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

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d3...ersephone1.jpg

Hey everyone,

A few days ago I finally got my first snake ever. I've been planning on this for a while now, and I was going to get a ball python, but I ended up being drawn to this beautiful baby female Het Albino Boa, and decided to just go with my gut feeling on this one.

And boy, do I love this snake!... I'm actually doing the best I can to control myself and leave her alone so she can get acclimated to her new home... otherwise i'd be behaving like an overly-smothering mamma bear :oops:

Two days ago I gave her her first thawed out fuzzie to eat, and she ate it no problem. However, she didn't strike at it, but just started devouring it... is this normal because the prey is dead? For the most part I'm just glad that she is eating, which must mean she is happy enough in her new home.

She hasn't defecated yet though, and it has been two days. Is this normal? How long does it take on average for a baby boa to digest one small meal like that?

And lastly, her eyes turned blue a few days ago, so I guessed she was going to shed soon... however now her eyes are back to normal, and she hasn't shed yet. Is it still going to happen?

I'm making sure that throughout all of this I haven't been handeling her at all or stressing her out so that she can get acclimated, digest, and shed in peace :oops:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sethian

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d3...ersephone1.jpg

Hey everyone,

A few days ago I finally got my first snake ever. I've been planning on this for a while now, and I was going to get a ball python, but I ended up being drawn to this beautiful baby female Het Albino Boa, and decided to just go with my gut feeling on this one.

And boy, do I love this snake!... I'm actually doing the best I can to control myself and leave her alone so she can get acclimated to her new home... otherwise i'd be behaving like an overly-smothering mamma bear :oops:

Two days ago I gave her her first thawed out fuzzie to eat, and she ate it no problem. However, she didn't strike at it, but just started devouring it... is this normal because the prey is dead? For the most part I'm just glad that she is eating, which must mean she is happy enough in her new home.

She hasn't defecated yet though, and it has been two days. Is this normal? How long does it take on average for a baby boa to digest one small meal like that?

And lastly, her eyes turned blue a few days ago, so I guessed she was going to shed soon... however now her eyes are back to normal, and she hasn't shed yet. Is it still going to happen?

I'm making sure that throughout all of this I haven't been handeling her at all or stressing her out so that she can get acclimated, digest, and shed in peace :oops:

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Firstly, congrats on your first snake! Very nice looking little boa. She may only defecate every week or two, so two days is nothing. If her eyes turned blue and they are back to normal she will probably shed for you tomorrow (guess). Way to go with not handling her and letting her get acclimated. It's tough to leave them alone, especially your first.
Have fun!

wow thanks for the quick reply :)

okay, i feel relieved now that it takes them a while to digest.

how long do you think i should wait before handling her? obviously till the digesting and shed is over right? and how often is too much handling? i hear some people handle their snakes all the time and just sit with them letting them chill on their laps, around their necks, etc... and then others say that that isn't good to do because the snake will get stressed out and irritable? :weirdface

You pretty much wanna give them around 48 hrs after feeding before handling. With a little girl like that she may stress easily, so brief handling sessions of 10-15 min or so. Each snake is different and you will learn to read her and know when she's had enough.

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Originally Posted by Sethian

Two days ago I gave her her first thawed out fuzzie to eat, and she ate it no problem. However, she didn't strike at it, but just started devouring it... is this normal because the prey is dead?

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:yes:. Snakes are lazy about eating when in shed, from what I've seen. All of mine will still eat when blue, but they sure won't put up a fight :P

not sure if the shed is going so well.

her skin has started flaking away around her neck and a little down her body, but she seems to be having a hard time getting it off her head. she's pushing a lot against the glass and against herself. i read that i should have some rocky surfaces in their cages so that they can rub against those to seperate from the skin. the rock surfaces i have are her two hides. however, she keeps trying to rub against the glass and the the ground. my substrate is paper towels.

she's been wrestling with herself like this for quite a while. her eyes have already seperated and are hanging off. i don't know if all of this or normal and i should just give her some time. maybe i'm just been a paranoid noob :oops:

Maybe give us some insight on your setup temperature/humidity. Sounds if it's flaking like the humidity isn't where it should be.

Edit:
Nice boa btw.

The temperature during the day rises to roughly 85-88 degrees farenheit. i have one hide on the cool side, and one on the warm side. i have a heat pad on the warm side that i never turn off, and a daylight lamp above the heat pad that i turn on and off in tune with sunrise and sunset. my substrate is paper towels because newspapers just seem dirty to me, and i wasn't sure yet what other substrate (straw, bark, sand, etc) would be best for her. the paper towels are at least easy for me to clean and replace with new ones regularly.

during the day she usually hangs out on the warm side, and that is where she is right now trying to shed.

at night she heads over to the cooler side and crawls into her hide over there to sleep.

every morning when i turn on the day lamp and every evening when i turn it off i spray down the encloser and the snake herself with a humidifying spray. i also just sprayed her down again when i noticed she was shedding. my thermometer sadly doesn't give me humidity readings, so i don't know if i should be spraying more or less.

oh, and there is also a water bowl on the cooler side of her enclosure.

