Newbie to site

Hi!

I am new here.

I just got my 1st boa last friday.It a red tail. I was told its a red tail BCI.

I got it from a pet shop that was being shut down,they had about 30-45 min. to get all the live stock out before the locks were changed.So they gave me the snake.I had NOT planned on getting anything,just happened to be there when it all went down (owner of store didnt pay rent for 6 months and landlord showed up for his money.They didnt have it so he shut the place down)

Anyway,I havent taken care of a snake in 16 years, so I have a LOT of questions.

I do know the snake hadnt been fed in over 2 weeks,they said s/he was 6 months old but he is only about 17 1/2 " long.

Here are some pictures.......what do you think?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...riX2/snake.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...iX2/snake1.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/SherriX2/RT.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/SherriX2/RT2.jpg

Looks younger than 6 months thats for sure, but s/he is very pretty!


ps. Welcome!

"Anyway,I havent taken care of a snake in 16 years, so I have a LOT of questions."

Any specific questions?

Hi there!! Glad you made the jump!!
What a pretty little snake! It could be 6 months old if they haven't been feeding it very much or at least every week :(
So, like Edie asked: We're all ears so ask away with whatever you're wondering about.
This might get you going: What are you feeding him/her? How is the environment set-up? Does this snake understand how lucky he/she is to have been adopted by you? :P
Just kidding- but Welcome to this forum!!! :D

She looks fine.... It could be 6 months old, it would mean it isn't feeded very often, or it didn't wanted too..Beleive it or not, i have a 2 year old male witch weighs around 230 grams. So i am not surprised by the fact this is a boa of 6 months old..

Give her all the rest for about a week or maybe 2 weeks and start trying to get her on feeding. And again, very nice coloration on this boa :gj:

Welcome aboard!! :handshake

Very pretty little snake there! (That won't stay little! LOL)

Is that sand in the cage? If so, you might want to swap it out for aspen, repti-bark, or even plain ol' newspaper or paper towels. ;)

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Originally Posted by JLC

Welcome aboard!! :handshake

Very pretty little snake there! (That won't stay little! LOL)

Is that sand in the cage? If so, you might want to swap it out for aspen, repti-bark, or even plain ol' newspaper or paper towels. ;)

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Great catch Judy ;)
Sherri, sand is not good because it can cause an impaction which can be deadly :(
I have my boas on kraft paper with an area of aspen should they want to burrow. I also use radiant heat panels in each of their cages and they work really well. None of mine like to use a hide, but I have climbing branches for all of them and they hang out on them.
I have a 10 month old who is 498g, a year old who is 231g, and a 3 month old who is 93g. These are all snakes who have a good feeding response and who eat every 7 days. The yearling and the 10 month old take weanling rats and my little girl is on fuzzy rats.
If you look back on the posts in this section of the forum, you can see all my girls; I love boas :banana:

StarMom was the one who told me about this site. On the other site,someone jumped all over me about buying a snake before he even got to me know and find out how I got the snake. When I took it from the shop, I asked when was the last time it had been fed….they told at least weeks,maybe more! They had 2 frozen fuzzy mouse they gave me, I thawed them and gave them to him and he grabbed them right away ( I only gave him 1 at a time)

I just fed him 1 fuzzy mouse Friday night.I have 17 fuzzy mice left and 20 pinky rats.Next Friday I had planned on thawing out a fuzzy mouse & pinky rat together so that the rat will smell like the mouse since that’s all he has ever eaten. someone told me on the other site he looks dehydrated and NOT to feed him for a few weeks,but I did anyway.(but I did inject the mouse with water) My snake was staying in his water bowl soaking.I found a few mites on him and last night was the 1st time he didn’t get in his water dish for a long soak,he actually drank for a good 5 min. when I saw the 2 mites on him I took them off and since then he hasn’t soaked (but I know he has to have more then just though 2.)plus it might have been the extra water in his food??

Right now he is in a temp. cage. it’s a 10 gal ,screen top. The hot side is anywhere from 82 to 90.At this time I do not have a humidity reader (it broke) so what I did was drape a wet towel over the screen top (opposite end of the metal dome light that I use to heat the tank) I also have a heating pad under HALF the tank,same side as the light) he is no longer on sand,he is on newspaper. He has a hide away and a water dish big enough for him to get it,but not deep enough to cover his body.I have a 20 L to switch him to,but first I have to rearrange to get it in here. S/he is 17 1/2" long. And still doesn't have a name.....any suggestions? Does s/he look dehydrated to you?

