Rosy Boa keeps seeking the cold. Why?

Question

I just got a 4 month old, male, rosy boa 5 days ago. His warm side (temperature taken at surface) fluctuates between 85 and 94 °F (29 and 34 °C). I have a heating pad stuck under the cage and an UV warming light coming from the top. Right from the start he would go on the cold side and curl up against the glass. He was out of sight for 2 days/nights, so I went in search and found him under his cedar shred flooring. He was very cool to the touch. I brought him up to the surface and put him in the warm side. He had laid there for maybe 15-20 minutes and then went to the cold side and back up against the glass.

I haven't fed him yet, and with him continually seeking cold, I'm worried that he won't be interested in eating. Any ideas why he's doing this and how I can get him interested in warming?

Answer 1

I don't keep Rosy Boas myself, but I can give some general advice.

Temperatures

According to this caresheet I found on Google, the temperatures in your tank are on the high side:

Temperatures should be between 80 and 85 °F (27 and 29 °C).

On the other hand, this other source says the following:

The hot side basking spot should be at 88-90 °F (31-32 °C). Put one hide there and another on the cooler side. This cool side can be between 75-80 °F (24-27 °C). At night, it can drop down to 72 °F (22 °C) ambient temperature.

So the temperatures in the hot spot might be a bit on the high side. More interesting is the temperature on the colder side of the tank. If this is still too warm to the liking of your snake, they might try to cool themselves down by lying at the far end of tha tank.

Snakes thermoregulate. This means that they move around to a place where the temperature is just right to their liking at that time. That doesn't necessarily have to be the hotspot. So just the fact that they go to the cold side doesn't really worry me.

The second link I posted mentions minimal temperatures of 72 °F (22 °C). If the snake is this temperature, they will feel cold. That is because your hands are much warmer than that. That alone is not something to worry about.

I personally haven't really found a correlation between whether the snake is on the hot or the cold side of the tank and whether they take food or not. So I wouldn't be worried for now and just offer him food as normal.

Hiding

Snakes in general like to hide and Rosy Boas do that by burrowing. So the fact that they did that is nothing to worry about. Also that they immediately after moving again tried to hide is the same thing, expected behaviour.

Answer 2

I have the same issue with my 2 year old male rosy, as well.

I used to have the minimum temperature of 85 °F (29 °C) on ether side. He would then hide under his water dish regularly. I dropped the temperatures on both sides, and found him to be out and about much more often.

I also believe your issue to be temperature.

Answer 3

I think that the temperatures are too hot - you should have a warm spot and a cool spot. If your snake is seeking out cooler temperatures, you should either move the heat pad, or remove the heat emitting bulb.