns. But no, hes just a male hoggie. He only eats for me MAYBE once a month even if I offer food every couple days. And hes constantly on the move in his cage. I think its just a male hognose thing.

If it makes you feel better, your guy looks like hes healthy and alert. Its hard not to be worried about it though! I would bump him up to fuzzies though as there is more nutrition than pinks and I bet you will see a growth spurt.

Males are small. I wouldn't worry. Just because the average adult size for a male is bigger than yours, doesn't mean yours will get to average size. If he's eating and sassy, he should be fine. Also, I'd start on some small fuzzies, he could probably use the extra nutrition.

:-offtopic
I have no info on snakes and size,

But my parents moved out to the desert once and there was a pack of stray-gone-feral cats (it was the type of area where there aren't animal shelters and the vet will just tell you to shoot your sick dog so no one was helping to control this feral cat population).

My mom would put out food, catch the adults, and take them to get fixed in the city. She would euthanize the really sick ones, which there were many.

Inbreeding was out of control, and many cats were born abnormal... with organs on the outside, etc. It was sad.
Anyhow, one of the mom cats gave birth to a litter of TINY babies.

And the babies never really grew... just stayed medium kitten sized. My mom kept them. They were very adorable little things. They didn't live that long.... maybe 5 years?

So, looking at him reminds me of this. I know it is no help unless he is a seriously inbred cat-turned-snake, but I thought I'd share.