Any Snake Experts ?

TiffanyMariexo

New Member
So my fiancé likes snakes ... I'm not so much a fan :| but he wants a Central American Boa for his birthday , anybody know what I need ?? Looking for a check list of requirements for the set up. I need to buy it all and hide the snake temporarly at my dads so on all on my own for this. Please help !
 
I have a central american boa, and the are awesome. They are like sweet old dogs, all they want to do is eat and chill. If you give me a little bit I will write up something for you
 
I actually spoke without thinking, I'm only half right, most boas are ground dwelling but there are a few true arboreals like the Amazon Tree Boa and the Emerald Tree Boa (I was torn between getting an ETB or a cham and I'm glad I went with the cham, they are hard to find period and pretty much impossible to find CB, plus they have the wonderful combo of having the biggest fangs of any non-venomous snake and a super pissy temperament o_O Gorgeous animals though.)
 
I know absoultley nothing lol. I don't mind snakes but I'm 100 % into my chams ! Plus I don't trust petstores so in order for me to surprise him I need to research and ask questions... But not to him because that would look suspicious
 
I have a central american boa, and the are awesome. They are like sweet old dogs, all they want to do is eat and chill. If you give me a little bit I will write up something for you

Wow for sure I would love that, thanks so much :) ! He said he wants one because they are great pets. Were getting a baby to start so that way I can start liking it at a small stage in life so when its huge I'm not intimidated
 
Ok so I’m going to be really thorough and make this seem way more complicated then it is, but it’s a cinch. Here goes

So this is my Boa, Otis. He’s three and pretty much full grown. I got him when he was an adult so I don’t have any experience with babies and everything I say is referring to an adult. I don’t think there is really much difference other then they shed more and eat smaller prey items. Boas grow proportional to how much you feed them, so size can really vary, but on average they are four to six feet long, with the males being smaller. Otis is just shy of six so he’s a big guy. Keep in mind I’m talking about Central Americans here. They are a good species to start with because they are much smaller then all the rest (others can get up to twelve!). Take a good look at his pattern, and I would suggest google imaging as well, each individual within a given species looks very similar, so it would be a good idea to really know what they look like so you don’t get something else mislabeled as a CA.

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Next up, equipment. Here is a list of everything you will need.

Enclosure
Substrate
Under-tank heater
Over-tank heater
Water dish
Hide
Thermometer
Hygrometer

Not necessary but recommended are:

A branch
Fake plants (real ones will get trashed)

As far as housing goes they don’t need much room relative to their size, as they are not very active. They do need to be able to stretch out though. A good size enclosure should be about two thirds the length of the animal, but you can’t really go too big. As you may imagine, horizontal space is much more important then vertical. I have Otis in a seventy-five gallon tank that is 48”x18”x20ish”. Obviously you can start smaller with a baby, but will have to upgrade pretty quick. Unlike chams little snakes do fine in big enclosures, so if your situation permits I would just go ahead and get the adult tank right off the bat. Here is a picture of my setup

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Temperature wise, you want to create a horizontal gradient, with the average ambient temp being in the low to mid eighties, with a basking spot in the mid nineties. Boas are really hardy and can thrive under a pretty wide range of conditions, so those numbers have a good margin to them. A slight drop in temperature at night is fine.

Humidity should be sixty to eighty percent on average. I mist Otis down once or twice a day for about five minutes. You can see in the pic of my setup I have a piece of plastic over one side to help, as he is currently going through his shed cycle (more on that later).

There are a number of options for substrate, the cheapest and easiest being newspaper, although that’s really ugly. I am using fir bark, and its great. Just put down two or three inches. Here is a picture of the substrate I had before I switched to fir. I don’t know what it was, but it was no good. Too splintery and too much danger for impaction. I know fir is good, but research anything different, as I know some common substrates are poisonous for snakes. I recommend fir.

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To maintain heat you’ll want an under-tank heating pad, the big black kind that sticks on the bottom (you need to make sure the tank is elevated). You’ll also want a dome light fixture with something in it to provide heat from above, I had two infrared bulbs die on me way too early so I switched to a hundred and fifty watt ceramic heating element. It was pricy, but a worthy investment. The only thing is it doesn’t produce any light so you have to feel it to make sure its working. In my setup I have the UTH and the ceramic heater on the left, making it the hot side. To create the basking spot I put a branch under the dome fixture to let him get closer to the heating element. As with chams, never put anything hot inside their enclosure (no heating rocks!).

Water dish and hide is fairly self explanatory. The water dish needs to be big enough for him to soak in if he wants (not necessarily all at once). If he does that a lot he may need more humidity, if you bump up the humidity and he’s still doing it he might have mites. Some soaking is normal though. As you can see I have two, usually one for each side but I have them both under the plastic for the shed. The hide just needs to be something he can hide under. I use a half log that I got at petsmart.

And then for gauges I have a probe for the basking spot and an analog combo thermo/hygro for the ambient.

You don’t NEED a branch, but they do like to climb. You just need to make sure it’s really secure because they are heavy.

