Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My little rosy (born 13 July of last year, acquired late Sep) has been an inconsistent feeder most of the time we've had him--one pinky a week, twice in a row, then off feed for three weeks, then repeat.

I have always fed him in a closed deli cup so he can't "get away" from the F/T pinky. I started putting a paper bag over the cup and leaving him overnight, which at first seemed to help, but ended up just following the same 2 weeks good/3 weeks bad pattern as before. Monthly measurements showed him decreasing slightly in weight but apparently trading weight for a modest increase in length.

Well, we went out of town for Christmas for 9 days and lowered the house thermostat (temps near the cage read 68 vs. 73 degrees). Since coming back, he's taken 3 pinkies in a row--a new record for him. I'm hoping he'll start putting on weight and growing more rapidly.

SO, since I'd been following the "my rosy won't eat" threads quite a bit, I'm hoping maybe something I've tried might help others in similar situations--MAYBE a mere week and a half of slightly lowered temperatures caused something to "click" in the boa's mind, or maybe he just decided to eat on his own. Might be worth lowering the temps for a couple of weeks (he wasn't eating for longer periods than that anyway) to see what happens.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

Chris,
There is a combination of things that can do it. We all have our opinions. The real answer may elude most of us. I can tell you this - paper bags don't matter in general to get rosies feeding, although certain individuals may require more security than others. It isn't the paper bag trick that makes a rosy feed necessarily. Other factors play more of a role. Factors like light cycle, temps, humidity.

Consider that in Spring, these animals become ravenous. Well, what is special about Spring? Well, moisture is present (humidity is usually more moderate than in Winter), day temps get up to a decent value while nights are cool, plants are sprouting so prey is more available. Daytime gets longer. Paper bags are not in the play.

So in theory, if you could produce Spring conditions, your rosy will feed. In theory. On the flip side, if conditions are not like Spring, there is less interest in food. In theory.

So you could try the following: warm daytime temps but still offer a cool retreat, cool night temps, moderate humidity, more Spring-like light cycle and lots of prey. Might make a difference.

Or let the snake cool down to 60 deg for a few weeks, like it probably would in nature, if nothing else works.

Back to the paper bag thing, this can work when conditions are on the edge, meaning the environmental cues are telling the snake perhaps to not eat, but there is a mouse in this dark bag that is just sitting there, and the snake can't refuse, and it is warm... So the paper bag can help sometimes, but it is not the sole reason for rosies to feed the way they do in non-Spring times of the year.
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Mark

I'm more inclined to think it was the short period of lower temps than anything else I've tried, but I am going to stick with the routine I have (pinky in deli cup, under paper bag) since whatever combination of variables I finally arrived at is working. It's not a trend yet--I'll know the "problem is solved" when he continually eats every 6 days like I attempt.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

Another trick for problem feeder rosys I learned from a veteran. believe me i tried ALL the tricks. the REAL trick is feed them prey that is larger than you think they can take. If you ONLY think they can take a pinky then give them a Peach fuzzy and so on. Like I said I tried it ALL, Live pinks, F/T Pinks, brained Pinks live and Frozen, In a Brown bag, In a deli cup, Waiting a few weeks between meals, taking them off the heat for a few weeks. So I finally put a Peach fuzzy that was about 3 times the size of a day old pinky. i checked on them 5 minutes later and the THREE problem feeders I have ate. The conditions of all my rosys is the same and the other 10 or so yearlings and neonates have been great feeders along with no issues with the adults..

You know, you hit on something. I am guilty of thinking caresheets are way off on rosy feeding "prey item no larger than their head" etc. Neonate rosies can take pinky rats, and pinky rats are huge.

This is what happens when you feed pinky rats (thawed in this case):

Sorry for the bad pic, but that snake was born a tiny 08 Whitewater, and that cage is 12x12, so you can see how big she is already. Huge meals.

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Mark

>>This is what happens when you feed pinky rats (thawed in this case)

It looks like you threw a couple of pork chops in there too!

The pinky mice for our little guy are about twice the size of his head, so I think those will do for now. I anticipate him growing more rapidly if he keeps eating like this so I'll have to switch to something bigger soon.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

I had a few problem feeders this year. One wouldn't eat, as soon as I offered a brained F/T pinkie it ate it and has eaten everything offered including when it was in the blue. I have a triv triv that never had eated. I tried many tricks with no luck. I washed a pinkie with soap, wiped it on one of my collared lizards, then wrapped some shedded leopard lizard skin around it and the boa ate the pinkie backwards. It has eaten several times since without scenting the pinkie.