You need to get something that measures humidity. You say you spray her down ever morning, but that may not be enough, actually i'm almost positive it's not enough. Your temperatures are ok, but without you knowing the humidity, it's really hurting you. For the time being just try to mist atleast twice a day, for her shedding.

okay, thanks. what humidity should i have her enclosure at?

and should i get a rougher substrate like straw etc?

btw, i like your snake names in your sig :gj: i named my snake Persephone after the greek goddess of the underworld :cool:

You can use Aspen bedding if you want a nicer look. They will usually get the shed started on something like a hide or bowl and the rest should come off as the snake moves around providing humidity is good.

You can keep it on Aspen like waltah said, or even cypress mulch. Cypress mulch holds the humidity pretty well, just make sure you get the t-rex double milled cypress mulch. It's for reptiles.

Alright guys, thank you for all your help!!

the shed was finally successful yesterday and the skin from her body came off in one piece. the rest of her skin from her face that she was having a hard time with gradually flaked off throughout the night, and today she looks as good as new. i feel terrible though that i put her through this, and i hope i get the humidity right from now on.

i changed the substrate in her enclosure to this "Zilla Lizard Litter Bark Blend" I got at Petco. She seems to like it and i noticed it stays moist for quite a while when i spray the enclosure so it helps with the humidity, and keeping it roughly between 50% and 60%. however, the humidity still keeps on dropping down past 50% after a few hours, causing me to have to spray everything again.

i will look into the aspen bedding that you mentioned to see if that works better.

a new question: now that i have this bark substrate, i obviously shouldn't feed her in her main enclosure anymore. i've gotten a seperate little box ready for her to feed in, and i will try it out on wednesday when it'll be time for her to feed again. however, i know that i shouldn't handle her after she has fed... but i can't leave her in this new box forever. how long do i need to wait until after she's fed and rehinged her jaws for me to life her up again and put her in her main enclosure? are there any useful signs or behaviour that would let me know its okay to quickly pick her up and put her back?

I feed my anaconda in a seperate enclosure. So here's what you do:

I put my snake int he seperate enclosure with paper towl as the substrate becuase I throw it away after. So anyways, I put the snake in the seperate enclosure, then I usually kill the mouse then I wave it in front of her to let her eat it, but feed your boa however you have been. Once you see that she has finished swallowing her prey and I mean fully, no tail sticking out, jaws re-aligned and all, then you use 2 hands to go under her and support her body and put her back in her regular enclosure.

I used to feed in a separate tub and what I did was put a piece of cardboard in the bottom of the tub. When the snake was finished I would just gently pick up the cardboard with the snake on it and let them crawl from the cardboard back into their tank...


Rob

thanks for all your help guys. i fed her today in a seperate box and it worked out fine. picking her up afterwards was fine too.

only problem was the she swallowed the dead fuzzie with the feet first. i heard it's best have them eat the head first due to hair-line or something...

i tried to help her out, but she got all defensive and didn't want me to interfere so i let her swallow it the way she wanted. i'm sure everything will be fine, but i just want to know if it really is better to have them swallow their prey head first, and what the consequences might be otherwise :weirdface

It's typically easier for a snake to swallow head first, but that's it. There are no negative concequences for downing it a different way.

Do you have a thermostat, lamp dimmer or rheostat on that heat pad? Without one it will probably burn your snake, and you shouldn't need the combination of both the pad and the light, just the pad should suffice.
As for humidity, taking away that light will help from drying things up. A sterilite container or some type of vision cage is much more suitible for holding it humidity than a glass cage with a screen top. Those cages are only good for reptiles with low humidity requirements. For now, trying covering up most of the screen with foil or a towel to help hold the humidity in.

no i don't have a dimmer on the heat pad.

right now, with the heat pad and the daylight, the temperature in the enclosure (on the cool side where she spends most of her time) stays between 80-85 degrees. I thought this was what a Boa needed.

At night i switch out the daylamp with a night light that gives off a dark purple light, and causes the temperature to drop a bit. i never switch off the heat pad.

she spends a lot of time in her hide on the cool side, so maybe it is a bit too hot for her. i thought i had the right temperature gradient though.

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

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sethian

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d3...ersephone1.jpg

Hey everyone,

A few days ago I finally got my first snake ever. I've been planning on this for a while now, and I was going to get a ball python, but I ended up being drawn to this beautiful baby female Het Albino Boa, and decided to just go with my gut feeling on this one.

And boy, do I love this snake!... I'm actually doing the best I can to control myself and leave her alone so she can get acclimated to her new home... otherwise i'd be behaving like an overly-smothering mamma bear :oops:

Two days ago I gave her her first thawed out fuzzie to eat, and she ate it no problem. However, she didn't strike at it, but just started devouring it... is this normal because the prey is dead? For the most part I'm just glad that she is eating, which must mean she is happy enough in her new home.

She hasn't defecated yet though, and it has been two days. Is this normal? How long does it take on average for a baby boa to digest one small meal like that?

And lastly, her eyes turned blue a few days ago, so I guessed she was going to shed soon... however now her eyes are back to normal, and she hasn't shed yet. Is it still going to happen?

I'm making sure that throughout all of this I haven't been handeling her at all or stressing her out so that she can get acclimated, digest, and shed in peace :oops:

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

Fast forward 3 years later, boas are common AND quite affordable here. From what I hear, they (usually) don't get to humongous sizes like the burm/afrock (unless you got one from large stock) and they do NOT have the feeding issue ball pythons may have. ;)

If given the chance to go back in time, I would've saved up some more for a boa constrictor instead of a ball...but I'm happy nevertheless with my champ of a ball and my retics ;)

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

Quote:

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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 :)