wild baby hog

[softsnow]

I was out hiking and came across a baby eastern hognose. I brought it home with me and gave it a couple toads, which it quickly tried to eat. However, the toad was too large for the snake and pulled itself out of the mouth of the hoggie. I have had the snake a little over a week now and it hasn't tried to eat anything else. I haven't found any smaller toads, however I have a small anole lizard, crickets, and I bought a pinkie and rubbed it on a toad to try to get it to eat, but to no avail. I have it in a ten gallon tank with an electric rock and a 60 watt bulb shining down on it. I'm in Wisconsin and it's been cold here for the last week and a half, so the wild food has been scarce. Should I try to force feed it a pinkie, live or frozen,(but thawed).???

[robin d.]

most likely he wont eat rodents well at least right off the bat. small lizards and possibly frogs or toads. but it would most likely be best to just retun him to where you found him.

[Wilomn]

One week isn't that long. You may want to see if you can find some tadpoles too, he may eat those.

What is the temp. directly under your heat light? It may be too hot. Robin is right about not eating pinkies right off and it probably won't eat the lizard. Try washing the pinkie with soap and water, rinse it thoroughly, then put it in a plastic cup with the toad for several hours and THEN try feeding the snake.

If you can't get it to eat in the next week or week and a half then you may want to take it back where you found it.

Good luck.

[softsnow]

I am keeping a toad for scenting pinkies... Should I be using live or frozen pinkies or does it make any difference? I don't believe the light gives off too much heat. There is plenty of room away from the light that would be cooler for the snake, but he seems to like it in the warmth of the light. He also climbs up a white cedar branch I've placed in there which is under the light. The lizard stays in the branch, but keeps a wary eye on the snake, who shows absolutely no interest in lizard. I'll try the tadpoles, and washing the pinkie and letting him cuddle with the toad and see how that goes.
On a side bar...
I've been keeping snakes and lizards since I've been in 4th grade. I'm 48 now with 8 kids that love the outdoors including reptiles and amphibians. This is a great learning experience for me and for them. I've been intrigued with hognosed snakes since the beginning, but this is the first time I've caught one. Thanks for all your help.

[Wilomn]

Try live pinkies at first. Some babies key in to motion almost as much as scent.

[robin d.]

my bad on the lizards... westerns will eat those or lizard scenting (we border on eastern and western [have seen a few westerns] territory but i have never seen [a wild one] an eastern to date just heard a few stories).... i am assuming that is an eastern hog? wow i didnt realize they were so north (hognoses in general)

[Cat_72]

One quick note......"electric heat rocks" are NOT a good thing to use with ANY snake.

[softsnow]

We were in the south eastern part of the state on a boy scout backpacking trip in the Kettle Moraine area, an area formed by the glaciers a couple years ago. I've always known they were there, but until now had never seen one. It was very exciting. He did his cobra act and then played dead. It was very comical.
About the heat rock.... what is wrong with using it???

[Cat_72]

Heat rocks do nothing to raise the temperature of the environment, and they actual temperature of the rock is WAY hotter than what a snake should be subjected to. They can cause SERIOUS burns if a snake should wrap around them, and if the snake should happen to burrow under the heat rock, as many snakes will do, it can actually be burned to death.

[softsnow]

I happen to disagree with you, cat. First of all, my heat rock is on the bottom of the terrarium, and the sand is built up around it, which does actually warm up the surrounding sand. I have a flat rock that the snake can crawl under, propped up against it, so the snake can, and does, sleep under that.
To the touch, the electric rock is warm, but not hot. In nature, the sun can heat rocks to the point where they are too hot to touch. I don't believe that snakes are so lacking in natural instinct as to actually cook themselves to death by resting or sleeping on a surface that can kill them.
All that aside, the snake still hasn't eaten, however he is still very active and sometimes climbs the branch that is propped up in the terrarium. Last night I got some tadpoles and set up a 'swamp' for them to grow up in. The little anoel and the snake are becoming buddies, although, I think the lizard is still leery of the snake. ;-)

[softsnow]

enclosed is a jpeg of my tree climbing hoggie with his good friend.

[Cat_72]

I happen to disagree with you, cat. First of all, my heat rock is on the bottom of the terrarium, and the sand is built up around it, which does actually warm up the surrounding sand. I have a flat rock that the snake can crawl under, propped up against it, so the snake can, and does, sleep under that.
To the touch, the electric rock is warm, but not hot. In nature, the sun can heat rocks to the point where they are too hot to touch. I don't believe that snakes are so lacking in natural instinct as to actually cook themselves to death by resting or sleeping on a surface that can kill them.
All that aside, the snake still hasn't eaten, however he is still very active and sometimes climbs the branch that is propped up in the terrarium. Last night I got some tadpoles and set up a 'swamp' for them to grow up in. The little anoel and the snake are becoming buddies, although, I think the lizard is still leery of the snake. ;-)

Read ANY good caresheet on snakes.......it will tell you do NOT use a heat rock. Period.

Or, try asking some of the people on here that have SEEN snakes with thermal burns, it's NOT a pretty sight.

[Wilomn]

The problem with some hotrocks is they do not hold temperature consistently forever and by the time the short out or get WAY too hot you have an injured or dead snake.

I've used them for years, or used to as I only have one left. It's sort of like speeding. You can do it hundreds of times BUT the one time you get caught going over 100mph you will NEVER forget.

[Colchicine]

It is common knowledge that heat rocks can harm reptiles, and it's well documented in the literature. Besides, it is unnatural for hognoses to burrow to get warm. In the wild they would burrow to escape high heat. Therefore, and overhead heater is much more natural.

[Ophis]

Wow, walking up on an eastern Hog in Wisconsin. I should be so lucky!! Good luck with it!

[SPJ]

Open a can of tuna and soak the pinky in the juice.
That usually works to elicit a feeding response to get easterns started on rodents.

[reptilemama]

I'm not a hognose expert, but a few things jumped out at me when I read your post. You mentioned having a white cedar branch in the cage- cedar is toxic to reptiles. Get it out of there and replace it with either a fake branch, or something known to be safe for reptiles. You also never mentioned the temps in the cage. You really need to measure the temps with a good digital thermometer. As someone mentioned, it could easily be too hot, especially with a 60 watt bulb in a tiny little 10 gallon tank. Having the anole in the tank may not be the best idea, either. If the snake hasn't eaten it by now, it probably won't, and it's possible the presence of another animal is stressing it enough to keep it from eating. It's not the best environment for the anole either. They need relatively high humidity and UV light to survive. Keeping it in with the hog is just subjecting it to a slow death.

[FloridaHogs]

I have found (at 2 different times) baby hogs in my yard. I have found them to be quite tempermental. I am in Florida, so there is an abundance of toads and frogs here. My 1st baby refused to eat anything period. the next fall I found the 2nd and decided to try a new tactic. I force feed him a small common tree frog. After that, he would readily eat them. I did find that he had trouble catching them until the frogs were tired out. All in all, he did quite well once he realized they were food. I have never had and luck with any other food source. I did a bit of on line research, and there seems to be some concern with pinkies shortening the life span of Eastern Hognoses. Not being a natural food source, they increase the chances of fatty liver disease. I do not know how big a concern that should be, does anybody know?? Being in Florida, toads or available year round, so I just stick to their natural diet.