I need some advice & help! Hognose related

[Mari]

Someone in my community is having a really hard time getting her young western hognose to eat. She got him around the 4th of October and says she's tried some of the basic things, and I encouraged her to try scenting and leaving him overnight. I also suggested she not feed him for a week and let him relax, and then try again - which she didnt. :c

I have always wanted a hognose and pity the poor little guy who's being terrified with all sorts of food and stuff by this girl, and, well... this weekend is my birthday... :laugh:

Now, I basically want to set up a plan for him to help him be able to eat. This is what I'm thinking:

Enclosure: Smallest I can get. Possibly one of those nanos? or a tub. I'm not sure what she's keeping him in. Bedding, probably aspen. Lots of vines and hides.
OR, should I go with a dark covered tub with just aspen and a hide? I know they need small enclosures.


My gameplan is - if I get him today/tomorrow, I want to leave him absolutely, totally alone, don't open the cage, don't even walk by him for at least 3 days. I'll leave plenty of fresh water in there, but he's being tortured right now with constant prey offering and is totally scared ****less. After the 3 days, I'll start replacing the water every day, but only that, for a week. So after 10 days, I'll offer either a brained or a tuna-soaked pinkie, very dark, overnight. If that doesn't work, I'll leave him alone again... and then what?


I've heard you can abuse hognose's "play dead" defense and actually put the pinkie in their open mouth and see if they start chewing, but that should be my last resort, right?

Anyway, I know you guys are the experts. I lurk this forum way too much and know that. I would really appreciate feedback on my plan and maybe some caging suggestions.

 

[Mari]

An update on this: She said she's keeping him in a small deli cup (like they sell at the cons/like the shipping containers) with a 75 watt basking bulb set a good foot away and he's on aspen.

 

[Iulia]

boy hogs can indeed be the very devil of hell

Are you saying you are getting this hoggie?

Some tricks that worked with mine you might like to try -

Put the prey item in a toilet roll or kitchen roll tube with one end folded up, so it is like a tunnel or cave. This helps the snake feel safe (or who knows what it thinks. But it does help). Make sure one end is closed because if he plays with his food it might end up at the bottom of the substrate, and you think it is eaten till you find out the hard way ... ask me how i know ...

- try a pinkie shaped bit of chicken. Cooked or raw mine liked both. Still the only thing he will reliably eat one year later.

- braining good

- try rubbing pinkie with chicken skin ......

And be prepared for all to work some of the time but not all ...............

 

[Guruofchem]

Website below has a lot of info on scenting techniques - may be useful to you. Fish, frog, lizard, chicken, and Vienna sausage get play here...

http://extremehogs.com/Caresheet.html

 

[NH93]

An update on this: She said she's keeping him in a small deli cup (like they sell at the cons/like the shipping containers) with a 75 watt basking bulb set a good foot away and he's on aspen.

Wait... so it doesn't have a proper set-up? Like with water, a thermometer, heat gradient, hides, etc. etc.?? How big is a deli-cup, like the ones that fit on your hand!?

THAT would be the problem!! GAAAH!

I'm really sorry if I misunderstood what you said. But otherwise, it sounds like your friend doesn't have any kind of vive for her snake!?

:bomb: :awcrap: :nope:

 

[Iulia]

oh one thing mine did take when small were young lancefish/sand eels.

Dunno about where you are but they can be bought in fishing bait shops here.

The tiny ones bought frozen and broken into pinkie sized pieces.

I might just admit defeat and put him back on them actually ........

 

[AliCat37]

Live is the only way I can get mine to eat reliably. Otherwise when feeding frozen he probably only eats once every two or three months.

 

[Mari]

Wait... so it doesn't have a proper set-up? Like with water, a thermometer, heat gradient, hides, etc. etc.?? How big is a deli-cup, like the ones that fit on your hand!?

THAT would be the problem!! GAAAH!

I'm really sorry if I misunderstood what you said. But otherwise, it sounds like your friend doesn't have any kind of vive for her snake!?

:bomb: :awcrap: :nope:

I know. :/ I don't want to make her feel bad about it, because she's really upset... But... Yeaaah. I mean, I surely hope there's a water dish in there. She keeps tarantulas, so she isn't totally inexperienced, but yeeeeah. Honestly, combined with constant food offering and unsuitable set up... No wonder he wont eat.

Any suggestions on how I set him up? I think a tub or a small viv would be good? Throw me some suggestions.




And thank you everyone for the feeding suggestions. I'm on.my phone so its hard to quote specifically

 

[Iulia]

my brain didn't process that bit sorry its late here.

yeah that would explain probably a fair bit ... poor little dude.

I had mine in faunariums to start with (I guess any similar sized plastic tub would be fine am in UK so dunno what you have there) on a heat mat with thermostat.

Deep substrate to burrow. Plenty hides.

Then all the above ....

good luck ......

though I would probably try just offering him a basic pink and leaving him alone in the dark, as it may be he isn't actually a problem eater if the other stuff isn't wrong

 

[Chip]

Has the snake ever eaten? Once they learn "how" to eat, I have pretty good luck with them, even with the fasts. A small percentage of babies simply never eat, though. You can pinkie pump them for months and they just will never take mice on their own. A live toad for scenting can go a long way. Just wet the pink, and rub it on the toad's back over and over. The toad will produce a slime, which the hogs find irresistible. Salmon, chicken, live guppies, and many other things will work for scenting on some hogs. I find deli cupping them really helps, and some simply want live for a while. I wish you luck.

