Hognose foodstrike help please!

[LauRuffian]

Hey all! Sooooo...I've gone a bit hog(nose)-wild in the last few months. I love the little guys and their puffy, Imma-closed-mouth-hissing badass nature. I bought a young male in January, then went whole-hog (these puns are just too irresistable) and bought 5 very from a well-respected hognose author and breeder about 6 weeks later with the intent to get into breeding. I've had snakes for 20 years and did a fair amount of research before going in to this, and I knew they can be a bit temperamental about feeding. (FTR, I need to update my signature--we currently have a sand boa, a kingsnake, a ball python, 6 hognose, and 11 corn snakes.)

Well, all of my five new hoggies adjusted well initially. (FTR, these are yearlings, ranging from 40-66g.) OF COURSE, the males--worth a quarter of the females' values, and one was a freebie thrown in as a spare come breeding season--are all pigs and haven't skipped a meal. One female is particular in when and where she's fed, but I figured her out quickly and she doesn't skip as long as she's not blue.

Then there's my anaconda het axanthic, albino (snow). UGH. I've had super picky cornsnake hatchlings before, and my sand boa took some tweaking to get eating regularly, and my kingsnake goes on annual brumation foodstrikes, and the ball python is your typical PITA ball when it comes to feeding (but I've had him 13 years and figured him out), so I'm much less anxious now when a snake refuses to eat. I figure I just have to find out what works for her, but as I'm new to these guys I'm, well, new to getting a picky one to eat.

She *did* eat twice for me in the first 2 weeks I had her. Both times she took f/t hairless fuzzies left in her enclosure overnight, and both times she took them after several hours. She soon became a hissy, pissy, puffy grumpy gal, so I thought maybe she was stressed being in the bottom 24" long melamine enclosure. (I'd read the sometimes don't do well in large enclosures.) I tried at first putting a towel across the front so she wouldn't see activity, then put her in a 6qt sterilite tub that I left in that enclosure (but still on the bottom). Still hissy, pissy, puffy.

I've tried f/t mice of various sizes as well as a live fuzzy left overnight with her in the small sterilite tub. No luck. My gut was she was really uncomfortable in her location, so 2wks ago I swapped her with one of my males and she's now in a reptile tank about a third the size she was in before, and she's now on top row rather than bottom. She has been MUCH better--I get no hissy-puffy-pissy when I walk by and she has been more relaxed in general. Thinking this was promising, I first offered her a f/t fuzzy--nothing.Tried a f/t fuzzy scented with tuna and tried to dab her nose with it to get the taste; that just REEEALLY pissed her off and she darted about the tank, avoiding mouse except to puff and headbutt it. Then I tried a pinkie soaked in tuna juice left in her tank overnight--she noticed me putting it in, but there was no going-cobra behavior at all.

So, next was to try putting her in a deli cup with the mouse. Nothing. Tried it with a live pinkie. Nothing. Dabbed live pinkie with salmon juice. Nothing.

All these things I've tried have been spaced out; I'm trying about every 3-4 days.

She is kept in my snake room/office, the quietest room in the house. I do have two cats and a dog and I think perhaps their interest in a neighboring male corn snake, active for the breeding season, may have been one of the initial stressors. I now keep the door shut to keep housepets out. She is on aspen bedding and has a water dish and two hides, though she seems to prefer resting along the perimeter of the tank rather than go in the hides. She is kept at the same temps of my other hobbies, about 85 or so on the hot side.

I don't want to stress her offering her food, BUT obviously she needs to eat before losing much more weight. (She was 53g on arrival and is 43g now.)

I've been asking insights from the man I bought her from and tried his suggestions, but I also don't want to keep hounding him. He's been hugely supportive, but I don't want to bug, you know? So I'm bugging you guys. :nyah:

I've thought about trying scenting with chicken, sardines, my husband's pet Australian tree frog, catching a fence lizard and scenting with it...but I'm not sure how much more to keep trying, and how often. Right now I'm thinking about trying this weekend after she's had a full week of being left alone. Question is...try what?

Here's a picture of the picky gal--her name is Yzma, by the way, as in Yzma and Kronk from the Emperor's New Groove.

 

[jagodzinski]

First of all Yzma is super cute so I hope you get her eating soon! Having no experience with Hognoses, I don't have a lot of advice to offer - but have you tried braining? Reading through some other forums suggests people have had success with this technique with their hognose.

Best of luck!

