So I have 2 Hognoses, both Western. One will pound away pinkies every day if I let her, and then there is my 2yr old male. He has refused to eat for me for going on 6 weeks. I’m starting to get worried. I have tried tong feeding, leaving it in his aquarium (I feed frozen thawed) I’ve put him in a small container and left him in there( which has worked before) I’ve tried braining the fuzzie.
( which has worked before) I’ve tried scenting with gecko( which has worked before) I even caught a toad the other day and tried scenting with that and nothing. My husbandry is spot on. I have a warm side of 88-90 and a cool side of 78-80 which he spends most of his time on the cool side. I use a fine Coco fiber so he can dig in it…I’m at a loss please any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks
It’s really not unusual for males to be finicky, and a 2 years of age granted he has a good body weight it could last a while and 6 weeks will seems like nothing.
You can try changing things around a little, temps, enclosure size, substrate and see how it goes.
One thing however is to be consistant and feed in the enclosure.
If in a month or 2 he is still not feeding (again granted he has a good body weight) I would suggest to brumate him for at least 4 weeks.
Agreed. 6 weeks for a healthy male is no biggie and no surprise this time of year. I’ve got a 3 year old male who is a pig most of the time but hasn’t eaten for the last 2 months. At the end of October, I’ll turn his heat off for about a month and after I turn it back on, he’ll eat again.
Thanks everyone for your responses I turned the heat off today. Do I keep his water filled? Will he still drink during the brumation period?
Water should be available now as far as brumation we are talking about achieving temps of 55/60 degrees, this will allow him to brumate properly and in 4 weeks bringing him back to normal temps and wait at least a week from the temp being back up before feeding.
Any tips on how to hit those temps when ambient house temps are around 70?
Finding a cooler part of the house such as basement, or a room that is not heated.
Mine go in the basement for brumation I have an area that is not heated and is used exclusively for that purpose from November to January.
Oh ok the person I talked to said to just take them down to the 70 degree mark
I would go at least down to 65 if you do not want or can’t do lower. 70 Might work but if it does not you will have wasted a few weeks and have to do it again.
Ok sounds good thanks
I dunno if you’re still trying to get your finicky boy to eat but I can tell you what gets my equally picky cobra to chow down. A smaller than what you might think he should be getting meal, scented HEAVY in Tuna juice. I literally thaw my food item and just dunk it completely in the tuna juice (I keep a bag in the back of the fridge in a baggie drained from the can. Use it twice and then toss.) and then set the food item on a plastic lid near wherever he is hiding. Cover entire enclosure with a towel and leave for most of the day or night.
Ok I will definitely try that next time, I decided to brumate him for 6 weeks to see if this helps him.