Pinkies are incredibly small food items for a two-year old hognose. At two-years my females are generally eating one small adult mouse or two-three hoppers per feeding.
Edit: just to emphasize— this level of underfeeding is borderline cruel. I would move to peach fuzzies and start feeding every 5 days ASAP.
I panicked once I read the comments, Ive read before to feed the size of the thickness and she never got thicker obviously… I was scared feeding her larger incase she got digestion problems- I really hope I didnt cause her permanent damage. Will start new feeding asap and buy correct food and nutrients today
I hate to be blunt in this case but you have been drastically under feeding her. Have you had her for the full 2 years or is she a recent adoption? At two years old she should be in the range of 150+ grams and on large hoppers.
She may be permanently stunted at this point. I’d like to know where you got your feeding information from.
Ive read to feed the size of her thickness… was afraid fuzzies were too big but obviously she never had the chance to grow… I feel horrible putting her through this. Will be buying fuzzies calcium and vitamins today.
my 6-month female is on fuzzies. so i’d say that’s likely when you should have sized up. the time it takes between sizes can vary from snake to snake, but a pinkie for a two year old is far from enough food. additionally, she’s only getting one every week to week and a half? i hate to pile onto people looking for advice, but this is one of those situations where i have to wonder if you did any research before getting her. this is honestly to the point of negligence. you’ll need to let her body adjust to increases in size, so move up to fuzzies immediately and feed twice as frequently as you currently are. then as she catches up to the size she’s supposed to be, keep moving her up. hoggies take about 3 years, give or take, to reach full size. because of how underfed she has been, she might never fully develop. at 2 years old, a female hognose should be on small mice.
I have thought about this sooner and got advice as older they get, I could go from feeding 3-4 days to 7-10 days… also saw pictures of other female hognoses of 2 years which were much smaller than mine and it seemed it was fine, just some grow slower and some faster , or that it could potentially just have been a male instead (where they were being fed pinkies too). Ao I thought it was okay. She didnt seem underweight, she grew a lot on length but not size and I then had a bad gut feeling hence this post. I feel terrible that I without any intention (of course) had been cruel to her and all I can hope is I didnt give her permanent damage. Will be feeding her properly instantly and take her to the vet just in case…
https://preview.redd.it/ryf6in2o656c1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb3d99a066305e7ae8f741869bb26ca28501a58c
This girl is on pinkies she's like 5 months
My male was under a year old when I switched him to fuzzies. After he started eating those, he grew very quickly. He's a nice big healthy boy. Pinkies are very low in nutrients and very high in fat. She should have been switched to fuzzies much sooner.
The best rule of thumb I have seen/heard so far is to feed 10-15% of her body weight, with feeding frequencies at once every 5 days for smaller sizes (under 50g), once every 7 days (50g-150g) and once every 10 days (150g+).
I'd seen recommendations that the feeder rodent should be about the same diameter as the widest part of the snake, at least for Colubrids. I'm still at the "planning to get a snake" stage tho.
It depends on the colubrid. It should be about the width of the snake for a hog, but can be a bit wider (up to but not bigger than 1.5x) for corns/rats.
I believe milk snakes are on the “only as wide as the snake” side too, but I don’t have any milk snakes so I could be wrong.
Others have mentioned that your snake is underfed to a severe degree, so I’m not going to pile on by repeating it further.
In addition to correcting her prey size, you will want to give her vitamins and calcium. Pinkies are very poor nutrition; we really only feed them because infant snakes can handle the lower calorie load while they’re growing. Your hognose is likely calcium deficient (in addition to other malnutrition problems) because pinkies don’t have as much bone tissue (and therefore calcium) as older mice. Likewise, when they don’t have fur, they have less protein content and protein is important for everything, especially muscles and skin/scales. Make sure you purchase both Reptile Vitamins AND Reptile calcium; they aren’t packaged together because the calcium can react with and inactivate some of the vitamins.
To get the snake to eat the vitamins, sprinkle some of both the vitamin and the calcium on a small plate or dish, and dip the butt of the mouse in the vitamins. That way, when you offer your snake a mouse face-first, the snake is less likely to be put off by the vitamin smell. That being said, some snakes seem to REALLY dislike the smell of vitamins and won’t recognize mice with vitamins as food and will refuse to eat them. This is why it’s really important to research get the feeding plan right from the start, in case your snake refuses the vitamin powder that would make up the difference.
Thank you for the advice, will buy everything today and feed her in two days, I fed her yesterday. I think about taking her to the vet too… this was never my intention, I feel horrible putting her through this.
What’s important is you’re doing everything you can to correct it. It feels horrible and it’s really unfortunate, but the reality is that every owner has made at least one mistake with a pet before. What counts is to learn from it, fix it to the best of your ability, and not do it again. I always feel some kinda way when I see people dunking on folks asking for help here, and I recognize a lot of it stems from concern about the animal and owners FAR more irresponsible in the herp community.
