Tips on Rehoming a Common Boa

I know that snakes are intelligent creatures, sensitive to new smells, environments, and people. I also know they do form bonds with their owners. I am interested in buying a common boa from someone who has owned her all her life (4/5 years I believe). Anyone with personal experience with a similar scenario? Do boas get particularly agitated? Do you think she'd adapt well enough for be comfortable with me as her new owner? I'm sure a great deal of risky handling in the beginning would be necessary.

Thanks guys!

I just adopted a 10 year old female BCI. She's very calm and sweet, and she hasn't caused an issue with me yet.

I wouldn't be too worried. It would depend on the snakes temperament.

Well that's a good thing to here. Also, I'm pretty disappointed in the lack of variety in tanks for snakes this size. They all seem pretty bland and almost malicious in their security. I would love to have a custom built tank that was big enough to house a boa but also able to be personalized and decorated with substrate & what have you. Does anyone know of any online stores that cater to this? Or is the only real option building one myself?

I'm not sure what you're looking for. Animal Plastics and Boaphiles make 6-8' cages. I'd suggest an 18" height.

I'm currently working on an ENORMOUS enclosure. It's 6'x3'x4. It's a pain to heat but I've managed to get a good ambient temperature inside.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/01/py7ududa.jpg
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WOW! That's very impressive. And such a great design aesthetic. That's what most large snake tanks are missing online. They look like temporary housing. I'd love to know more about your project. Perhaps tips for constructing one of my own?

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Originally Posted by antuonchris

WOW! That's very impressive. And such a great design aesthetic. That's what most large snake tanks are missing online. They look like temporary housing. I'd love to know more about your project. Perhaps tips for constructing one of my own?

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I'd do a google search on building your own vivarium (there's some tutorials there): my boyfriend has built 4' and 6' vivs for my boas and they came out really well (one has sliding glass doors and the other drop down acrylic).

As long as you let the boa settle in I don't think you'll have any problems. If you do you can always work with the snake to calm it down (depending on your comfort level and how defensive the snake is), but boas are usually very easy going guys. Just check it out before committing to make sure she's healthy :gj:

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Originally Posted by antuonchris

WOW! That's very impressive. And such a great design aesthetic. That's what most large snake tanks are missing online. They look like temporary housing. I'd love to know more about your project. Perhaps tips for constructing one of my own?

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I actually didn't make it. I found it for sale, and only paid $200. I have had to put a LOT of work into it.

If you give me a second, I'll dig up some cage plans I saw someone posted up for their boas.

Here we go:
http://www.mccarthyboas.com/EZ_Prints.html

My cage was built by a man in Red Deer, Canada.

To be honest, it just looks like plywood, made into a box. He flexsealled the bottom which I'm not too impressed with, so my dad has helped me lay out Lino flooring for the walls and floor. We cut a square out of the floor so the heat tape will lay in said cut out, and heat through the Lino but still be easy to remove if needed.

He was using heat bulbs on a timer. Wasn't too impressed with that so I went and got the biggest RHP I could find and removed the bulbs. He had the bulbs wrapped with hardware mesh, which was a big NO NO. I worried about nose rubbing.

I'm also sealing all the driftwood with a safe polyurethane, so it won't rot and get dirty. Honestly, the driftwood that was inside must of cost a LOT.

Hah, what kind of offer would be necessary to get you to sell that cage? It's beautiful, and I'm lazy. Lol.

Ahaha, I think the shipping would come out to being over 1000 dollars. The cage weighs more than 150lbs.

If you wanted space, boaphile makes corner cages. They're pretty neat and id like one, but it would be over $400 to ship one to Canada.

Here's a picture off the website:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/01/bu5umyma.jpg

Imagine an entire stack of those?! Mmmm

I always have a peculiar sense of resolve past 2am. I think that I'm going to embark on the journey of creating an enclosure myself. Would it be cheaper to build my own if I used a minimum amount of material?

It probably would, and you could have the dimensions you want. Although I see boaphile has free shipping for the states right now.

If its an adult female, she'll need a 6' IMO. A 6'x2'x17.5" is $568. That's without heat, light fixtures, thermostat.

Best plastic used in cage making is right here in my opinion. He will build custom cages, has backgrounds, all the perks. Usually excellent prices and the are stackable.

Look at the cage gallery photos. The plastic in these is very easy to clean. No retained smells or stains.

Good luck.
http://www.constrictorsnw.com/cagess...gegallery.html

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Originally Posted by antuonchris

I always have a peculiar sense of resolve past 2am. I think that I'm going to embark on the journey of creating an enclosure myself. Would it be cheaper to build my own if I used a minimum amount of material?

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It all depends on how fancy you wanna get with it. We (technically my bf and his dad built this, but I'm not gonna type that 50 times :P) started out with melamine wood which was already treated/painted. We used plexiglas pieces for the "side windows" and actual windows for the doors; they're the type that are supposed to open horizontally, we just set them on their sides and voila! Locking doors. :) A portion of the bottom was cut out and a glass panel put in to use a UTH. Since the enclosure is so big (6Lx2Wx3H), another hole was cut at the top of the opposite side for supplemental heating (infared bulb, ceramic heat bulb, whatever you want) and covered with a metal grating. Drilled a few holes on each side for air flow as well. We even cut and treated a branch that serves as a climbing tree! Although we've still yet to find fake plants that are big enough to go in there...

All in all I think this only cost a few hundred. Maybe around $300? I can't remember. But it was way cheaper than buying/shipping a viv!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psbf21ee8f.jpg
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