Persistently underweight male?

Just wondering if anyone has any tips for a persistently underweight male hognose. I have one 2.5 year old toffeebelly male about 16 inches long who just hovers in the 110 to 125 gram range, and won’t get any heavier. He’s fed one medium or two small frozen/thawed weekly, and refuses a meal about every fourth time. Husbandry is the same as all my others, and he’s the only problem child of the bunch. Activity, shedding, etc. are otherwise fine…he just runs lean. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

1 Like

Male hognoses don’t usually get very large like females, and he doesn’t sound like he’s unhealthy. Pics might help with that though!

My adult male I got December of 2019 is still under 100 grams, around the 80 gram range as of right now. I haven’t grabbed a weight on him super recently.

He’s also a proven breeder (proved out by me last year) and should hopefully be siring his second clutch here soon.

Here’s a picture of him with his lady:

6 Likes

Honestly that doesn’t sound underweight at all. If anything he’s on the bigger side. Most adult male hogs I’ve seen range from 60-120g in weight. Keep in mind that they’re not supposed to look like the females. They tend to be longer and skinnier rather than chunky.

5 Likes

Thanks for the reply. I’ve attached a pic of him, just taken. If he was a king or a corn, I wouldn’t be concerned. He just looks lean for a hognose to me. But sounds like he might be more normal than I thought. Thanks again!

6 Likes

He looks like a healthy boy :slight_smile: Our males range from 60 grams to 130 grams and are fed fuzzy mice or small hoppers. We’ve only got a few that take regular sized hoppers, and they’re only fed every 10 - 14 days.

5 Likes

Along the same lines… For the experienced breeders: With females, what weight benchmarks do you normally see? Meaning, at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months (or whatever other time intervals), roughly how much should a healthy female weigh?

Or, maybe a better question is how much would you like your females to weigh, at different age benchmarks?

Their weight gain is so variable, depending on how well they eat, structure, etc… I have 2 year old females that are 200g + and others that are 60g. If they have good body condition/muscle tone, are alert and gaining weight, not obese or emaciated, that’s what I like to see :slight_smile:

2 Likes