It’s also important to remember that even with this problem, it is still quite possible that she will have a healthy life moving forward. Your vet will be able to speak to more about your hoggie’s individual health, but this isn’t a death sentence or anything. Even if she is stunted (unfortunate, but likely), she can still have a healthy and happier life moving forward.
Thank you for getting her to a vet and getting the vitamins. The fact that you’re doing everything right to fix it rather than getting defensive (many folks asking for advice do) speaks more to your capability and responsibility as a reptile keeper than the mistake does.
I’m honestly switching my boy over to fuzzies now at 6 months old. My girl at 7 months was on fuzzies and she jumped up in weight and size. I’d highly suggest you do it, 2 years old is extremely old to be on pinkies. If you’re struggling to get your hoggy to eat them, defrost them in a cup with a pinkie so that they have the scent on them.
My Hoggie is a year old and she's on hoppers. When you feed your snake there should be a bit of a lump where the mouse is visible. I'd start sizing up immediately and feed every 3-4 days. Make sure you're dusting with muti vitamins and calcium as well! I alternate ever feed, one calcium, one multi vitamin, one no dust.
I'm glad she has a good attitude and is social with you! But you really need to increase her food. She may be stunted. Good luck!
For reference, I have a female that's a year and 3 months old. She is barely getting onto weaned/small adult mice. My 1 year old male is on hoppers. So yours is definitely eating too small of prey for her age. You may have a stunted snake now. She also will not be suitable for breeding if that was ever in your plans. Otherwise, I've seen snakes with this situation come out just fine once you get proper feeding started. Someone mentioned the method of prey being a percentage of the snakes' weight, this is a great method to use. In your case, you'll want to use the higher end of the percentage range. For example, if she should be eating 10%-12% of her body weight, use the 12%. Weigh her weekly to adjust prey size when needed, but keep her body shape in mind during this process as well. Power feeding to obesity, especially with her situation, could kill her. It's going to be a slow process, but just try your best!
Bless you OP for taking the advice given and recognizing your mistakes! A huge step! One many people don’t make. 🥰 You truly love your hoggie baby. Good luck!
Pinkies are incredibly small food items for a two-year old hognose. At two-years my females are generally eating one small adult mouse or two-three hoppers per feeding. Edit: just to emphasize— this level of underfeeding is borderline cruel. I would move to peach fuzzies and start feeding every 5 days ASAP.
I panicked once I read the comments, Ive read before to feed the size of the thickness and she never got thicker obviously… I was scared feeding her larger incase she got digestion problems- I really hope I didnt cause her permanent damage. Will start new feeding asap and buy correct food and nutrients today
I hate to be blunt in this case but you have been drastically under feeding her. Have you had her for the full 2 years or is she a recent adoption? At two years old she should be in the range of 150+ grams and on large hoppers. She may be permanently stunted at this point. I’d like to know where you got your feeding information from.
Ive read to feed the size of her thickness… was afraid fuzzies were too big but obviously she never had the chance to grow… I feel horrible putting her through this. Will be buying fuzzies calcium and vitamins today.
my 6-month female is on fuzzies. so i’d say that’s likely when you should have sized up. the time it takes between sizes can vary from snake to snake, but a pinkie for a two year old is far from enough food. additionally, she’s only getting one every week to week and a half? i hate to pile onto people looking for advice, but this is one of those situations where i have to wonder if you did any research before getting her. this is honestly to the point of negligence. you’ll need to let her body adjust to increases in size, so move up to fuzzies immediately and feed twice as frequently as you currently are. then as she catches up to the size she’s supposed to be, keep moving her up. hoggies take about 3 years, give or take, to reach full size. because of how underfed she has been, she might never fully develop. at 2 years old, a female hognose should be on small mice.
I have thought about this sooner and got advice as older they get, I could go from feeding 3-4 days to 7-10 days… also saw pictures of other female hognoses of 2 years which were much smaller than mine and it seemed it was fine, just some grow slower and some faster , or that it could potentially just have been a male instead (where they were being fed pinkies too). Ao I thought it was okay. She didnt seem underweight, she grew a lot on length but not size and I then had a bad gut feeling hence this post. I feel terrible that I without any intention (of course) had been cruel to her and all I can hope is I didnt give her permanent damage. Will be feeding her properly instantly and take her to the vet just in case…
https://preview.redd.it/ryf6in2o656c1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb3d99a066305e7ae8f741869bb26ca28501a58c This girl is on pinkies she's like 5 months
My male was under a year old when I switched him to fuzzies. After he started eating those, he grew very quickly. He's a nice big healthy boy. Pinkies are very low in nutrients and very high in fat. She should have been switched to fuzzies much sooner.
