Anyone else love rosy boas?

Hello, new to the community. I currently am obsessed with rosy boas, they are, for me, the newborn puppy of the snake world. I perhaps lucked out with my Jacob especially, but for anyone who wants a great display snake who won’t mess up a beautiful tank they are perfect. They move slowly and just love living. They seem to enjoy being held as my guy has never shown any signs of stress when being handled. Jacob will even go as far as drinking from water drops on my finger tips. I can lightly massage his chin and he’ll rest his head on my hand and seem to sleep. I’m getting a gorgeous ball python this week coming up, I’ll share him when he arrives, but my heart snake I believe will always be the rosy boa. The stay small, are easy to care for, easy to handle and beautiful in an old school way. Don’t overlook the rosy boa. !
Mine is a cabo san lucas mexican locality

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Beautiful snake! I love Rosy Boas.

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I love my rosys. They weren’t my first snake, but when I was a kid someone brought reptiles to my school, including a rosy boa. It was so small and cute. Holding it was the first time I felt like I really wanted a snake as a pet. Unfortunately, my parents weren’t interested in getting me one.

Though the first one I held was the typial gray/rose coloration, I really love black and white. So my first rosys were Mexican Rosy Boas. This is my girl, Morticia:

She and Gomez have given me four babies a year for the last three years. Unfortunately, Gomez passed away last year (he was from a pet home that didn’t practice correct husbandry and suffered from intemittent digestive issues, which unfortunately the vet couldn’t fix) but it looks like she’s gravid again. She might have a retained sperm litter this year.

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Soooooo pretty, thanks for sharing. Great names too.

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I have had my eye on them for a while. I’ve been keeping an eye out for a specific locality but of course I pick the one that barely exists.

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Yes please please do!!! I’d be looking for a female for my Jacob. This guy is soooooo mellow is unreal. He enjoys a jaw massage to the point that he will let it loose and let hus mouth open and I can hear it all smooshy when I lightly rub his head and neck. I csn touch this snake everywhere with him clenching. He’d be a good dad/has a good calm demeanor worth passing on. Plus knowing Morticia may have held some sperm and have a litter from beyond the grave after Gomez passed is just pure creepy romance and I love that. Their love doesn’t die.

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@serpent-alchemy Mind telling us which one?

@choronzon He sounds like a sweetheart. Morticia is friendly too, though I’ve never tried massaging her jaw. She loves her food though, so I’ve learned to keep my hands away when there are mice in the room.

I forgot to mention, I also have a few anery Mag Plains babies. Got them from Ryan Shatto last year.


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Ooh soooooo pretty, nice contrast on them.

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Catavina, one of the Baja sub-localities. Great coloration and those red eyes. I honestly haven’t looked for availability in about a year.

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Ha! I thought so. They are gorgeous, aren’t they? I know Ryan Shatto has them. His baby Catavinas were all sold out last year, so I had him put me on a waiting list for this year. I haven’t heard back from him though. Maybe it’s time to email him and ask for an update.

I would definitely recommend Ryan Shatto to anyone looking for rosy boas. They babies I got from him are amazing and he went out of his way to make sure I got a sexed pair.

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I am immediately going to check him out right now. My birthday is in a couple weeks so I’m binge wishing right now.

Drool over this website: http://purelocalityherps.com/localities.cfm?type=rosyboas

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I’ve been looking into Rosy’s for a while, but the whole brumation thing has kinda kept me at bay. They are quite stunning reptiles none the less though!

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Aww it’s so sweet how much your love your beautiful boy Jacob!! I’m like you, in love with my special snakes :slight_smile: I have a darling little juvie Rosy girl who is a Mexican Rosy too (not sure of a more specific locality for her) I feel the same way about my Catalina as you do about Jacob, ie: that she’s pretty much the best little snake ever and if everyone knew how awesome they were everyone would have a billion of them!! :smiley:

I have had a couple experiences with nippy Rosies… (4 out of the 5 I’ve previously owned or handled) but one was a retired breeder who probably wasn’t handled much and 2 were my babies who I basically only took out to move for feeding (so they just got stupid-excited when I went to take them out) But my current girl’s breeder told me how to avoid that. He said to drop the food in the cage when the snake’s not looking so they just come across it and don’t associate it with you. I was told to do this with my baby Woma as well by his breeder because they have crazy food drives and so far it’s worked fantastic!!

Btw, I had to rehome my original 4 due to moving to the US from Canada and I gave them to a friend who does educational work and now they are all super chill and crowd favorites, probably because people aren’t scared of the sweet, slow moving snakes :slight_smile: !!! Yay Rosies !!! :heart:

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@keokusan In my experience, brumation isn’t necessary. I don’t brumate my rosys and they eat, shed, and breed just fine. Morticia has never refuses a meal unless she’s about a week from giving birth. Gomez did refuse a few, but if they do that you can offer them smaller meals or feed less often to get them eating consistently.

@audrad I’ve had a few nippy babies, but most of them calm down as they age. Maybe it is just the way I’m handling them. Another trick to get them to not associate your hand with food is to make sure you go into the cage for reasons other than feeding at least once a week.

Snakes are smarter than we give them credit for and if you only open the cage to feed them, some of them will learn that the cage being opened = food. I’ve found that if you open the cage at least as often without feeding them it will break that habit. So I check on mine at least once a week to handle or clean up after them. It keeps them from expecting food all the time.

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Thanks, that’s a great idea! I’ve noticed that most of my young ones (plus my piggy hog Island… emphasis on the hog I guess!) approach a little to eagerly when I open the drawers!

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Oh cool, thanks for the info, maybe I’ll look into them a little more then. :slightly_smiling_face:

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And it’s totally amazing all the colors you can get them in!! Oh Rosies!!!

I think I’ll go love on my little Catalina now!!!

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Rosy boas are really rare here in the UK - we bought the only one we ever saw for sale so want to get some more.
No idea on locality but he was labelled as a Coastal

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I’ve been gone and missed so much rosy love!!! I just got a couple new ball pythons so I was busy with them awhile then the weather was finally nice aka not just hot and raining so I was outdoors as much as I could be! There’s an expo coming to my town, a tiny expo, in a couple weeks! I doubt there will be a rosy, fingers crossed everyone!

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