• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

More hognose issues - seeking help with feeding live

Mari

Mari

New member
Well well well.. Mister picky is still being QUITE the little picky boy!

Little Hognose (temporarily being called Phillipe)
Weight: 2.65 oz, 75 grams. (does that sound right?)
Last successful feeding: Nov. 13th
Got him October 23rd.

Husbandry:
Small Sterilite locking bin (very very small) with water dish, aspen, hides & lots of ground coverage w/ vines. UTH on hydrofarm thermostat, 88F.

I offer every 3 days - after 2 consecutive denials, I wait an extra 2 days.

I've been offering the same that he took on Nov. 13th - toad-scented F/T. I'm not getting anywhere with that it seems, because he constantly rejects them now. I'm positive his enclosure is perfectly fine, he has no mites, isn't in shed and is very healthy (tongue flicking, active, thermoregulating fine.

Sooooo... I'm gong to finally attempt using a live pinkie.
Here's my long list of questions.

- I don't want to leave it in with him alone, correct? So do I just need to watch? How long?
- Should I stun the pinkie first?
- If the pinkie bites him what should I do? Just remove it and make sure he's ok?
- Should I scent the live pinkie with toad urine/toad/etc?
- Is there anything I should know?

I've only ever fed F/T and feeding live is basically a last choice for me. Not because it's gross/etc, but I just don't want to rely on it, you know? Anyway, any feedback would be really appreciated.

And if anyone is in the Sarasota area or is going to Sarasota Repticon and wants to buy/trade for this little hognose, send me a PM. I love the little guy, but I feel like such a novice who can't get him to thrive, and I feel bad. I'm constantly worrying about him and yelling at my roommates when they get close to him (which is, by the way, hidden in the back of my closet... lol)
 
You can just leave him with the live pink. It can't hurt him. Don't stun it. I'd toad scent.
 
The pinkie will not be an issue for the hognose. It won't bite the snake.

you can...and probably should leave the pinkie alone in the feeding tub with the snake...covered, in a dark...quiet room. do NOT look until tomorrow.
 
Will do. Ok, this makes me feel a lot better. I felt kinda ridiculous worrying so much - I mean, in the wild, these guys just do it - but I get a bit of that crazy helicopter mom thing going on with this guy. He's been through so much. :p And god he's so precious.

I plan on offering probably tomorrow night, if I can get to the pet store tomorrow. I'll post again on Tuesday morning, hopefully with good news... poor toad's going to have to live through another round of "how long will it take for you to pee on this mouse for me - live pinkie edition"!

By the way Nanci, I absolutely love this southern toad. I upgraded him to a big box with a ton of moss and he's got a giant burrow and just loves watching the world go by. Speaking of that, I think it's a she-frog... whoops. :p
 
Toads are just the coolest. Which is why some of us can't breed hoggies- we can't bring ourselves to feed live toads to get stubborn feeders going...Shouldn't call them stubborn, even. It's their natural food. We are the stubborn ones, wanting them to eat rodents.
 
My hog nose always took live easiest, but at this time of year he'd go on an epic feeding strike and not eat for four months or so. I wouldn't worry *too* much unless he starts dropping too much weight.
 
A male hognose going off feed is par for the course. I'd just offer food as always until he takes. In my experience, scenting and tricks won't work until he's ready to eat. It's the weirdest thing. I have some lose weight every year, get thin even.

The weight you listed is confusing. If he's 75 grams, he needs something much larger than pinkies. FWIW, past crawler size, I won't feed live. Hoggies are defenseless if not eating. Pinks, fuzzies and crawlers can't bite as mentioned.
 
Last edited:
I'm really glad you brought up the weight because I myself and really confused - I actually just typed in "2.65 oz to grams" into google and it gave me 75? And it also says there's 28 grams to 1 oz. I'll have to re-weigh him and figure that out, because I'm thoroughly confused.

And yeah, I mean.. I worry because I'm a serious worrier, but I know he'll be fine.. it just worries the crap out of me. :(
 
You're right, it's 28. Which is still a pretty big piece of snake to be eating pinks, but if you can get food in him, all should be well. If this goes on for several weeks, is brumating him an option? I cool my non feeders every winter, and they tend to eat again in spring.
 
The pinkies just dwarf him, but I could try a fuzzy? When I feed him tonight I'll post a picture of him and the pinkie for the size difference. I can't imagine a fuzzy fitting in his tiny little belly. As far as brumation, I suppose it is an option - that's around 55 F right? What's the easiest way to maintain that temp?
 
Petstore was out of pinkies. I'll get that picture up tomorrow afternoon and do the feeding tomorrow night. :( Sorry!
 
It's pretty much unknown - since I've had him, no shed, no blue, since October 23rd, previous owner had him for a month and saw no shed/no blue.
 
He may be nearing one. They're weird snakes when it comes to eating. When they are off feed, toads won't even tempt them, so it's not necessarily you! Keep a warm spot in that cage, too. I keep them in ventilated racks, so can keep them quite hot safely. The adage about hognose is "keep them hot and feed them a lot," though that advice could easily leave you with fat or cooked snakes if applied incorrectly!
 
Well, I was about to head to the store today to pick up a pinkie, and when I checked on him this morning he was actually in his hide (not normal for him) and when I lifted it up, he started hissing wildly. I mean, he's a lil' hisser, but it's usually after me bothering him for a few minutes. (Like cleaning the water dish he loves to sleep under) Sound kinda sheddy?

Either way I need to get some other food for Rigby so I'm gonna go grab the pinkie, and I'll post a picture. Also, I laughed, because I weighed my corn who's pounding fuzzies like he doesn't even give a crap is only 33 grams vs the hog's 75? I can't even believe that, so I'm reweighing. I refuse to believe that now. Lol.
 
Update: Did not eat the live pinkie scented with frog.
He weighs 7 grams, not 75. (duh)

I included a picture of the size difference to show how itty his he.

Aaaand now I've noticed a weird little cut on his ventral side, towards the end of his tail. I absolutely could not get my camera to take a good picture of it, so it's hard to see, but it almost looks like someone with a big fingernail squished him right along the middle of his body... You can see it in the picture, it's just as his tail is flattening to the bottle of the cup. It's less than an inch long.

I felt it and it didn't feel too bad, but he was acting pretty defensive, hissing and bonking his nose on me... Does that seem like some sort of injury..?
 

Attachments

  • 66c438b065e711e3afad1280a38bb2dd_8.jpg
    66c438b065e711e3afad1280a38bb2dd_8.jpg
    94.8 KB · Views: 32
  • CAM00221.jpg
    CAM00221.jpg
    94.5 KB · Views: 32
That's his "belly button," the scar where his egg stem was attached. it shows up really well on hoggies for some reason.
 
My inclination (just from eyeballing it) would be to offer food about half that size twice weekly. Agreed that's probably an egg stem mark.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top