 

[Karl_Mcknight]

I'm not an expert on Hognose snakes, but as I understand they typically do Not eat rodents in the wild. They can be switched over to rodents but some can be picky. Wild Hognose snakes eat primarily frogs, toads and lizards. So if I was to offer a suggestion it would be to try feeding one of those items and see what happens.

 

[daddio207]

I keep hoggies and have had only 1 picky eater and it just took a bit of patience for him to eat. I keep mine in my racks with other snakes like corns with no issues but they do usually like it a bit warmer than a corn snake. 80 degrees ambient with a peak daily temp of 90 or a hot spot of 90. They like to be fed twice as often with smaller prey as a corn snake too.
It might be worth a fecal exam just to make sure there isn't something else going on.
I WOULD bug the breeder for help. He/she knows the history of that animal.
I know CHIP (a moderator on here) was/is a hognose keeper and very knowledgeable. Private message him for advise.
Good luck

 

[Chip]

Dealing with fasts is part of keeping hogs, and males are much more prone to go off of feed. I've found that salamander scenting has worked better than even toad, and often, just a flake of fish food on the nose of the rodent can stimulate feed response. I have never found that picky eaters will take live, as can be the case with corns. For what it's worth, the animal in that picture (which does appear to be a girl) is not thin. She's been eating, so it's just a matter of settling in. I second Daddio on the suggestion of small prey items. Good luck, and don't stress!

 

[LauRuffian]

Thanks so much. I figure eventually she WILL eat...just gotta find the right approach. While hoggies can be difficult transitioning to mice, especially when young, she had been eating f/t mice no problem up until about 2 weeks after she arrived here. My gut is that she's gotten stressed and gone off feed; from what I understand, that does happen with hoggies. Sigh.

Dealing with fasts is part of keeping hogs, and males are much more prone to go off of feed. I've found that salamander scenting has worked better than even toad, and often, just a flake of fish food on the nose of the rodent can stimulate feed response. I have never found that picky eaters will take live, as can be the case with corns. For what it's worth, the animal in that picture (which does appear to be a girl) is not thin. She's been eating, so it's just a matter of settling in. I second Daddio on the suggestion of small prey items. Good luck, and don't stress!

Thanks so much Chip! For what it's worth, that photo was taken by the seller when I was considering buying her, so that's before she went on food strike. She's still in good weight, though, so while I'm annoyed, I'm not too concerned. But definitely aggravated.

Here's a pic of her last Saturday when I was checking her weight:

Right now I really think she's just stressed and wants to be left alone, and my attempts to feed her are actually making it worse. I think what I might do is try to catch a fence lizard (no salamanders or frogs around here, sadly, and not much in the way of toads either) and let him/her have some posh living for a few weeks (all you can eat cricket and mealworm buffet!) while I use them for scenting. Then after she's been left alone for a least a week, I'll just quietly put a scented mouse in with her rather than stressing her by putting her in a deli cup or similar.

She *was* much quieter once I moved her into her smaller enclosure, but now she gets hissy and puffy when I'm caring for her neighbors. I think she resents all the disruptions I've caused her, sticking her in deli cups or dangling mice on tongs in front of her. So, I've covered 75% of her enclosure with a towel.

Here's hoping she just needs time and some quiet alone time.

 

[LauRuffian]

You guuuuuuys! Anaconda het snow pissypants Yzma finally ATE! Whoo hoo! My gut was the attempts were stressing her more than helping, so I left her completely alone for a week and covered 75% of her tank with a towel just to be sure. I'd been planning on scenting with a lizard, and when I found a dry squashed fence lizard in a parking lot, I (being the herper I am) thought it was perfect for taking home, preserving, and using for scenting. (My mom said, "Only you would do this," and I told her nope! There was a whole world of people who would! :laugh: ) I took a foot off the lizard and put it in with the water with the mouse for flavor (mmm, mouse-lizard soup), then rubbed the mouse on the back of the lizard and put the foot on top of the mouse for good measure. I then left her completely alone for 4 hours, and when I just peeked in, no mouse. Woot!

She's still annoyed by my presence, but after 66 days, she ate!

I added that cheap cardboard box second hide to help her feel more secure, and gotta love that she seems to prefer it over the nice ZooMed cave-hide I also have for her. She's like my kids that way.

To be honest, I'm not sure it was scenting with the lizard that did the trick or if it was just time and leaving her alone...but you better believe I'll be using Squashy again next feeding!

Yay!

 

[daddio207]

Glad she is finally eating. My first three pieces of advice when it comes to reptiles is patience, more patience and when your out out of patience then be patient.

My large female Hoggy eats so well she has chased me around the room a few times haha