I'm of the mind that you fully research a new pet before you get one so you know what to expect and are prepared to take care of your new pet. Well, I bent my rules and bought my rosy boa with only the knowledge the breeder passed on to me. But you can bet your fuzzy that the minute I got home, I was online soaking up as much information as I could while my fiance danced about the house like a little kid because I'd brought home a snake.

Anywho, the snake I bought, back in June, was definitely a juvie, about 12-14 inches long. So I was fully expecting to deal with this issue sometime in the future, that of going off feeding. Since he's so small and young, we went with the advice of three feedings a week for now, using pinkies. Been eating great, no regurgitation, pooping just fine. But its been almost two weeks now since he's taken food. We noticed his tank has been a little on the cool side and have remedied this. But I was wondering if maybe he's just preparing for the winter months a bit early? I wouldn't expect him to slow down for another month or two........ He's been burrowing more lately too. I know they burrow, but until the last few weeks, he didn't do much burrowing. Now he spends most of his time burrowed. Anyone with Rosys experience early wintering like this? I live in Arizona so its still quite warm here. We plan to weigh him and keep an eye on that. But I just wanted to hear from some others with Rosys on your experiences when your Rosy went off feeding for a time.

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1.2.0 Green Anoles ("Gillespie, Billie, Lena")
0.1.0 Crested gecko ("Betty")
1.0.0 Rosy Boa ("Boomer", we're assuming he's male for now)

I have to say that while I haven't had rosies myself, if I were in your situation I certainly wouldn't be worried yet. I had a baby ball python, almost exactly the same situation as you...he was just getting ready for winter a little early. After THREE MONTHS of refusing F/T rats (I even kept them in soiled mouse bedding to help) I tried a live mouse. He didn't take it that day, but I tried again a couple days later with the same mouse and he ate it. He was still pretty finicky for the rest of the winter, but once we hit April or so his growth literally exploded and he turned into a waste disposal eating everything we put in there. He only grew around three or four inches over that winter, but since then has put on almost two feet. I'm assuming he'll slow down again really soon here, a couple of my other snakes are already going off feeding, last week it was in the 90s here, this week it's in the sixties and raining, so I know it's the weather and am not too concerned about it.

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2.0.3 firebelly toads
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3.2.0 ball pythons
1.2.0 beardies
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actionplant.com

Thanks Action. I'm sure he's fine, but, well, he's our little snakey baby so of course we're concerned. We DID have a pretty big temperature change here in the last two weeks (we're still in the 90s, reaching 100 F here and there, but its not the 105-110 of the weeks before.....so you could say we're experiencing a cooling trend here ).

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1.2.0 Green Anoles ("Gillespie, Billie, Lena")
0.1.0 Crested gecko ("Betty")
1.0.0 Rosy Boa ("Boomer", we're assuming he's male for now)

Mam, you mentioned the climate temp change,,,I was curious as to the temps you have the snake in ??

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Ken
" The United States Marine Corps......sure we are a department of the Navy,,,,,,we're the MENS department "

hmmm it seems I completely went past this thread. i have a rosy who's about 4 years old. i've had him for about a year and some months. last year he went off of food in october. he was eating great before then (i got him in august). come october he went off of food and refused to eat for about four months. when the weather started to warm up again he started to eat again. those four months drove me crazy lol. this year he went off of food around the beginning of September and still refuses to eat so i'm guessing he's going to be off it for awhile. i'll still offer it to him and see what happens but at least now I know its something he does. no matter how crazy he drives me.

what temps do you keep him at?

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Professional Pet Sitting/Dog Walking
http://niksscalesandtails.com/



yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot (RIP) and Bear

I never replied to this, never got a chance to log back in. We decided Boomer was just wintering and didn't get too concerned. He ate once in October then stopped taking food after that. He continued to shed throughout the rest of the fall and winter and did not appear to lose weight.

Its now June and he still hasn't eaten. He has not eaten since October and we're starting to get a bit concerned again. We keep the AC vents closed in his room to try to keep it warmer in that room. He has continued to shed this spring, and just shed again about two or three weeks ago (it was a lovely complete skin he left in his waterdish, we were so proud). He had a little left on his head again, so we waited until this week when it looked like he'd gotten it all to try feeding again (in the past, he wouldn't eat if he still had skin on his head). We bought fresh pinkies, thinking maybe the other ones were "old". Nothing. We've been trying twice a month since March to get him eat, figuring he'd be done with his brumation by then. Nothing. No interest.

I have done some more reading and need to make sure the warm side of the tank is still warm enough and that there hasn't been some malfunction with the heating. The "cool side" is staying at a consistant 76 F. Other than that, we can't think of what the problem might be. We don't handle him excessively, he is covered much of the time so stress from movement in the room shouldn't be an issue. He has not lost weight (in fact, he appears a bit longer and ever so slightly fatter), and he is becoming more active again. Maybe he is just wintering extra long.........................

I'll get back to you on the temps, but if anyone can think of anything else we should check for, let me know.

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1.2.0 Green Anoles ("Gillespie, Billie, Lena")
0.1.0 Crested gecko ("Betty")
1.0.0 Rosy Boa ("Boomer", we're assuming he's male for now)

what is your setup like? definitely get back to us on the temps. do you keep a water bowl in his enclosure at all times? rosy's are not a fan of humid environments so it might be too humid for him if you keep the dish in there at all times. the book I have on rosy boas suggests offering water to them once a week however I feed all my snakes every saturday and will offer Chaos (my rosy) water on that day and leave the dish in there until monday. it gives him plenty of time to get what he needs and I have never had a problem with it after doing it for the two years i've had him.

also regarding feeding, last time I posted on this thread Chaos had gone off feeding. he didn't start eating again until february this time. he was off food for about six months. once the weather warmed up (i live in PA) he started eating again. since he's older though he doesn't eat every week, mostly every 2-3 weeks. but definitely get us some info on temps and things. hope this has helped.

also you said he stays covered most of the time? do you mean his enclosure is completely covered by a towel or something? i'm a little confused by this. thanks.

i'll go back through my book and see if there's anything else I can dig up. but it would definitely help if you gave us an idea of what your set up is like.

__________________
Professional Pet Sitting/Dog Walking
http://niksscalesandtails.com/



yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot (RIP) and Bear