For feeding it is preferable to use pre-killed prey. Even though the outcome of the contest between snake and rat is pretty much a done deal, live prey will fight back, and all it takes is a lucky swipe to take out an eye, or give them a cut that could get infected. There are no benefits to feeding live prey. I use frozen and thawed, although sometimes I’ll go to the store on his feeding day and have them kill a live one, because Otis is noticeably more enthusiastic when they are fresh. To thaw prey items double bag them in freezer bags, as their claws can poke holes and he is noticeably LESS enthusiastic when they’re wet, and put them in hot water for a few hours (also, wet rodents really stink). You may have to change the water a few times. After it’s thawed you want to dangle it by the tip of tail into the tank, next to him, that way he approaches from the side rather then below. Just hold it there, and he will come check it out (sometimes for a while) then BAM he’ll grab it and wrap it up in the blink of an eye. Then he’ll squeeze the hell out of it for a few minutes until he decides it’s dead, then he’ll eat it, which is as grotesque and fascinating as it gets. It’s one thing to see it on tv, but its quite a spectacle in real life. Always make sure to wash your hands after handling prey, snakes don’t have great eyes but a keen sense of smell, and you don’t want to be mistaken for food.

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yum

They have VERY slow metabolisms, and that combined with their hardyness means you can feed them anywhere from once a week to once a month, although every week to two is best. I feed Otis once a week, and I’m considering backing off a little. My vet said he had one once that went on a hunger strike for ten months! On the flip side, they don’t know how to pace themselves and will eat more then they should if you let them, resulting in obesity. Again this is for adults, I’m sure babies eat much more often. If they stop eating just start changing things about your husbandry, but you don’t need to consider the vet until it’s been about two months. Obviously with a growing baby you will need to increase the size of prey items with the size of the snake, but I feed Otis big rats, a little bit longer then a dollar bill. I think babies start with large mice and move up to small rats pretty quick, but I’m not sure. A good rule of thumb for prey size is that it should be just slightly bigger around then the snake is at its widest point. After they eat you want to refrain from handling them for twenty-four hours at least (it’s forty-eight for Otis) to give them some time to digest. Handling too soon after feeding can cause regurgitation, which is really bad for them. Besides, think about how you would feel if you just swallowed a dog, you wouldn’t want to be jostled around any.
 
The only other big thing is shedding. They go through an extended shed cycle that usually lasts a week on average, though it varies from individual to individual. The first sign of an impending shed is a pink belly. You may or may not notice this. After a few days of pink, their colors will start to wash out a little bit and their eyes will start to cloud over and look milky and blue. As soon as you notice them began to cloud up you should increase humidity and not attempt to physically interact or offer food until the shed is fully complete. As I said above its not really a big deal if they have to skip a meal. Snakes don’t have eyelids, they have clear scales, which means their eyes are kind of permanently open and shut at the same time (which also makes it impossible to tell if they are sleeping or just sitting there). The cloudiness is caused by the fluid that forms between the layers and helps separate the old skin from the new. It also makes them blind, which makes them QUITE testy. A simple touch during this phase will usually elicit a pretty dramatic hiss. Then after a few days of that, their eyes will clear up and they will look all crisp and fresh, to the point that they will look like they just shed except there will be no skin. This means they will probably shed within twenty-four hours. When they do, they need to have something like a branch that they can rub on and catch the old skin on to help them out. A successful shed should roll off in one big piece, like a sock or condom. Once he is done it is important to gently unroll the old skin to make sure the eye caps are there. Failure to shed the eye caps can lead to infection. Here’s Otis blind as a bat leading up to it, and another during the shed proper.

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When they aren’t in shed handling in fine and recommended. There is nothing like the feeling of wearing a big snake. It takes a little bit to get the hang of but it’s awesome. If he squeezes its because he doesn’t feel secure and is afraid of falling, not because he’s trying to kill you.

As far as sanitation goes, its all fairly standard. Change the water every day; wash the bowls once a week. Let the tank dry out in between mistings. Remove feces and urates as they appear (snakes poop like they eat, all at once and not very often. They pass urates a little more frequently, which should be off-white). Spot clean as needed. Every two or three months you will want to do a total overhaul. Remove everything from the tank, throw out the substrate and wipe everything down with some diluted bleach. I add vinegar to my mixture to help with hard water stains. Give this a thorough rinse and let it get good and dry to let the chlorine from the bleach properly evaporate. Then put down some new substrate and put everything back together and you’re good to go!

I think that’s pretty much it, I got a little carried away there but there is nothing to it, especially not next to chams. Basically you just need to keep them warm and damp, and to give em a rat every now and then. Wish your fiancee luck for me, and tell him he has good taste! They are such awesome animals, with amazingly gentle dispositions. I’ll end things with a picture of Otis being a weirdo. He stays like this for hours!

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P.S.
I would also recommend that your fiancee and/or you get involved with the forums over at redtailboa.com. The RTB forums are basically the boa equivalent of CF, lots of friendly knowledgeable people who are happy to help you out and answer questions.
 