Did I leave out anything?

I know next to nothing about boas (other than I LOVE looking at their beautiful pics!) so I won't comment on your questions. You'll find plenty of other people here who will help you out!

Welcome to the site and good job rescuing that poor boas! Who knows what would have happened to it in that situation! Yikes!

Don't worry about the idiot who chewed you out for taking the snake before researching how to care for it. Usually, that would be the recommended order of doing things, but this is OBVIOUSLY an exception to that rule. You are doing a wonderful job of searching out the information you need and already making changes based on what you are learning (the sand/newspaper switch).

Good job McKinsey for referring her here!

No kudos for me~ Sherri has the big heart to access all resources and so she gets the kudos! :P

I can't tell in the picture if she looks dehydrated (I'll refer to your snake as a a she since that is the default sex!)

For the mites, it is important for you to purchase Provent-A-Mite (PAM). It comes in a spray can and is absolutely the best thing for mites. Follow the directions exactly; don't spray the water bowl or snake :O

It is awesome that you got her off of the sand and onto paper.

The biggest glaring thing you might have overlooked, or not know about, is needing to get a thermostat to monitor the temps of your heat source. This is very important!!! Helix or Herpstat are the preferred brands; I use both and they are both great! Herpstat can be ordered from http://www.spyderrobotics.com and Helix can be ordered from http://www.reptilebasics.com/Helix-C...t-p-16139.html

Reptile Basics is a great site and the owner, Rich, is an amazing fellow. His products are top notch and so is his knowledge.

Using a towel for humidity can be a little risky since you don't really know how humid you are making the environment and towels are a terrific breeding ground for bacteria. Just be careful until you get the hygrometer :gj:

These little snakes grow up to be big little snakes and so you need to think ahead. Right now, my boas each have their own 2x3 cage (http://www.reptilebasics.com/2x3-Cag...h-p-16286.html) heated by a radiant heat panel (http://www.reptilebasics.com/Reptile...l-p-16371.html). But in another year (or less) I'll be getting them each their own 6x2x2 T-20 cage from Animal Plastics (http://www.animalplastics.com/). I'll get cages that big because mine really are females!! If they were males, I'd get....oh heck, who the heck am I kidding- I'd still get the big cage cause I like them to have as much activity space as possible :P I just include this information because your little one will thrive now that she is in your care and will put weight on quickly!!

Speaking of weight- there is a food issue. Your little one needs larger prey. I would maybe give her a rat pup for a few weeks (feeding every 7 days) and then bump up to weanling rats. The little bitty things you've got a really way too small :oops:

Oh boy, I've written a tome here- sorry. Please allow me to clarify anything that might be confusing for you. Also, I want to say that I have a lot of respect for people who open their hearts for animal rescues and try so hard to learn a lot in a short time. You rock!! :gj:

SherriX2, how are you keeping humdity in the screen top cage? I have one baby red tail in a 20gal glass terrarium with screen top, but living in AZ gives me next to no humidity so I have put layers of tin foil down on the top of the screen top and taped it up with black duct tape, its worked great for me (I think there is a link somewhere on here where I found out how to do that, but I cannot find it right now). Aspen bedding is another great way to keep humidity up in the cage (I do not use it for my larger boas because of how large their cages are, but I use it on my baby boas/pythons), I just use a spray bottle and spray my little red tails cage every couple of days and it keeps humidity at the right level.

If you found mites on the snake, there will be more where that came from. I would suggest buying some Provent-A-Mite online, I had a big mite problem with my rescue boa but after getting Provent-A-Mite I haven't had any problems. I've tried some other mite relief products from Pet Co. and neither of them worked for me.

Thats great that he is eating! I can't tell from the pictures but the snake does not look dehydrated to me.. I've seen a snake that was dehydrated once and its eyes kind of dipped in somewhat - but there could always be something I'm not seeing

The only other thing I would suggest if covering up 2-3 sides of the glass with newspaper to give the little guy some security while hes getting settled in.

Hey Sherri, I just noticed the ring you wear above your wedding rings. Too funny- I have my wedding band down in the usual place and have my engagement ring up where you have the little band :gj:
:bow: Great minds must think alike!! :bow:

Thank you everyone such a warm welcome!

I didnt know most redtail are females.........how cool! Thanks for teaching me that StarMom!!

Great post Starmom! You beat me to it!

