Reply To: Western Hognose Not Eating

[katelynna]

Hi! I saw your comment on a previous post of mine and came here to try and help!

I don’t have too much advice for a hognose that isn’t eating (I never have that issue with mine except when she’s in blue), but I’ll share what I do know. I’ve never had to do any of this, I just know many people have had to do any or all of these things for their stubborn hoggies.

What are you scenting with? And are you continuing to scent? Tuna and salmon juice both work very well for this, and he may prefer one over the other. If he needs them to be scented, continue to do so for awhile until he’s eating consistently and then you can attempt to wean him off scented mice (emphasis on wean). If he still isn’t eating after all of that, you can also offer bits of salmon or tuna (cooked of course – canned is best for the smell but make sure it’s in water and NOT oil). You can also offer boiled eggs. None of these can be fed for the remainder of his life, but it can help get protein in him and get him interested in food again. And if you find what he likes, you can use it to scent. My female was fed salmon when she was a baby by her breeder because she wouldn’t eat mice, and then when her first owners bought her, they had no trouble switching her to mice.

Since he’s interested in food, it kind of sounds like he’s not sure if his food is really food because he’s watching it but it’s not moving. Are you keeping his mice warm when feeding? I thaw mine in the fridge overnight and then warm them up by letting them soak in hot water the next morning before feeding. She gets a good amount of water as well through this.

Another thing you can try is making the mouse “dance” to seem more alive, but you have to do this with tongs, and it will work best with food that’s been heated like what I mentioned above since snakes ‘see’ the heat so to speak. Holding the mouse by the tail and moving it around a bit can entice a stubborn snake.

Another thing is they need a lot of coverage to feel safe, so if he doesn’t have a lot of leafy plants (real or fake) in his enclosure, this could cause him to not want to eat as well since they’re very vulnerable when eating. Clutter the tank with leafy coverage and see if that helps as well! When I upgraded my girl’s tank and increased clutter, she became much less feisty just from feeling safer like she can’t be ‘seen.’ She hasn’t hissed much at me in months, but she’s almost completely quit puffing up and flattening her head as well. And again – she’s never given me eating issues. But I know this can affect how they feel towards food as well.

Lastly, every once in awhile a loss of appetite is indicative of parasites, but it seems unlikely in this case. Your temps are good (your basking spot can go up to 95F but hot side at 90 is good) and everything sounds normal. Just be aware that it can take months for reptiles to be comfortable, and truly they can go 6+ months without eating and be perfectly fine. If you end up taking him to the vet, see if they can run a test for parasites – usually this is a fecal test but if you don’t have any to test from him not eating, I’m not sure what they can do. They may also suggest force feeding which will suck if you’ve never had to do it, but we do what we have to for our animals!

Best of luck! Feel free to ask me any other questions you may have, especially after that information vomit 😂