Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have an 11 year old Rosy Boa who tends to "shut down" and not eat during the months of January to about March. She doesn't do this every year, but it has become more frequent lately. I feed her frozen thawed mice (she used to eat live) that I defrost by putting on top of her UV light until they are slightly warm. I wiggle them with the tongs, and she will strike and coil around them, but she won't eat them.

My uncle (who owned a Boa Constrictor and a Ball Python in the past) says that it must be the breeding season for Rosys, and that's why she's not eating. Is this true? A book I had said that the mating season goes until April, I think.

She last ate on January 10th, but she is active, healthy looking, and otherwise seems fine aside from not eating.

There's also another odd behavior of hers that might be related (but I don't know): she'll crawl against herself: rubbing against her own belly scales. Does anyone know what this behavior means, if anything? She'll do it for a while, and then stop.

I keep her at about 84 degrees, btw, and it is currently cold where I live if that has anything to do with it...

Normal for appetite to be greatly reduced during Winter, even if heat is on. Some will eat sporadically all the way through, some don't eat at all (most).

When you say 84 deg, do you mean one part of the cage or all of it?

Regarding breeding season activity - Males will go off feed for sure in early Spring and resume feeding later. Restless activity is normal for a sexually mature male. Same with the constricting of the food then ignoring it. Are you sure it is a "she"?

I've had rosies of both sexes do that with thawed mice (constrict, let go, ignore), then gobble up a fresh mouse. In all cases, the rosies were fat enough for them to be choosy. Hungry rosies are usually less picky. Not always but mostly by far.

The older they get, the less meals they need to stay plump. They are good at knowing what they need food-wise. Sometimes our feed schedules do not match up with their needs.

When they are eagerly feeding, feed them as much as they want (within reason of course, let them digest too). And when they don't want food, so be it. That is more realistic than expecting them to stay on some once a week schedule like clockwork. And when they aren't feeding, try to give them a cooler area in the cage, even if they rarely use it.
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Mark

84 degrees towards the side of the cage where her log is: it might be cooler inside the actual log, I don't know. She stays in there pretty often. (We have one of those stick-on thermometers that tells us the temperature. Hmmm...I'm wondering if that's the best way to measure cage temp...probably not. But it's all we have right now.)

Male Rosys have spurs though, right? Like on the image on this page?
http://www.rosyboas.com/index.php?c=natural
I've examined my Rosy Boa (whose name is Rosie btw) very closely and I don't see any spurs. If they are there, they're too small to be seen with the naked eye.

Is there a way you can sex them by tail length, too? I don't have a probe, since I don't want to put Rosie through unnecessary stress just to find out the gender.

I'm relieved to hear that "shutting down" is normal and that they won't let themselves get too thin. She's not thin right now, but she's less chubby than she usually is. (And I'm calling her a she since she doesn't have the spurs, and the breeder who raised her said she was female.)

OK, we'll say female.

How is the cage heated?
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Mark

Good news: Today she finally ate! I'm so happy. I was worried about her. Even though she usually does this, I always worry anyway. Lol.

Anyway: her cage is heated with a 50 watt heat lamp (I think...I know it's under 60 for sure, though). We keep it on during the night, and turn off her fluorescent light for night time.

Now that spring is coming up, the house will be warmer and so her cage will be slightly warmer, too. I still want to get her another heating pad, though.

Rosys are usually kept on some kind of belly heat under 1/3 or 1/4 of the tank. They absorb the heat better this way. you can use a light/heat lamp to raise the overall cage temps up into the low 80's but you want the belly heat area to measure about 92 degrees. I keep all my rosys on heat rope under 1/3 of their tank and my room right now drops at night to about 70's but the hot spot stays warm. During summer/warmer times my room gets to about 80 during the day and upper 70's at night, still I keep the HOT SPOT set to 92 degrees. I gave some baby rosys to a friend last year and he has had some regurge issues. I aksed him HOW he was heating the cage, how he was measuring the cage, (he was using the same setup as you). Once he got a under tank heater for the hot spot the regurging went away. you do NOT want to use a Heat Rock inside the cage though as it WILL burn their bellies. I also use 2 digital thermometers, one to measure the Hot Spot and the other to let me know the cool side of the cages temp. I have the heat rope connected to a thermostat that shuts down/keeps the hot spot right on 92 degrees. I ONLY use a light on a timer to simulate Night and Daylight to match the time of season (Which is shut off completely during brumation (Nov. 25-Feb. 14th)along with the heat). I only give them water once a week 2 days before I plan on feeding them. Always wait at least 3 days to give them water after feeding them or they may regurge. If you have any further questions you can shoot me an email also and/or post more info here and I am sure many of the knowledgable rosy keepers/breeders here can help.

