damn this hognose

[jason longboard]

depends if it it is a western, southern, or eastern. IF it is not a western, good luck.

When i had my western hognose, every winter it went around 4 months with out eating. At this point, I just turn of its heat pad, and stored it around 65-70 degrees. Then when spring came, I warmed the temperatures up, and he began to eat weekly. He did this his first year. DO NOT USE A NON NATIVE amphibian to scent, toxins can kill the snake. Buy a southern toad, a spade toad, or any other bufo species from the US to scent it.

western

 

[Berber King]

Feeding.Warm the temps,and try the trout.

 

[jason longboard]

bump for GREG I think it is,must be a new guy.

 

[Gregg Madden]

He may be going into brumation mode... The problem with this is that if the temps are not right for brumation, they will go off feed but they are still metabolizing and their other functions are not slowed... Proper brumation temps are around 55 degrees...

You can brumate him if you like... I usually stop feeding my colubrids 3 weeks before brumation whil gradually cooling them... I put them down for 2 to 3 months in a pitch black bin at 55 to 58 degrees with deep substrate and fresh water... I gradually start to warm them up and they will usually eat 2 to 3 days after comming out of brumation...

If you opt not to brumate your hog (I usually keep them up their first year so they can get two full seasons of food and growth) you need to make sure your ambient air temps are are above 78 degrees... I keep my hogs in a rack system so the temps are constant all year... They have a basking spot of 90 degrees...

I do not have any problem feeders at this point but a couple of them were less than co-operative when they were yearlings...

So if you plan to brumate, it needs to be done correctly...
If you choose not to brumate, make sure you ambient air temps are correct... Even with a 90 degree hot spot, if your ambients are not correct it will cause your snake to go off feed...

Ambient air temps are just as, if not more important than basking temps...

 

[Gregg Madden]

I would also advise against any type of scenting... This can really throw them off in the long run... Usually once they are used to eating unscented pinks there is no reason to scent... Also what many do not realize is that hogs are not strictly toad eaters in the wild... Toads only make up on average 25% of the westen hognoses diet in the wild... They frequently take rodent prey in the wild in many parts of their range...

 

[jason longboard]

Well I truly do not want him to brumate so I have not let it get too cool in here,after all the tons of snakes Ive kept I gotta say Ive never brumated any. Back when I got him he wouldn't eat for a few weeks,so after trying plain pink, I tried scenting with a little tuna juice and he went right to it. Thing is now its been quite awhile and that dosnt even work so I think you are correct in that he is just doing the winter thing,just pisses me off because he is so little. I wish I had a scale, Im going to see what I can do.Also I agree with you and always try to stress to ppl how important ambient air temps are, so many ppl loose herps to heat hugging or respiratory infections in the winter especially from not understanding that.Thanks for your info.I will keep you posted.