BI heat and substrate questions

I’m retrofitting an 8x2x1 pvc cage for a 7ish foot, 18 year old BI who has come to live with me. RHP or flexwatt; shredded aspen or ReptiChip? have a dishpan waterbowl high enough to prevent tipping but low enough for entry for soaking. I also have the same dishpans with an entry soldered out for hides. The room temp, throughout the seasons fluctuates between 73-76 degrees.

I totally put this in the wrong area.
I meant BCI area.

I prefer RHPs as a heat source but UTHs work well too. I like a hot spot of 86-90. Your ambient temps should be fine. I recommend Reptile Prime for substrate. It looks nice, is easy to spot clean, and holds humidity well.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I prefer RHPs as a heat source but UTHs work well too. I like a hot spot of 86-90. Your ambient temps should be fine. I recommend Reptile Prime for substrate. It looks nice, is easy to spot clean, and holds humidity well.

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+1
I'm a rhp fan also. I have them in every cage. I just very recently tried reptile prime for the first time and love it. I agree it looks great, holds humidity like a champ and doesn't have a strong smell like other substrates (reptibark, etc). Its a little pricey compared to other substrates but not enough to change my mind.

Congrats on your new Boa!

I prefer RHPs as well. But since Ultratherms don’t cost much I just went with both. Totally unnecessary since neither of my adult Boas rarely spend time in the warm areas. :rolleyes: Because of this I keep the warm side 87-88.

Personally I don’t like Aspen. But you owe it to yourself and the snake to be open to trying different substrates to see which works best. Some people love Aspen.

I also like my RHPs in my enclosures. That said, I do have flexwatt in use depending on the season or animals being kept.
I alternate substrate depending on season and animal as well. I live in Mississippi where it’s roughly 8000% humidity in the summer and actually have to try and reduce relative humidity in the enclosures during warmer months. Aspen in the summer, and coconut husk chips during dryer months.
The exception being for my yearling boas who are on aspen for a while because I don’t like to search the whole cage for poops every week. Aspen makes it easier to spot and is very absorbent for small spills/messes.
I do like the appearance of coconut husk chips more than aspen though.


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I love my EcoEarth, I have some coco chips that I mixed into some of the EcoEarth to try out recently, and it just doesn't do the job as well as EcoEarth does. A lot of people complain about the dustiness, and how messy EE is, but for me it's been my dream bedding. I keep it slightly damp, and let it go through dry periods, and have had little issue so long as I keep on top of it. I use aspen in some of my enclosures, and it's alright if you don't need to do anything, not so great if you need that extra humidity.

I also use RHPs, they're more efficient at heating surfaces below them, so I've never felt the need to add any sort of belly heat to it. In the winter, when temps drop, I use a space heater to keep temps up, but it can get below 0F here on occasion. I don't use any space heaters above maybe 50-60F outside temps. My RHPs are more than adequate to combat those temps.

Reinz gave you the answer , don't waste anymore time or money for a few weeks. Use your sense of smell as a guide

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