It amazes me how many first time posts we see that never provide any real detail that can be helpful to others in offering advice... Do these people call the car repair shop when they have a problem with the car without giving the mechanic the make, model and registration number so they can help....

So why post on a reptile forum without detailing how the animal is kept, the temperature and humidity its kept at, and how that environment is maintained. It would save us guessing things. Like here I'm going to assume that its in an all glass enclosure and heated with a heat mat. Thus with overnight temps dropping the cooler air temperature has triggered the snake into a burmation state. But that would be guessing... as I don't have anything to really go on.

 

First of all, stop the live feeding ASAP. There is literally no reason to be feeding live so early on, plenty of other feeding tactics can be used prior to this - live feeding is a very very last resort.

We need a lot more Information to help you, what type of enclosure is he/she housed in? What heating element is being used(heat mat, ceramic, bulb etc?)? Is this on a thermostat? What are the hot end temperatures reading, the ambient temperature and cool end? How are you measuring the temperatures, are you using a dial thermometer or a digital one?

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Firstly as Malc & Roseanna have pointed out, we need details of your set up & exactly what species of rosy you have. Secondly, missing 2 feeds is nothing- I have a male Californian Coastal rosy & he sometimes refuses 3 or 4 feeds in a row at certain times of the year. Plus, is she about to shed? Few snakes of any species will feed whilst in 'blue' ie pre-shed.

 

You may not want her to brumate but it appears that she has taken that choice out of your hands. It is perfectly normal and many newborn rosies often are born late autumn/early winter. They don't start feeding until environmental cues in the spring.

My personal opinion is to not start adjusting temperatures, assuming the range was correct before, raising them will likely not induce feeding. If it is in good condition and healthy to begin with then it will probably be fine for a couple of months. Obviously, as others have said, more details are needed for more advice.

 

I'll try to get everything answered...

1) Temps/ humidity - First, I would like to point out that I said the temperature was increased to the safe maximum. I did not leave this information out. If you wanted numbers all you had to do was say so. She is usually kept at 78-80°F on the cool side and the warm side is 85 -86°F Last night it was bumped to 90°F max. Humidity is 43% to 47%. At night, the temperature drops to 75°/76°F, this has been standard since we got her.

2) The live feeding was our last resort and recommended by many snake owners we've talked to. Please do not attack me for this. I listened to experienced snake owners and followed their advice. While I understand that snakes have a different metabolism, missing two feedings for a growing baby seems like a horrible thing, no matter the species.

3) She's in a 20 gallon long. We never changed her temperatures until last night in an effort to get her to eat. Her hot side has a heating pad for under ground warmth and a ceramic heat lamp. Aspen bedding. **The heating items are controlled by thermostats**

4) She is a Limburg Snow rosy. This morph is created by breeding a Coastal Albino and Coastal Anerythristic. That's her in my profile picture. She has shed only once and she doesn't appear to be getting ready to shed again. The first time she shed, however, we had no indication. I found her shed while cleaning her tank, it was beneath the aspen in one of her tunnels.

 

By any chance are you in the USA? If so, this will explain why you were advised to try feed live, for some reason over there they are much more accepting of feeding live. Here, we suggest many many more tactics prior to even considering live feeding as it is unnecessary so early on.

As Ian mentioned, you have two options, either allow her to brumate or keep her heating at desired temperatures and let her go through the winter without eating, offer her food every few weeks but if she doesn't want to eat then she won't. She will be absolutely fine, even baby snakes can go months without food with no detrimental impacts, it's one of the many incredible aspects about snakes but it can be very daunting for beginner keepers which is Understandable, you'll definitely get used to it though, trust me lol

If she still refuses after a few months, perhaps consider alternative tactics such as braining, scenting, different food items etc etc but for now she will be fine. From experience, if a snake does not want to feed during winter months then you really can't force it, not forgetting that seasonal changes are not just about temperatures but atmospheric pressures change, night/day cycle change, all of which we can not really control but they will effect the behaviour and appetite of the animal and its completely natural for them to go off food.

One more thing, do you warm the food slightly prior to feeding?

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So after two missed feeds you jumped straight to live feeding? That is likely to be an issue as you will then have to wean your rosy off live and back onto defrost.
Your snake wants to brumate. It is a part of their natural life cycle and not something g you can control. You can carry on heating her, she will not feed, but will lose weight.
Or, you can start to reduce the temperature by few degrees every day u til sue is down to about 15C. Put her in a small dark box, with substrate to burrow in and a water bowl. Keep her in the dark, at 15C, check weekly for spilled water.
At her age you can probably get away with just 4 weeks brumation.
Then reverse the process and she will be feeding again.

 

So after two missed feeds you jumped straight to live feeding? That is likely to be an issue as you will then have to wean your rosy off live and back onto defrost.
Your snake wants to brumate. It is a part of their natural life cycle and not something g you can control. You can carry on heating her, she will not feed, but will lose weight. Or, you can start to reduce the temperature by few degrees every day u til sue is down to about 15C. Put her in a small dark box, with substrate to burrow in and a water bowl. Keep her in the dark, at 15C, check weekly for spilled water.
At her age you can probably get away with just 4 weeks brumation.
Then reverse the process and she will be feeding again.

She didn't eat the live. I won't have to wean her off of them... And again, I was advised to do so by many experienced snake owners.

 

As Roseanna said, I do have a ceramic (and a backup in case the ceramic goes out) heater for the air. The apartment itself is also kept at 78°F because we have other geckos and a hedgehog.

I am not ignoring advice, I am asking follow up questions so I can do this properly. I've already started lowering the temperature, both in the actual apartment and on her UTH. I tried taking away the UTH completely, but figured I should lower it so she can adjust.

 

So, the UTH... It's always bothered me, but literally everything I find says they need one. Do those of you on here who own rosys actually have one or do you just have the ceramic heater/ basking light?

Also, have any of you done bioactive for your rosy?

 

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All you need is an overhead ceramic heater (well caged), pulse proportional thermostat, separate cool light source to manage day-length, and reasonable control over room temperature. Heat mats are not specifically recommended for rosy boas, nor (in my view) generally useful. Forget the heat mat and bin the care sheets that say otherwise.

Live pinkies may be a last resort for a neonate which has never fed. They are not a useful or acceptable means of stimulating renewed feeding in a snake which normally takes defrost but has stopped eating due to some environmental stimulus.

As others have said your snake is probably starting to brumate and can safely be cooled assuming she has defecated since last feeding.

I can state all of the above with confidence because this is a large, mainstream forum with diverse membership including some very experienced keepers and breeders who are genuinely qualified to challenge out of date and mistaken views. Hence, the consensus of opinion on here largely reflects the current view of best practice in reptile husbandry.

I agree that some posters could be less abrasive and more attentive to the details of an original post. I feel this does not come from arrogance so much as weariness with misinformation and its effects on the well being of animals.

Good on you for researching your boa's needs in depth and persisting with this conversation in the face of some challenging replies. I hope you will keep the forum posted on her progress.