r/rosyboas

I've had my rosy boa since 2019, as a baby he was always a great eater, then once he was a few years old he stopped eating over winter, this year he stopped eating over winter as usual but it's July and he still hasn't eaten. I offer small adult mice once a week, I wave them in front of his face for a bit which used to always work, then I'll set them down in case he's shy and will eat while I've gone but this is never worked. I typically don't handle outside of cleaning.

Does he look healthy and is his setup ok? (it's where he's lived for years) How can I help tempt him to eat? When should I be worried and take him to a vet? Is prey size ok? He's pretty small

I should add he's always interested in the food, coming up to sniff it and rub his face against it but never any striking

I got this pretty girl that was born on December 14, 2026 from HerpsandInverts at a local reptile expo in January. She looked great and took her first few meals perfectly. But about 4-6 weeks ago she decided to stop eating. Her terrarium is a 40g with a hot side with a basking rock at 90-98°F at its closest point and a cool side with a hide that averages 76-80°. Her humidity stays around 30-50% because of my AC. She has a lot of hiding spots inside the rock piles I’ve made her and she comes out to explore occasionally but she doesn’t eat. I have tried live and thawed but she doesn’t even strike.

What can I do? I have been trying every week to no success. She still looks healthy with no ribs/spine visible and she barely shed about a week ago. (She is on the last pic)

Below I have attached images of the set up.

hi!! i'm a new owner to snakes, this is my first snake, Tobias! this will be VERY LONG but i will insert a tldr at the bottom, most of this is background info :)

he's a male(?) Rosy Boa, so i came here to ask if there's anything i should know that i already don't, or anything less known about Rosy care :)!!
since learning i would become his owner, ive been doing as much research on snake / rosy boa care, as well as behavior and other things i should expect.

i'm a tattoo apprentice, and a few of the artists have a their snakes at the shop instead of at home. my shops owner had this snake before me, but he had bitten her daughter (teen) in the face, which she said was likely a feeding bit, but the teen didn't want him anymore and so shop owner brought in the guy to live at the shop instead. he has the reputation of being mean, so nobody particularly wants him, but i stepped up and started handling him with no issues, so he's gone to me!
i'm keeping him at the shop since my family owns big dogs that could stress or injure a snake.

so far he feeds every 2-3 weeks according to my shop owner, small mice (unsure species), frozen but thawed and warmed before feeding. the mice at biggest are about the size of the largest point of his body, and he doesn't have a history of picky eating.

my shop owner previously got him from a rescue, and never was told his age. she approximates he's about 5 years though. we haven't weighed him yet.

his current tank is a little too small unfortunately, but i am getting a new table and tank for him asap, i read that about a 40 gallon is needed for him, or at least be long enough for him to stretch out. his enclosure also currently doesn't have any much besides his water dish and a grass patch (and substrate of course) since this was meant to be temporary. i already ordered a bunch of stuff (especially a hide) and it comes in in the next 2 days :) it consists of branches for climbing as well as fake (plastic) plants so he'll have more in his temporary set up very soon. his current tank is about 30? gallons but it's more tall than wide :(

his lamp also just broke, she he's had to share a lamp with one of the other snakes. i'm on it asap, any suggestions / good picks help!! i also plan to get a temp / humidity gauge for his enclosure

i've fed him, i wear gloves as well as use tongs to protect my fingers and prevent my scent from mixing with his food. i have been sitting with him a lot and doing choice handling so he can begin to get used to me and start trusting me. he has been very calm while i handle him, and i just let him do what he feels like (within reason).

i understand the basics of defensive behavior, the tight s that many snakes do, hissing, being tense and coiled, etc, and i haven't seen him do any of this besides tense up when i try to pet or touch him, though that was when we first were getting used to each other so that was understandable 😓 when he sees me he studies me for a moment and either goes back to what he was doing or will come up to the tank doors to get a closer look, no obvious defensiveness

the shop uses a swamp cooler and we live in the desert, so temperature is relatively covered from my understanding, but please correct me (still need the lamp for a hot side / sun mimicking). the other people at the shop manually mist their snakes enclosures and the other snakes have minimal problems shedding, though they're all ball pythons. is this okay to do? or should i have a system set up to mist for me?

anything genuinely helps so much and please tell me if im doing anything that i could do better, anything that might hurt him, or anything that is mistreatment (besides the tank, which i am working on)

tldr ; first time snake owner, rosy boa assumed boy approx. 5 years unweighed, currently getting new stuff for enclosure and getting new tank, but unsure about other stuff regarding care and worried doing something that can hurt or stress him. wants to know if he has misinformation or anything wrong. anything and everything helps!!

so my 1 year old rosy boa ate for the first time with me, she took the food within a minute and was curled up around it so i was like phew! then i went to go toast some bread for myself and i went back to check on her after and she was super active and sniffing around her enclosure, no longer curled up. i can’t see the mouse anywhere within her enclosure (she’s on paper towels for temporary quarantine), is it possible she ate that quickly? i don’t want to lift her hide because i don’t want to stress her out if she did eat, but i also don’t want to just leave the mouse in there for days until i can check for sure. what should i do?? picture for tax ofc

So in a twist no one saw coming, I’ve fallen in love with my son’s birthday gift and while he thinks it’s his rosy I’ve very much stolen her as mine. We got her in May and haven’t had a shed yet, this morning I checked in on her and she had some company in her warm hide. HER FIRST SHED! Apparently my wife cannot share in this excitement because she’s very much a “keep the snake away from me at all times” individual. So obviously I had to come here. And not only was it her first shed…it was a PERFECT shed! I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of myself.

I literally see him on it every single day.

New Owner of Rosy for about 7 days now.

I got this Rosy last Thursday and haven’t been handled yet or fed yet.

Technically today is the day I would be feeding her for the first time.

The Quarantine enclosure is of a 40 gallon.
With a heat lamp and UVB for day time and ceramic heat imitator for night time.

Current humidity is of 20% and heat is of 30 C.

Just now when I went to turn on her day time lights on I found her sitting like this. Should I be concerned?

Past week I would just slightly check up on her by peaking in there and noticed her moving and changing positions in her hide.

She has 4 hides in there but she doesn’t get out of the one she is in now.

Absolutely no handling after moving her in here.

Photo attached

Found her just chilling like this yesterday. Some times I wonder what goes on in that little head of hers..

Got this 4x2x2 from a friend and the lighting was already set up like this I know usually the light would be on the same half of the tank as the basking bulbs but will it be alright to be on the other end? If not how can I adjust things for it to be safe for my rosy? (And yes I know the bottom is pretty dirty, I'm going to re-caulk it soon)

She’s practically been a pet rock since I got her, I rarely see her moving unless she’s eating. She’s been extra active these last few days

Indy didn’t like me cleaning and fluffing up his bedding so he made a mess.