Re: Brazilian Rainbow Boa
UTH = under tank heater. There are many different brands you can buy. The most important thing to remember with them though, is they can get EXTREMELY hot, so you will have to buy a plug in light dimmer (buy them at home depot, lowes possibly, and menards etc.) or a thermostat. Also, a good thermometer is required to see how hot it is. Another thing you can buy is a digital temp. gun. They can be found for around 30 bucks online. You'll need a thermometer at least. I would go with a thermometer that has a probe on it so you can put that directly on the glass above the uth.
Re: Brazilian Rainbow Boa
As for humidity you could mist your cage daily, or use some aluminum foil or plastic wrap on top of the mesh to help hold in humidity. You could also put your snake in a tub. I keep all of mine in sterelite tubs. I use the plastic wrap on my poison dart frog tank. You could also use a larger water dish in combination with covering the screen top. You can also use a bark substrate like cypress mulch (make sure it has no chemicals in it though) or maybe even repti bark although I think cypress mulch would be cheaper. Mist it once in a while and it should help keep your humidity up. Like I said though, I use sterelite tubs and have no issues with humidity. I'm sure others will chime in with more ideas though.
If you're having a really hard time with humidity you could also give him a humid hide. I used to do that with a ball python a few years back. I used an appropriately sized closed container (I used a country crock large container) and cut a hole in the top large enough for my snake to get into. Inside the container I used moist sphagnum moss that I bought at my local pet store. I moistened the moss to the same wetness as a well wrung out wash clothe.
Hope that helps.
Re: Brazilian Rainbow Boa
If you have mites though, I would stay with paper towel substrate but maybe give a moist hide using wet paper towels and after the mites are taken care of then try some of the other substrates and wet moss if you like.
Re: Brazilian Rainbow Boa
The problem with plants is lighting. I use live plants in my pdf tank but the humidity in there is near 100%. I keep wandering jew, anubias, cryptocorynes, and a few ferns, I'm not sure how they would do with less humidity though nor am I familiar with how they would hold up with a snake.