My new (and first!) Boa - questions...

You can handle your snake for the first time the most 10-15 if you see its still eaten generally increase the time by 5 minutes and so on & so on...I handle my ball pythons now for 30-40 minutes...of course they don't like it but they can get use to it...& have no problem eating...try not to handle on feeding day (only if moving to seperate enclosure to feed)...they sell hydrometers at rite aid for like $10 or walmart or target

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Originally Posted by Aeries

Are you measuring ambient temperature or surface temperature? Do you have your probe directly on the heat pad?

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i believe i am measuring the ambient temperature on the cool side. i have the probe stuck to the glass, about midway towards the top... should i move it to the bottom?

here is a picture of my setup:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d3...ion/boa002.jpg

the heat pad is on the right side, under the daylight. i have a hide over there as well, and a water bowl that evaporates to help with humidity. i have a night lamp that i put in the exact same position as the day lamp... but i was told i don't need that. i just started doing it for practical reasons and because i noticed that sometimes the heat was dropping at night well below 80 degrees and i thought that might be a bit too cold.

then there is a branch for her to climb on, and a smaller hide and bowl of water on the left side which is the cool side. i recently also added a moist towel over the top of the enclosure to help with the humidity.

i also taped the green paper around the other three walls of the enclosure so that she can't see out on all sides and get stressed out.

if you look closely you can see her curled up underneath the branch... about midway between the hot and cold side.

Yeah, put your probe right on the heat pad, under the substrate, right up against the glass. It's going to be toasty.

okay i did this. it's 90 degrees there... is that too hot? i thought i was meant to have a 88-95 degrees hot spot for my boa?

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Originally Posted by retic720

Amazing boa. When I started out, they weren't quite available and ended up with a male ball python.

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What planet did you come from? Boas have been "available" in this country for about 40 +years!!!!!! LOL

You are in a similar situation to me. I got my boa a few weeks ago. A hatchling male. And I got him in shed (he bit the pet shop woman, but hasnt even hissed at me) and its so hard not going in there and looking at them every 2 seconds. Congrats on the snake and lets hope its the first of many.

Hello, I can see you are a first time snake owner, due to you being nervous if everything is right and nothings wrong. Well my first snake was a female red tailed boa its around 8 1/2ft long now. But i have had many snakes in my past and because your young boa is eating their is no medical issues with the snake, and it seems the snake is bonding with its new home. You should not handle the snake for 3 days before entering it into its new home. When you do just gently touch it with your knuckle just in case it strikes, it shouldn't..my boa`s 4 years old and its never stroke me over aggression/defence. You said your boa hasn't done its business. for a fully grown snake it can take 1 month to do it. But for babies I guess it should be quicker, Their will be no problem in not doing it straight away.. Just give the little guy some time, i mean its easyer for you..your not cleaning out huge ones are you? And Its normal for snakes not to strike, It makes them not go into the striking mood, my boa used to not stikem but now it does. when it was a baby it didnt,but i tried and dangling the mice in-front of the snakes mouth and it will sure strike, it probably didnt strike because its environments new. Anyway i hope my information was usefully, any questions on Boa Constrictors, Ask me :)