Rosy Boa not eating

[jim293]

My Rosy Boa has sort of quit eating. I was feeding him twice a week and recently he has quit eating. He kills the mouse and then leaves it. However he did eat last week. This is the third time that he had killed the mouse and then just left it. Any thoughts?

[drumcrush]

what are the temps? humidity?

[jim293]

Temps are good. About 87 degrees. Its just weird he just started doing this.

[drumcrush]

Around this time of year, feedings are usuallly a bit off. Try feeding only once a week. You might also want to leave the prey item in the enclosure over night.

[Minkness]

Originally Posted by drumcrush

You might also want to leave the prey item in the enclosure over night.

Yes, but only if he kills it first. If it's live please remove it

I know you know this Drum, I'm just clarifying for the OP ^_^

[drumcrush]

Originally Posted by Minkness

Yes, but only if he kills it first. If it's live please remove it

I know you know this Drum, I'm just clarifying for the OP ^_^

Ahhh yes ^ what Mink says. Too many sad stories from people leaving live prey items in with their snake

[Charis]

Is it an adult or near adult? Mine tend to go on feeding strikes around this time of year and will only eat sporadically, which is why I brumate my adults, a month or three off in the winter usually makes them eat better the rest of the year, although my males also go on spring breeding feeding strikes too.

[jim293]

Thanks guys. I'll try feeding him maybe once a week. Yeah after he kills it if it's not eaten I always remove it. I thought it may be something like what your saying. Thanks for all the info.

[PsychoSnake]

My adult female rosy hasn't eaten in three months. She does the same thing. She will kill the mouse but won't eat it. She's such a turd when it comes to F/T. She'll sometimes put it in her mouth then spit it out or drink the water off of it. She won't eat overnight. Continuing offering and don't worry too much. Eventually the hunger strike will end.

[jim293]

Originally Posted by PsychoSnake

My adult female rosy hasn't eaten in three months. She does the same thing. She will kill the mouse but won't eat it. She's such a turd when it comes to F/T. She'll sometimes put it in her mouth then spit it out or drink the water off of it. She won't eat overnight. Continuing offering and don't worry too much. Eventually the hunger strike will end.

Thanks that is exactly what he is doing. I have a king snake and she eats any time I offer her food. Thank you.

[PsychoSnake]

Well Daisy's hunger strike is partially over. I offered her a fuzzy mouse and she went NUTS for it. She rarely gets excited about food. It's usually a ho hum ordeal for her. She should be eating two adult mice (she is a large female), but I'm happy she ate four fuzzies. Better than nothing for three months!

I've read that Rubber Boas prefer to eat nests of young as opposed to adults. They raid the nest, kill the mother and eat the young. Rosy Boas are sometimes classified in the genus charina, which would imply that they are closely related to Rubber Boas (charina bottae) so I wonder if this is a trait they share. Taxonomy of Rosy Boas is unclear though.

So you could try offering smaller prey and see how that goes.

[Charis]

My Rosies also seem to prefer multiples of smaller mice than they could actually handle, they don't seem to like to stretch a lot! I have several species that also like to eat that way.

[Pareeeee]

My rosy stops eating every October/November and doesn't start eating again til April or May. Scared me to death the first year he did it.

I've learned to let the temps drop a bit during the winter, offer food once every three weeks and keep handling to an absolute minimum. You'll notice your rosy will probably avoid the heat source.

Once a few months pass I jumpstart him with some brained pinkies (he goes NUTS over pinkish), and after a couple pinky feedings he will go back on regular mice.