Rosy Help

So I was out of town yesterday and my husband and I wandered into a local pet store. I am a ball python keeper and breeder and know nothing about Rosys.

We walk in and I asked to see the ball python they had in the enclosure.. Looked it over and decided against it. The guy then tells me that they have "this rosy boa thing" in the back. He said they were going to kill it since it was "mean as s&&t"...

Long story short... I took it home... It's a female about 3 feet long and I will post pics later.

I need some help and advice. I have researched how to keep her enclosure and have her set up with no issues. I have pretty much left her alone the last 24 hours to settle down. I also fed her 2 mice hoppers which she ate voraciously.

She has also proceeded to bite the living stew out of me every chance she gets... is this typical? what are their dispositions like? I know that she has been tormented in that store and wasn't fed properly as she was eating a mouse fuzzy or weanling every 2 weeks.. I want to get her weight up and hope that between that and time she will calm down.

She is an interesting little thing and I hope one day with some time and help we can have a good relationship...

Any advice????

Captive bred rosy boas can have a really strong feeding response. Especially with adults, you almost never see aggression from them that's not based in a feeding response. Oddly, biting issues are pretty much non-existent with rosys from the wild, yet the first generation born in captivity can be crazy biters. That leads me to think that biting is caused by conditioning, most likely the way they are fed.

One thing that almost everyone says is that you always want to feed the snake in a separate container than it lives in, and I know some biters calm down considerably after being fed well consistently.
I would also handle it with gloves and let if chew on them for awhile so that it gets the idea that not everything is food. I've had some people tell me that wearing latex gloves can help too by decreasing the mammal smell or something.
One friend swears that leaving a dirty sock in the snakes cage can get them used to your smell and make them bite less, but I haven't heard that one from anyone else.

If it does get a good bite on you and you can't get if to release, running some water over it usually does the trick. Oh, and there is a bright side... a biting rosy is usually a great eater!
Anyways, good luck!
Josh - rosybozo

I have two rosy boas that are 1 1/2 yrs. old. I got them as 3 week old neonates & both are very sweet & calm to handle. They have been calm since day one, but as said previously, they do have a strong feeding response. I feed mine in their enclosure & to differentiate between feeding or play time, I gently touch them with an empty paper towel roll before picking them up. Anything to let them know no food is involved works.

I first read about using an article of clothing in a snake's enclosure to get them used to your smell in a book about king snakes by Robert Applegate. I used it on my red blood python & she did calm down a lot, but it didn't change her attitude. Mr. Applegate wrote that cobra handlers used articles of clothing to calm their captives. Good luck with your rosy, they are very interesting snakes & with gentle care maybe she will come around for you.

Well I fed Rosy again last night and she ate and ate and ate... I wound up feeding her 3 rat pinkies and it gave her a nice bulge but not too big. She acts like she could eat a horse.... I opened her tub this morning and she seems more content. I guess she was not fed enough at the pet store... poor thing... I have an appointment to get her to the vet tomorrow so that I can get her checked for bacteria and parasites and worms...Once I get her weight up, I am going to more than likely look to find her a good and loving Rosy home.... She needs to be with a Rosy keeper who understands them better than me...

Do you have a pic? Im willing to take on a bitter! Itll take time and blood but she get over it eventually! How much will you be looking to get for her? My Email is serpentsanitarium@yahoo.com if your intrested in Discussing her Adoption! Thanx, Mike B