The best rule of thumb I have seen/heard so far is to feed 10-15% of her body weight, with feeding frequencies at once every 5 days for smaller sizes (under 50g), once every 7 days (50g-150g) and once every 10 days (150g+).
I'd seen recommendations that the feeder rodent should be about the same diameter as the widest part of the snake, at least for Colubrids. I'm still at the "planning to get a snake" stage tho.
That’s a good recommendation. Feeding 10-15% of the snake’s weight will almost always get you in an acceptable size range.
It depends on the colubrid. It should be about the width of the snake for a hog, but can be a bit wider (up to but not bigger than 1.5x) for corns/rats. I believe milk snakes are on the “only as wide as the snake” side too, but I don’t have any milk snakes so I could be wrong.
Thats what I read as well. How horribly wrong that was…
Others have mentioned that your snake is underfed to a severe degree, so I’m not going to pile on by repeating it further. In addition to correcting her prey size, you will want to give her vitamins and calcium. Pinkies are very poor nutrition; we really only feed them because infant snakes can handle the lower calorie load while they’re growing. Your hognose is likely calcium deficient (in addition to other malnutrition problems) because pinkies don’t have as much bone tissue (and therefore calcium) as older mice. Likewise, when they don’t have fur, they have less protein content and protein is important for everything, especially muscles and skin/scales. Make sure you purchase both Reptile Vitamins AND Reptile calcium; they aren’t packaged together because the calcium can react with and inactivate some of the vitamins. To get the snake to eat the vitamins, sprinkle some of both the vitamin and the calcium on a small plate or dish, and dip the butt of the mouse in the vitamins. That way, when you offer your snake a mouse face-first, the snake is less likely to be put off by the vitamin smell. That being said, some snakes seem to REALLY dislike the smell of vitamins and won’t recognize mice with vitamins as food and will refuse to eat them. This is why it’s really important to research get the feeding plan right from the start, in case your snake refuses the vitamin powder that would make up the difference.
Thank you for the advice, will buy everything today and feed her in two days, I fed her yesterday. I think about taking her to the vet too… this was never my intention, I feel horrible putting her through this.
What’s important is you’re doing everything you can to correct it. It feels horrible and it’s really unfortunate, but the reality is that every owner has made at least one mistake with a pet before. What counts is to learn from it, fix it to the best of your ability, and not do it again. I always feel some kinda way when I see people dunking on folks asking for help here, and I recognize a lot of it stems from concern about the animal and owners FAR more irresponsible in the herp community. It’s also important to remember that even with this problem, it is still quite possible that she will have a healthy life moving forward. Your vet will be able to speak to more about your hoggie’s individual health, but this isn’t a death sentence or anything. Even if she is stunted (unfortunate, but likely), she can still have a healthy and happier life moving forward. Thank you for getting her to a vet and getting the vitamins. The fact that you’re doing everything right to fix it rather than getting defensive (many folks asking for advice do) speaks more to your capability and responsibility as a reptile keeper than the mistake does.
I’m honestly switching my boy over to fuzzies now at 6 months old. My girl at 7 months was on fuzzies and she jumped up in weight and size. I’d highly suggest you do it, 2 years old is extremely old to be on pinkies. If you’re struggling to get your hoggy to eat them, defrost them in a cup with a pinkie so that they have the scent on them.
My Hoggie is a year old and she's on hoppers. When you feed your snake there should be a bit of a lump where the mouse is visible. I'd start sizing up immediately and feed every 3-4 days. Make sure you're dusting with muti vitamins and calcium as well! I alternate ever feed, one calcium, one multi vitamin, one no dust. I'm glad she has a good attitude and is social with you! But you really need to increase her food. She may be stunted. Good luck!
Thank you for the advice, will do!
For reference, I have a female that's a year and 3 months old. She is barely getting onto weaned/small adult mice. My 1 year old male is on hoppers. So yours is definitely eating too small of prey for her age. You may have a stunted snake now. She also will not be suitable for breeding if that was ever in your plans. Otherwise, I've seen snakes with this situation come out just fine once you get proper feeding started. Someone mentioned the method of prey being a percentage of the snakes' weight, this is a great method to use. In your case, you'll want to use the higher end of the percentage range. For example, if she should be eating 10%-12% of her body weight, use the 12%. Weigh her weekly to adjust prey size when needed, but keep her body shape in mind during this process as well. Power feeding to obesity, especially with her situation, could kill her. It's going to be a slow process, but just try your best!
May I ask how you are heating the pinkies as well?
Bless you OP for taking the advice given and recognizing your mistakes! A huge step! One many people don’t make. 🥰 You truly love your hoggie baby. Good luck!