| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| LouiseB |
Posted - 16/12/2011 : 09:25:31
My hoggy Baldrick has not eaten for more than 3 months now, and he is starting to look really skinny, he has loose skin all around his upper half and his head is getting bony. I want to try assist feeding him but so far I've been unable to a) hold him still for long enough, and b) actually get his mouth to open. I'm on my own so I only have two hands to do the job with - it doesn't seem to be enough! Can anyone give me any tips for getting him to open up? If I can't do it myself I'll have to take him to the vet and it gets pretty expensive... |
| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| mort13 |
Posted - 17/01/2012 : 18:56:39
It sounds like you've had a bit of a nightmare with your little boy there. Glad he started feeding again in the end, and I hope he keeps his appetite up for you once he's shed. |
| LouiseB |
Posted - 12/01/2012 : 18:41:47
Just an update on my boy. In the end I did have to take him to the vet because he had lost too much weight. He's now eating by himself again, but he's decided that now is the time to start shedding! Very frustrating, but I hope he'll still be hungry when he has his lovely new skin... |
| MrsA82 |
Posted - 22/12/2011 : 19:26:26
The sardine trick worked for me. But I did leave a small bit of sardine next to the pinkie rather than just scenting as scenting alone never worked for me
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| LouiseB |
Posted - 22/12/2011 : 09:43:30
Yes, that's true about them eating eggs in the wild, I didn't think of that. I am doing some baking tomorrow so I'll set aside a bit of egg yolk from that, thanks for the tip! |
| andi |
Posted - 21/12/2011 : 23:46:38
yeah raw egg yolk, it was advised for royals and i would presume that it would be fine for hoggies, but my non feeding royal who in a yr has eaten twice has now fed twice on chicks which have yolks in them and his appetite has picked up fantastically in comparrison, but it certainly helps, plus in the wild hogs will take eggs if they got the opportunity :o)
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| LouiseB |
Posted - 19/12/2011 : 10:46:24
Hi Andi, I usually feed him on large fuzzies, but I have gone back to pinkies for now. In the past, I found that braining the pinkies helped, but this time it doesn't seem to be tempting him. I've tried wet and dry, smaller viv, and taking him for a drive. I haven't tried frog scenting because I don't really have access to frogs, but I hadn't heard of using egg yolk, so I might give that a go. I did try using cod liver oil and sardines, though, to no avail, so I'm not hopeful that scenting would work. Raw eggs rather than cooked ones, I presume?
Kehhlyr, it would be great to see a video of assist feeding, but I wouldn't want you to stress out your hoggy unnecessarily. Perhaps if you could just explain how you get the mouth open, as I do know the theory from there? |
| andi |
Posted - 17/12/2011 : 22:52:07
have u tried everything u can think of? wot is he usually feeding on? if he on bigger than a pink maybe go back to the pinks? have u tried to get hold of a frog? have u tried dipping the food in egg yolk? braining the food? warming the food dry and wet? have u tried moving him into a smaller viv for a short time? its not easy to assist feed and can sometimes stress them out more than is needed! wot about scenting a pink with another animal like a chick? |
| jakeduff13 |
Posted - 17/12/2011 : 13:23:02
hi, Are you posting a video up of you assist feeding? ide really like to see that. |
| Kehhlyr |
Posted - 16/12/2011 : 15:04:54
There is a way to do it, I shall terrorise one of mine to show how it's done. Purely due to the explanation being awkward.
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