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Originally Posted by starmom

Hey Sherri, I just noticed the ring you wear above your wedding rings. Too funny- I have my wedding band down in the usual place and have my engagement ring up where you have the little band :gj:
:bow: Great minds must think alike!! :bow:

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its strange,I used to "try" to wear them the other way around but everyone told me I had them on backwards! My diamond always slips to the side,guess I need it sized a little smaller.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SherriX2

Thank you everyone such a warm welcome!

I didnt know most redtail are females.........how cool! Thanks for teaching me that StarMom!!

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No silly, not most bci's.... You're so funny!! In utero (in egg-ero for our egg laying friends?) the default sex is female unless and until hormones are released by the mother. So, we all start off as females... I'm sure this is the same for boas. If not, I'll still call it a she because GIRLZ RULE!!!!! :P

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Originally Posted by edie

Great post Starmom! You beat me to it!

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Thanks Edie, I'm just hoping that it's not too much information...
Sherri, I don't want to scare you away or make you think that you'll need to sell one of your kids in order to afford this act of kindness. I won't lie either- the initial set-up will make you think you need to sell one of your kids ;) But after the cage and heat source and t'stat, everything else is just nickel and dime. Also, you can buy rats on-line in bulk in various sizes and that helps with the cost. I really like The Mouse Factory (http://www.themousefactory.com/rates/rates.html) but I have so many snakes that I went with Big Cheese (http://www.bigcheeserodents.com/Pricing.html) this time--- Ugh, a very far second to the Mouse Factory :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by edie

SherriX2, how are you keeping humdity in the screen top cage? I have one baby red tail in a 20gal glass terrarium with screen top, but living in AZ gives me next to no humidity so I have put layers of tin foil down on the top of the screen top and taped it up with black duct tape, its worked great for me (I think there is a link somewhere on here where I found out how to do that, but I cannot find it right now). Aspen bedding is another great way to keep humidity up in the cage (I do not use it for my larger boas because of how large their cages are, but I use it on my baby boak s/pythons), I just use a spray bottle and spray my little red tails cage every couple of days and it keeps humidity at the right level.

If you found mites on the snake, there will be more where that came from. I would suggest buying some Provent-A-Mite online, I had a big mite problem with my rescue boa but after getting Provent-A-Mite I haven't had any problems. I've tried some other mite relief products from Pet Co. and neither of them worked for me.

Thats great that he is eating! I can't tell from the pictures but the snake does not look dehydrated to me.. I've seen a snake that was dehydrated once and its eyes kind of dipped in somewhat - but there could always be something I'm not seeing

The only other thing I would suggest if covering up 2-3 sides of the glass with newspaper to give the little guy some security while hes getting settled in.

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I'm not sure what my humidity level is at.I took the humidity reader out of my gecko's cage,it was really stuck to the cage and I had to pull really hard and I broke it :( So now I need to buy 2 (one for each cage)

The tank she is in,is the same tank it was living in at the pet shop so the back and sides of the tank are painted black.

My gecko is in my old bearded dragon 60 gallon reptile cage (its wayyyyyy to big for 1 leapord gecko) but to keep his temps up, I use a beach towel to hold his heat in.buts its easier because his heat lamp hangs inside the tank (high enough that he cant touch it) but with my snake I cant use anything across the whole top because her heat lamp sits on top of the cage (she can reach the lamp and push the top off if I put the light hanging in the inside)

where can order Provent-A-Mite and do u know how long it takes? how long can she go with mites on her?

For PAM: http://www.entirelypets.com/proventa...FSY1agod6VlwWg
http://www.worldpetstore.com/prov6oz.html
Just look on-line for other places too. Mites are a pain in the tail to snakes and stress them out. It's good to take care of this as soon as you can.
An Acu-rite thermometer/hygrometer is a good thing to use since those measuring dials are always wrong. Acurites are digital and can be found for about 12 dollars at places like Lowes, Wal-Mart, etc.
Snakes are escape artists and so Edie brought up a good point about needing to have the lid really clamped on tightly, or a couple of bungee cords maybe?????
Did you check out the cages?? They really are the bomb diggity!!

"No silly, not most bci's.... You're so funny!! In utero (in egg-ero for our egg laying friends?) the default sex is female unless and until hormones are released by the mother. So, we all start off as females... I'm sure this is the same for boas. If not, I'll still call it a she because GIRLZ RULE!!!!!"