No problem, glad to be of help! I had fun writing it. I just went and re-read it and two things I just want to make clearer are that when you wipe down with bleach, rise that off with water, then let the water dry, dont just let the bleach mixture dry. Also when I said the hot side of the tank was on the left I ment right, and because I took that pic right after a misting the light wasn't on top. Normally it would go above the branch. You can see the edge of it on the lower left (and I do mean left)
 
You covered a ton of stuff very nicely, but I'm going to point this out:

To maintain heat you’ll want an under-tank heating pad, the big black kind that sticks on the bottom (you need to make sure the tank is elevated).
If you do get an UTH, GET A THERMOSTAT.
They very easily can reach temperatures of 130*F and burn your snake.
They have no way to tell how hot it is.

Also, if you have an UTH, the rest of the lighting is effectively doing more harm then good to the snake (reduced humidity / additional cost / etc)

Good luck with your purchase, just remember, Male Columbian Boa's will average out around 6-7ft, females can reach 10ft.
 
Definitely a good point, although you don't NEED one, as long as you are keeping an eye on it with a probe, or better yet an infrared, thermometer, and keeping a good layer of substrate open it. A thermostat is definitely the best option though. Mine doesn't get quite that hot, as I have measured the bare glass over it as being a little over 100. If the substrate was 130 you would be able to feel that with your hand as being too hot.


Also, if you have an UTH, the rest of the lighting is effectively doing more harm then good to the snake (reduced humidity / additional cost / etc)


It really irks me when people make statements this broad and absolute. Do you know the wattage of the pad she is using? The thickness of the glass she is putting on? The ambient temp of the room that its in? Anything? UTH stands for Under Tank Heater, not All Your Problems Are Solved. Its a means, not an end. The point isn't to have a UTH, its to get the tank hot, and if the UTH isn't cutting it by itself you need to use something else. That being said, I am not an expert, just sharing my experience, but in my experience if I took the heat lamp away the hot side would drop to the temp the low side was before, the low side would get way too cold, and he would lose his basking spoot. That would be improper husbandry. Thats like saying "well I mist my cham so hydration's not a problem." Who cares if you mist. It only matters that he drinks. I think you're getting the Letter and the Spirit mixed up.

And yes, Columbians can get pretty big, which like I was saying is why its pretty important to make sure you really are getting a Central American and not something else labeled as one.
 
Jupiter, if you didn't know this, your boa is a BCI. Not sure if you already stated that though. ;)

It's also a good idea to learn to tell the difference between Columbians/common boas/redtails (Boa constrictor imperator, or BCI) and the different varieties of Central American Boas. (Boa constrictor constrictor) In short, your average BCI will grow larger than a BCC, have duller colors, and a more calm demeanor. They're usually quite cheap from a reliable source. BCCs are either a little smaller or much smaller, have brighter colors and more intricate patterns, but tend to be a little more nippy. They can be a little more expensive compared to BCIs. A lot of this has to do with locale. Some say they're harder to care for as well, but I find this untrue so long as you have consistent temperatures, humidity, food, and a correct enclosure. I'm not a fan of using glass enclosures for large snakes. They don't respond well to constant fluctuations in temperature/humidity and a proper gradient can be harder to achieve. For a snake over 6-7 foot, I almost always opt for either a large bin (Which you can probably find at reptile expos) or custom plastic/pvc enclosures like the boaphile. Males of both BCI and BCC are smaller than females. Size in BCCs can be quite variable depending on subspecies, while BCI males usually range from 5-7 feet, although the rare 9 foot males does appear from time to time. Females can get massive, 8-14 foot. Growth tends to slow down after 3, maybe 4 years, at which point you can be sure your snake won't get much bigger. Of course as already stated, a lot of this has to do with food and temperature. A power fed boa (One fed almost every week) can reach mature size in as little as a year.
 
Thanks for the info! I was not aware of that, he was sold as a "Central American Boa" and looks pretty much just like what comes up when you google that, but I will ask the guys at RTB about that. I have read about the pros and cons of various enclosures and I must say the tank is working out, although I will definitely look more into some of the plastic ones, as you are not the first person I have heard recommend them. What kind(s) of snakes do you have?
 
Thanks for the info! I was not aware of that, he was sold as a "Central American Boa" and looks pretty much just like what comes up when you google that, but I will ask the guys at RTB about that. I have read about the pros and cons of various enclosures and I must say the tank is working out, although I will definitely look more into some of the plastic ones, as you are not the first person I have heard recommend them. What kind(s) of snakes do you have?

The guys at RTB will most certainly help out. A neat little trick to tell the difference between a BCI and BCC is to look at "stripes" or markings. Your average BCI will look like this - ) ( ) (

Most BCCs have markings with a little triangle in the middle - <) (>

Of course the best way to learn the difference is to actually see the difference yourself. Google Boa constrictor constrictor and you will see some nice examples of what I described.

Oh, and BCCs usually keep a fair amount of red coloration in their tail, hence being commonly called "true redtails". BCI tails eventually turn a dark brown.


If you're tank is still working, then don't change it. As long as you have an average male, he can probably live in that tank through-out his life.
 
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