 

[NH93]

I know you don't want to offend your friend, so if you are sort of passive-aggressive, send her links on proper care and set-up for hoggies!
You could also say that people on here said she's doing it wrong but in a nicer way. Place the blame on someone else if you need to I'll take it.

If you can deal with the bluntness, just tell her what's what. That's what I would do. But in a helpful way, like constructive criticism!

I really don't think that snake will eat unless it is in a proper set up. I don't think everyone's read your comment about it's set up, because I'd be expecting a lot more people to catch on to that and comment!!

 

[Nanci]

An update on this: She said she's keeping him in a small deli cup (like they sell at the cons/like the shipping containers) with a 75 watt basking bulb set a good foot away and he's on aspen.

So basically she's cooking him. Nice. That is totally inappropriate.

 

[NH93]

So basically she's cooking him. Nice. That is totally inappropriate.

I have to agree
I had a 50W bulb on my snake's tank for a little bit while waiting for a new thermostat to arrive in the mail. The light was over 2 feet from the bottom of the tank, and it still got to 80F...

And that was only a 50W, like I said! :S

 

[Zombiegirl]

My old roommate took in a hog from a friend who "rescued him" from someone else (you know the story...) well he NEVER ate on his own the entire time she had him...If I remember correctly she had to force feed him every time and she finally gave up and gave him to the local reptile rescue. That experience made me hesitate to get my hoggie, but I couldn't resist him and his breeder is the same guy that I got my corns from so I know if I need help with him he will be there. Fortunately mine has eaten for me...my guess would be everyone else's consensus, improper set up, miserable snake. Poor little guy

 

[Iulia]

I suppose you could say you have been asking advice from friends who keep hognoses and that they say the first thing to get fixed is his set-up, as he won't feed if that is all wrong no matter how many times she tries ...

and that its kind of urgent ...

see how that goes and then move on to the food?

 

[Mari]

I know you don't want to offend your friend, so if you are sort of passive-aggressive, send her links on proper care and set-up for hoggies!
You could also say that people on here said she's doing it wrong but in a nicer way. Place the blame on someone else if you need to I'll take it.

If you can deal with the bluntness, just tell her what's what. That's what I would do. But in a helpful way, like constructive criticism!

I really don't think that snake will eat unless it is in a proper set up. I don't think everyone's read your comment about it's set up, because I'd be expecting a lot more people to catch on to that and comment!!

That's the problem... she's not my friend, and I don't know her at all. I suggested a few feeding techniques to her before she let me know how she's keeping him, and now I'm kinda horrified. I can't really just tell her how wrong and bad she is without coming off like a real jerk... lol

I"m picking him up today- a friend of mine is going to split some costs with me because we both feel really bad for the poor little hog. I have a spare thermostat and a UTH and I'm grabbing a tank/tub today. I'm still not sure which I want? I might just go with a 10gal regular tank, just keep it nice and small. This is pretty much what I want to do -

- Get him set up with a UTH + thermostat on a 10gal & throw down some aspen and a nice bowl of fresh water
- Cover up half the tank with a blanket so it's nice and dark
- Throw in some paper towel tubes and hides all over
- Hide him in my closet for a week so he can relax.
- After a week, I'll offer a regular pinkie overnight in the closed-up paper towel tube method. If it's a no-go, I'll start braining, scenting, etc.

She's basically offering him a feeder fish, pinkie, tuna, etc every day, back to back. I know he hasn't eaten in at least a month, but in the picture she had before she got him he looked pretty healthy.

But I've never worked with a hognose before - just my corn, but I feel like with some minimal research and effort I can help this guy out. And if I can't, if anyone on this forum is in the area they're free to give a shot at him, or I may just offer him to the local pet shop.


Thank you all for your advice. :bowdown: You guys are the best.

 

[Iulia]

So she has given you the hognose? I'm sure you will be able to get him to eat. Keep us posted.

 

[Mari]

So she has given you the hognose? I'm sure you will be able to get him to eat. Keep us posted.

I'm getting him at 7pm tonight!

I'll post some pictures of my set up and one or two pics of him so we can see if he's looking thin. The picture above is from Oct. 4 I think.

I'll keep you all posted - and hey - maybe you guys can help me with a name for him. :dancer:

Speaking of "him", he's not confirmed male, so I'll get some good tail shots if anyone wants to take a guess on that. She told me he's a "visual male", not sure how experienced she is with visual sexing.

 

[Chip]

My two cents, do not pay money for this rescue.

 

[Mari]

My two cents, do not pay money for this rescue.

I don't plan on it. She's not a bad person, she keeps other exotic pets (like 11 tarantulas and a tortoise) and is an animal person - I'm just going to explain I'm going to take the money she would have charged me and put it in to keeping the animal alive, which is the most important thing to me, and should be, for her.

When she posted it in our community group, she said "sell or give to a knowledgeable person" so I'm sure she'll just let me take him so he doesn't die.