Good thing I dont have my webcam on cause my face is sooooo red!! LOL!!!:rolleye2:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SherriX2

I'm not sure what my humidity level is at.I took the humidity reader out of my gecko's cage,it was really stuck to the cage and I had to pull really hard and I broke it :( So now I need to buy 2 (one for each cage)

The tank she is in,is the same tank it was living in at the pet shop so the back and sides of the tank are painted black.

My gecko is in my old bearded dragon 60 gallon reptile cage (its wayyyyyy to big for 1 leapord gecko) but to keep his temps up, I use a beach towel to hold his heat in.buts its easier because his heat lamp hangs inside the tank (high enough that he cant touch it) but with my snake I cant use anything across the whole top because her heat lamp sits on top of the cage (she can reach the lamp and push the top off if I put the light hanging in the inside)

where can order Provent-A-Mite and do u know how long it takes? how long can she go with mites on her?

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Have you thought about using heat tape or a heat pad? Using one of those with a thermostat will be the most accurate way to keep the snakes basking spot at the right temperature.. That way you could tape up the screen top too to make sure humidity is correct (Like Starmom said, the temp/humidity gauges from Lowes work really well, they will tell you ambient temps/basking temps/ and humidity).

My Provent-A-Mite took about 4 business days to get to my house after ordering, a couple days doesn't matter, because in the end you will end up with the only product that really works.

The only issue with that is that she'd need to buy things over and over to fit the different enclosures...
I have a feeling that her snake is going to thrive and take a big growth spurt now that she is being cared for. The 10 gallon will quickly become too small and she has the 20 gallon at the ready. However, she'll outgrow that one pretty quickly as well.
Ooo, I know, have it sexed so you know what length snake she'll eventually be. That way, if it's a boy, she can get a 4x2x2 and that'll hold him for quite a while; some would say forever... ;)

EDIT> BTW Sherri, in what state do you live?? Just being nosy!!!! ;)

Edie~~ yeah, I already have a heating pad under the tank (on the warm side of the tank & only on half of the tank) did I forget to list that too? (note to self~~ reread your post to make sure I posted everything)

I had to have a emergency total abdominal hysterectomy (called a TAH BSO) and it put me is sudden surgical menopause and it have effected my memory (hopeful only a temp. thing until my body gets over the shock)

StarMom~~ I live in NC

Leave it to McKinsey to make this thread impossible to follow...lol.

Sherri- Did you possibly think of getting a rubbermaid bin, using those heavy duty envelope clips to secure it, and heat tape to heat it until you can get a snake cage...or even until the little fellow grows out of it and NEEDS a cage? Just a thought...here's some pics that I use for my customers of my quarantine setups...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88...020308-001.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88...020308-002.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88...020308-003.jpg

PS- I know about the misspelling...lol

Jim~~~ so my snake would just live in that until I get the right cage setup?

For all~~~ I think I measured the snake wrong last week.She is not 17 1/2 in. long, she is 20" and she weighs 80 kilograms.

Jimi- you poo!!!! If you were in my mind it would be totally easy to follow and completely relevant ;)

Sherri, yes, that is what Jimi is saying. He is very hard to follow at times ;)

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Originally Posted by SherriX2

Jim~~~ so my snake would just live in that until I get the right cage setup?

For all~~~ I think I measured the snake wrong last week.She is not 17 1/2 in. long, she is 20" and she weighs 80 kilograms.

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So, that would be, like, an 80,000 gram snake :O
:rofl: Sherri, you are good for me because you crack me up!!! :gj:
So, I think you mean she is 80 grams and that is a lightweight for a 6 month old snake. I can't wait until she grows and puts on weight with you. You are going to do so well with her! :gj:
PS> So Reptile Basics is really close to you!! Rich will get you set up when you're ready if you choose!

You're in good hands!
I think your new boa is a beauty! :)
You were at that place at the right time to help her out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by snakelady

You're in good hands!
I think your new boa is a beauty! :)
You were at that place at the right time to help her out.

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Thank you!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starmom

So, that would be, like, an 80,000 gram snake :O
:rofl: Sherri, you are good for me because you crack me up!!! :gj:
So, I think you mean she is 80 grams and that is a lightweight for a 6 month old snake. I can't wait until she grows and puts on weight with you. You are going to do so well with her! :gj:
PS> So Reptile Basics is really close to you!! Rich will get you set up when you're ready if you choose!

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:please: stop picking on me :please: Just joking!! I love to make please laugh at me.....oh, I meant I love to make people laugh :banana:

Sherri, you're awesome. Now, go feed your snake!!!! :D