Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

My son just got his first Rosy Boa. The store had it labeled San Diego Rosy Boa. Looking at the CaliforniaHerp.com website it looks just like the Coastal Boa.It seems like a pretty gentle snake.We are waitin another day before we give her a pinkie. I think he made the right choice in selecting the Rosy Boa.

SnakeDad

SnakeDad,
Coastal rosies are about the easiest rosyboa to keep. Rosies in general are easy if you follow certain guidelines, and coastals are the easiest. Nice choice.

Basically, make sure it has a heat pad where the area over the heat pad is about 85-90 deg.

Don't know what you are using for substrate. You can use newspaper, especially for the new snake. You can use aspen substrate, shallow enough so the heater heats through it. I use a 1/4 inch layer for baby rosies typically. My substrate of choice for subadults and adults is calcium sand mixed with coconut coir soil (if using a glass tank) or else just newspaper. It conducts heat better and is truly benign. The dust doesn't make me sneeze like aspen can. My rosies love it, been using it for a long long time. Most folks use aspen.

My advice to you is to get a frozen small fuzzy from the pet store. Thaw it out, warm it to around 95-plus deg (warm water) and offer to the snake. Pinkies are not much of a meal for a coastal rosy, even a baby coastal. In fact, I feed baby rosies fuzzies as a first meal unless the rosy is very small. Even though fuzzies seem huge, baby rosies eat them with no issue and seem way more enthusiastic compared to when I offer thawed pinkies.

Alot of folks will say that rosies cannot handle larger food. I disagree. Perhaps at 82 deg then yes, but when a rosy can warm up to higher temps, then it can eat large prey items. That has been my experience. In the wild baby rosies do not wait for the smallest food possible. In the wild they can also warm up effectively.

If your snake eats thawed, no need to change that. Coastals are pretty good about eating thawed right off the bat.

Also, do not handle the snake after it eats - give it a good 3 days to be left alone. I would remove any water from the cage when you feed it and keep it out for 3-4 days. Good luck!
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Mark

Hello,

Thanks for the advice. We fed her today for the first time.We are using the frozen thawed. She took the food pretty quickly. What is the reason to remove the water? I put some pictures from my facebook page up so you can check her out.

Sanke Dad
Link

Didn't check out the pics yet, but regarding removing of the water - if a rosy drinks shortly after feeding, it could throw the food up.

As a precaution, some keepers simply remove water from the cage when feeding and keep it out for a few days after. Doesn't hurt at all.

I think it is a rare case, and there are plenty more experiences where water does not cause the issue. But still, two things we know about rosy husbandry are to not keep the humidity too high for too long, and on a full stomach, letting them drink water may cause a regurge in some cases.
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Mark