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Miguelm   JackAsp  
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 #1506360


Miguelm
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 How to feed a western??

Hi

My girlfriend just bought me a western hognose (junior), and I am planning to start him on frozen/thawed large pinkies. Do I leave put 2 or 3 thawed pinkies in his cage or feed him one at a time? My western is about 1 foot 6 inches long. How many large pinkies should I feed him is 3 enough?

Thanks
11/08/07  02:31pm

 #1506994


JackAsp
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   Message To: Miguelm   In reference to Message Id: 1506360


 How to feed a western??

I’d say three fuzzies would be a more appropriate starting point. Mine was eating three frozen/thawed fuzzies every five days when she was even smaller than that. Buy a 100-count bag, weigh them out into marked ziplocks (3 grams, 4 grams, 5 grams, etc) and just use the smallest fuzzies first. When the fuzzies run out, get hoppers.

What I do is warm them up, put them in a large deli cup, and then bring the snake to them. She starts eating immediately, and I just sort of gently put the tail end in there too, then when she’s done I put her back. No confusion about "Hey, maybe that thing moving toward me is another nouse! Hey, why is he screaming and trying to shake me off?" because the snake never sees the hand bring food. Food is always what’s already in the cup waiting.

If you do in-cage feeding, you can put all three mice in a small food dish. It’s good to have something that the snake has to reach his face into a little bit. It simulates crevice exploration, it makes them feel hidden since their head is surrounded by a visual barrier while they eat, it reduces their chances of being distracted (although to be honest, I think you could paint my hognose to look like a coral snake while she was eating and she wouldn’t slow down any,) and it prevents them from dragging the food around and ingesting substrate along with it.

You might find an occasional snake that has a better feeding response if you go one at a time, but generally that’s not necessary. Mine, in fact, gets very upset if I move her food and starts hissing furiously at it. In her mind, food is not something that should ever move, and since every case of a person being envenomated by a hognose that I’ve ever heard of involved a feeding response, I’m quite happy encouraging her in that belief.
11/09/07  02:12am


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