Rosy boa and Kenyan sand boa breeding

[Bogertophis]

I can't speak for sand boas, but when I bred rosy boas, I did not brumate them & my older (!) female had big & ALL healthy litters every year (5 out of 6 years- I didn't let her breed one year, trying to get her to retire, but she wouldn't listen, lol.) FYI, I did not WANT to breed this snake at ALL- she was old AND a rescue from a museum- the only reason I did finally pair her up was because the first year I took her in & got her weight back up to where it should have been, she produced parthenogenically!- a deformed live baby that lived 8 mos. & a bunch of slugs that nearly killed her to push out.

She had very poor muscle tone from years of underfeeding & stress (not warm enough to digest!) in the museum, & from her age- understand that live neonate snakes are FAR easier for the "mom" to expel...they pretty much come out on their own. Whereas pushing out slugs is exhausting. I had to tube-feed her for a while afterwards, wasn't sure she'd make it. BTW, she lived to age 26 if the museum was correct in their records as to when they got her; she was mine for the last 11 years of her life, & because she had plentiful food & TLC, the 5 years of producing nearly 50 healthy neonates in all didn't seem to faze her at all. Those were NOT her last years- she lived years beyond that, happily.

You might just turn off their heat (gradually & withhold food) for a couple months in winter, as they tend to refuse food anyway then. I have brumated other snakes (like corns) but not the rosies- apparently it wasn't needed. Those snakes I did brumate never went below 50* by the way- you're correct that you must avoid freezing them! In the wild, about 5' below ground I've read that it stays about 50-60*, & that's where snakes try to brumate -below ground where the temps. stay fairly constant. They can survive lower but why push it? That's where I brumated my snakes too, 50-60*. As it gets above 55*, they tend to wake up more. Where I brumated my snakes then was in an outer-wall closet, & near the floor where it's cooler; in the high desert, we did get some cold temps in winter.

If you're still thinking that lowering the temperatures (safely) would be best, what I'd suggest to make it cooler in her cage is to fill 4 plastic bottles of water & freeze them. Put one in each of their enclosures for 12 hours, & then exchange them with frozen ones & refreeze the first 2. (Also cover their enclosures to darken them.) No way I'd "refrigerate" snakes...nor put them in a very cold garage. Also, keep their water bowls filled- they aren't sound asleep & may drink now & then while snoozing.

Kenyon sand boas are from such a hot climate, I can't imagine them really needing brumation if rosy boas don't? But that's just my guess...