Rosy Boa Collection

Hello,

What size of an aquarium do you keep your full grown Rosys in? I'm thinking of getting mine a bigger one but I don't know if it's necessary...

It looks like, from your website, you're a breeder...so is brumation really necessary for non-breeding snakes? I don't brumate mine and she seems to do fine.

I do need to get her a new heating pad, since our old one isn't working well. I also keep a water dish in the cage at all times, and she doesn't have problems with regurgitation...

I'm wondering if maybe a heating pad would make her eat more regularly...I'm going to get one ASAP.

I would keep your Rosy (adult) in nothing bigger than a 20Gallon/20 Gallon Long. Rosys do not usually like anything bigger and most Rosy gurus (I am by NO MEANS a guru) think bigger causes issues with them. I also do not consider myself a breeder but more of a hobbyist as I only started breeding some localities 3 years ago though I did decide to get my Ca Propogation permit.Again it is not a money thing but more of just a hobby.I do have quite a few rosy localities so I use a rack system with 27qt. Tubs for adults.As far as brumation some people have good luck with breeding them without it, but most of the guys I am learning from prefer brumation for breeding. For me this year it has paid off big time since I have almost all my adults gravid this year.You can contact me at my email if you have any further questions.
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http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p23/morganjeeper/Rosy Boa Localities/

Hey, thanks for the info. Mine is kept in a 10 gallon tank, I was worried maybe that was too small but she doesn't crawl around a whole lot, she mostly stays in her log.

I've gotten her the heating pad now and it does seem to have helped with her feeding. I only put it on when it's colder, since it's summer now and even with the AC on her cage stays in the low 80's on the cool side, so it's probably at least 90 under the heat lamp. But if it's a cool day I'll turn it on.

I also take her outside, I keep her in my arms of course, but she enjoys the sunlight and never tries to get away. I think she likes it.

I would lose the heat lamp, rosys do NOT need UVA/UVB light and the absorb their heat through their bellies.I would stick with just the undertank heating pad and if you can use a thermostat that the undertank heater plugs into so you can limit the heat/hot spot to 92 degrees and let the cool side be the 80 degree.You can use the heat lamp/light lamp just for looks/viewing of the rosys but not for heat. Rosys in the wild hardly are seen out basking in the the sun.When they are found during daytime in spring they are under rocks or are moving between rockpiles.The rest of the year mainly out in the evenings or night again without sunlight for heat.I try to keep my captives the same as they would be in the wild.Even during the time of year where they are brumating and how they are brumating I try to keep it the same as they would be in the wild.This has helped out with breeding this year with 10 or o localities succesfully being bred and gravid now.
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http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p23/morganjeeper/Rosy Boa Localities/

I have a male a little over 2 yrs old. Last year he went off food on Sept 10th and didn't eat again until Jan. Despite that he gained 10 grams. This year he stopped eating Sept 12th and still hasn't eaten. He does the same as your, kills the food and just leaves it. I've tried a small mouse and and a small fuzzy rat. Before Sept he was eating FT mice well. This year he has lost some weight, but less than 10g. I did turn the heat down, so as to reduce his metabolism while he was not eating, but have turned it back up since Jan when I expected him to start again. I have it around 90-95 on the hot side and about 80 on the cool side, using a heat mat.

Anyway, since he is probably sexually mature now (at least closer), I guess he'll just go longer until he eats again. He is very active, but I guess that is normal. I'm just glad someone else out there was caught off guard by this (not that I want anyone else to have issues with their snake). It's good that yours is eating again. Who knows when mine will see fit?

Good luck.

Jeff