Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok . . My rosy now hasnt eat'n in about three weeks.

I've tried to get it to eat but i believe the root to getting her to eat again is to find out why she isnt eating.

Let me know if you see anything wrong with my setup.

she is ~ 6 months old (i guess) she is about a foot long and as think as my ring finger at its greatest (im a pretty big guy)

She is in a 10gal tank with Aspen bedding, she has under the tank heating as well as a non-luminesant basking bulb. She has a open metal screen on top of the tank (for humidity control) and i only put water in her tank a few times a week. She has a house to hide in (that she rarely uses) the ambiant temps are usually from 75-82 But i assume its more at the substrate level because of the under the tank heat.

I have tried manny things to get her to eat. I have been trying to give her fuzzy mice (she has eaten them in the past) The first time she refused to eat she killed the mouse and let it sit. I left the dead mouse in there for a couple hours and she just couldnt be bothered. Now she just barely acknowlages that there is a mouse in her tank. The mouse will walk all over her head etc and she just doesnt care! I have put her in a small brown bag with a mouse for over 3 hours! NOTHING! I then left her in a brown cardboard box (small) with the mouse overnight and when i checked on her i see the mouse suckleing on her tail!!!!

Im super frustrated, my next step is to try to feed it a pinky (im told they like smaller prey . . .

Sorry for the long post but im just hopeing to get some good advice.

-Russ
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Russ
1 Brazillian Rainbow Boa (< 1 year old)
1 Rosy Boa (G/F's Snake)

Somehow i have to feed both?!
Melbourne, Fl

I'd say leave it be for a day or two, then try a pinkie. If the pinkie doesn't work you can try "braining" one (poke a hole in a fresh killed or f/t pinkie's head and smear some of the brain matter around it's head/face) but i bet it ends up taking the pinkie first anyways.

yea im going to try a pinkie soon . . hopefully that settles it
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Russ
1 Brazillian Rainbow Boa (< 1 year old)
1 Rosy Boa (G/F's Snake)

Somehow i have to feed both?!
Melbourne, Fl

I gave the rosy a mouce pink in a brown box, it never ate it . . .
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Russ
1 Brazillian Rainbow Boa (< 1 year old)
1 Rosy Boa (G/F's Snake)

Somehow i have to feed both?!
Melbourne, Fl

Sounds like you've tried everything. Also sounds like this rosy doesn't want to eat. So maybe you should try a different approach. The fact is, the rosy is telling YOU something (by its behavior) and your only response has been to put food in front of it. Something is making the rosy not want food. The restless behavior may be that the rosy is seeking some environmental conditions that it can't find in its cage.

I can't see your setup over the net, nor can I assess the health of the snake by sight, so I'll just have to take your word that it is healthy. Going on that, you might try to cool the snake for a month or more. Dark place (or cover cage) and let the cool side go down to 60 deg (55-65 seems fine.) If you want to leave a small basking spot, that is fine as well.

Offer the cool temps. Observe the snake and see what it is doing. Is it staying on the cool side? If so, perhaps that is what it needs. They do experience cool temps in Winter in the wild, and they do have an internal clock that tells them it is time, along with other cues that we may not entirely understand.

If the snake is sick (I doubt it) then cooling may not be the best idea. But it sounds like the snake is behaving like many of my rosies did this time of year when I tried to not cool them. Good luck.

I think that might do the trick. The snake has been fairly lathargic. Right now it has been keeping to the cold side of the tank. Maybe that shows a desire to be cooled. But after ~ 1 month of not eating it hasnt really lost much weight. Right now for heating i have an under the tank heat source on one side, as well as a heat lamp on the same side. Im going to turn off the lamp and leave the under the tank source and see how the snake reacts.
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Russ
1 Brazillian Rainbow Boa (< 1 year old)
1 Rosy Boa (G/F's Snake)

Somehow i have to feed both?!
Melbourne, Fl

Good plan. I was going to suggest that temps should be looked at, often both uth and a basking lamp may make it too warm. Then again like markg mentioned, it just may need to cool down for some time too.

Well i turned off the heatlamp and its been a day or so and the snake is still at the cool side so i guess thats her telling me that she wanted it colder . . . ill try to feed her again in a week or so
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Russ
1 Brazillian Rainbow Boa (< 1 year old)
1 Rosy Boa (G/F's Snake)

Somehow i have to feed both?!
Melbourne, Fl

The idea of cooling is to not feed while being cooled. This is "down time" so to speak. Keep the snake cool until mid Jan or February, then warm it up and watch out for the feeding response.

Also, darken the cage at this time. Do not disturb except for changing the water every few days and for general health observation.