Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

I'm new to the forums and this is my first year keeping Rosys. I have a few questions, and would appreciate any help you can offer in keeping my snakes healthy.

1) Do I need to cool my rosys considering they are only about 7 months old?

2) If so, can anyone direct me to some information, or explain how and when to cool them?

3) I currently have my male and female in separate enclosures in a rack in my snake room. I am planning on moving them out of the snake room and into another room in the house. Can I cool them in the same enclosure, or will they each need their own?

I live in the SF Bay Area in California, and if anyone has any tips or knowledge of the climate out here it may also be helpful to doing this correctly. I look forward to your responses and to making your cyber acquaintances.

Thanks in advance,
Anthony-

Good question. The answer is no, you do not have to cool them. You can if you wish, it will not hurt them.

If you do, keep them at 55 deg as a lowest temp, and 65 as a higher temp. Yes, it can go higher now and then, as we do get warm days in Winter, but keep 55 the lowest.

Alternatively, use a sizeable cage for both snakes (not much for 7 month old rosies), and heat one end, and let the other end get cool. Then the snakes can choose what they want all Winter. Chances are you'll see them use the heat a little. They may even feed a few times. In general they may slow down. Depends on certain factors.

You may certainly over-winter them together. I have always done that, and they do this in nature to some extent. The best over-winter spots in any small area are used by more than one rosy. They select mates this way sometimes too.

I have bred rosies without cooling, but in those cases the ambient temps in Winter were cool, so the snakes could cool off as they desired. I have bred rosies that never did not see heat in their cages. Meaning, there was a basking spot all the time. I think the males do need to adjust their internal body temps. Too much heat means dead sperm; too little heat means dead sperm. They know better than you and I do what the temps they need are. So letting them choose seems to work. So does constant 55 deg, but I have seen better results with males that have some choice.

Your choice. I think you should break the care-sheet mold. Keep them cool but have a heat strip along the very end, and Winter them together. Works better if you will be breeding them. IMO anyway.
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Mark

Thanks for the feedback. I now understand how to set up a cooling cage. If I do decide to cool them, how fast do I drop the temps? How long do I leave them cold? When and how do I bring the temps back up? What dates would be normal to start and end a cooling cycle? Do I need to take them off feed, or will they stop feeding on their own? Should I offer them food during the cold cycle, and if so, how often?

Thanks,
Anthony

Hi Anthony,
I'm in San Ramon. Feel free to contact me. We can talk rosies. I have bred rosies in your climate before. Who knows, maybe we're neighbors.
Thanks,
Charlton

I only hibernate boas that are going to breed, and babies that won't eat at all.

In case you do decide to cool them, this is what I do.
Around thanksgiving I turn the heat down to 55-60 degrees, giving about a day or so for it to drop down. DO NOT feed them for several weeks before cooling, and be sure that they have processed and defecated out all food items before cooling.

During hibernation they do not eat. You will want to offer water periodically, but don't leave it in all the time to keep humidity down.
On valentines day I turn the heat back on. Give them a couple days and feed them a small food item. The snakes will typically be hungry. After the first small food item I return to normal sized items.

Thank you for exact dates, temps, and preliminary feeding guidelines that helped a lot. I may just keep my eye on them and let them decide if they want to hibernate. Neither of them has ever refused a meal, so if they want to keep eating, I'll keep feeding them.

Thanks,
Anthony