Help with tank setup for a Red Tail Boa

Although I wouldn't recommend it, with tons of careful planning and attention to detail, you could make a big cage work for a boa, they're pretty active unlike balls. It would be great for your temp gradient, you could have a 120 degree basking spot all the way to room temperature in that thing. But the problem would be providing enough cover and climbing surfaces so the animal feels comfortable, and at that point, you'd easily lose him.

Is the snake a neonate? If so get it all set up and eating a shoebox sized rubbermaid. [Rich Ihle has a decent description on his site how he thinks you should set up neos from him.]

Basically my point is that you should get the animal destressed and feeding before shocking him with any sort of cage. As long as you have a healthy animal and you fully meet its needs the means to getting to that end is up to you.

Ya I think if you furnished it alot you could make it work. Give him some hides, things to climb,a bowl and that should take up alot of the cage making it seem smaller.

ok here are a few pics of what I have. the 2 f the new boa i know are not great but they were taken with cell phone.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...boa/boa002.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...si/boa/boa.jpg

For the first week or so while I get his tank setup I will be keeping him in this since he is still so small. I will have a small heat pad on one side and the room he will be in is a steady 80 degrees from the other tanks

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...boa/boa024.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...boa/boa025.jpg

this was the tank i origirnally gonna use after I figure out how I a doing the front glass door. This was before the aquisition of the big tank

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...boa/boa020.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...boa/boa019.jpg
(note: the screen is the top)

And here is the pics of the tank I aquired for free
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...boa/boa021.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...boa/boa022.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...boa/boa023.jpg

So hopefully give a better Idea what I have so i know what I will need. Thanks again

Your new boa is really terrific looking!!!

That big tank though- phew, that's gonna be a real bear to clean!!
I had a tank like that once and kept fish in it :P

You have some time to get a little bigger tank for your little fella and maybe think about building something a bit more reasonable for you both or saving to purchase a cage that might be way easier for you both.

Gods, I hate to be a kill joy :tears:
All I see is keeping your boa in a really difficult manner. It will be so hard to get the guy out of that tank and cleaning-- sheesh!!!!

You've got time to plan and think about things.....

Beautiful snake though!!! I love boas!!!! :D

I have been reading all night about tank and cage setups and temperatures to keep it at, but i am having a difficult time with what type of bedding to use. Some sites say aspen is good, but another says it is to be avoided.

I know the basic stuff like papertowels and newpaper is easy to clean but what else that looks a little better will be safe? I use aspen in my BP's tanks and in my Hognose tank. Is Aspen safe to use for a RTB?

I know for the next weeks to a month I will plan on keeping him in the rubbermaid bin I have until I get his tank completely set up. and since he is small the bin will not be an issue for now. in his bin i will use plain papertowels.

also with uth's, should i get any heat sourceto put on the lower sides of the tank? or just on the bottom be sufficient enough?

All of my boas have an 'aspen play area' that they can burrow in and etc. When I get the tall cages, I'll use aspen exclusively on the cage bottom.

As for your heat source questions, I haven't a clue. I would think that maintaining appropriate humidity and temps in that is going to be a challenge. What are the ambient temps of the room it will be in? Will you be building a solid and hinged and locking top for it? I'm thinking that if you were to build such a lid, you might want to look into radiant heat panels (RBI sells good ones). RHP's would help heat the tank and also give your snake thermoregulation choices all over the place. What do you think?

Yeah thats where my challenge comes in. building a locking lid for that big tank. All my other tanks, which are much smaller (10 gal to 30 gal) have a single panel UTH and 100-150watt ceramic heat emitter. also I have most of the top covered with foil nd ducktape to keep the heat and humidity in them. I will probably end up doing the same thing. That is if the pet store can now find my baby.

I am so mad right now. I went to go pick him/her up and the pet store said they had an escapee. They had two of them there and one got out. but not sure if the one that got out was mine or another one cause the box was not labeled. So I have to go back tonight when the girl I was dealing with is in to see if the one that didn't escape is mine or not

Oh jeez...bummer or serendipity??? :weirdface

This could give you more time to figure things out.....

For the large tank, I think that doing foil and etc is going to be a huge hassle. Maybe you could do a split top, hinged with locks, out of wood???

Good news is the little guy was not the one they lost. So I do have him home. and he/she is gentle as can be, doesn't want to let go of your fingers when being held. Although it did strick at my partner but thats because he had it near a bag that had frozen rats and amice feed. So I think the RTB smelled the food.

and it does have a good feeding response, I was already able to feed it 2 mouse hoppers and it took it no problem. although it is about 18" long already it appears.

One more thing to consider for the large glass tank is that it is glass. It is not going to be easy to keep the proper humidity and temps unless the room has high temps and humidity. What ever you do, good luck.