New Boa owner has questions.

[DewBunny]

Okay so after having sold my BP's a few years ago when I couldn't afford to take care of them I've gotten stable again and my parents have seen fit to gift me a new snake for Christmas. I've looked up a few things on Boas and the species I'm supposed to be getting is a Brazilian Rainbow Boa. I've been getting the cage set up today and I'm just wondering if there is anything I'm missing as far as cage stuff goes.



That is my current setup as it looks now. I'm still not finished with it I have two more things to pick up, another heat source for the left side and a small branch for the lil guy to climb on. From what the seller says and the pictures I've seen of the lil guy he's healthy and a little over 20 inches give or take an inch.

The cage itself is just a temporary cage and I intend to make a larger enclosure when he gets bigger but for now I think it'll do in terms of space requirements. The large round hide off on the right is a humidity box the one on the left is a heated dry hide and then the one up front is a temporary cool hide. I'm working on getting temperatures for each of the hides but the ambient temp near the bottom of the cage is 72.6 F. I'm thinking with the other heat source in there the temperature will boost up to 78-80 and the cool side should be about 72-74. If the temperatures are too low I can jack the room's heat up a lot. Currently the substrate is Cypress bedding with Sphagnum moss in the humid hide that'll be misted as needed to keep the humidity up.

There is a basking lamp on the top to help the left side be slightly less humid then the right side.

As far as the snake goes the current owner says that the snake is a bit nippy at times especially when being taken out of the cage so he's been handling him with gloves and stuff until it's calmed down a bit. I'm wondering on that part if handling him once a week for about fifteen minutes will clear that up. Just for the sake of not getting bit though I got a small snake hook to help lift him out of the cage. From what I've read on them it seems they calm down once they're out of the cage.

This is what I know/have at the moment and I'm wondering if any owners have advice or things to fix. I'm getting the lil guy next Monday so there is plenty of time fore picking things up to fix problems.

[DewBunny]

Okay I dunno why but it won't let me edit the thread again to put in the temperatures so sorry for the extra bump.

The hides are currently at the following temperatures.

Humid/hot hide 81.2-3 F

Cool hide (front) 69.5-6 F

Cool hide (corner) 68.4-5 F

The rock just under the basking lamp on high is

Basking lamp on high 74.8-75.6 F

Like I mentioned before with the other heat source under the tank in the temps on the left side will hop about 5-8 degrees and from there I can fine tune it. With the cool hides' heat source in I'm aiming for 72-74 degrees if this needs to be corrected let me know.

[DewBunny]

Guys? *poke poke*

[Wh00h0069]

I have never owned BRB, so I will not comment on their care, but I did come across this link that may help: http://rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com/Ca...nbow%20Boa.htm.

[DewBunny]

Bumping this the last time today. I'm getting the lil guy in a few hours since he's busy monday so wish me luck! ^^ Just got a humidity meter in there and so far it's hovering at 65% just after putting it in and I'm sure I can bump that after I go get a sheet of plexiglass to put over the top of the screen, for now though he'll have to make do with the humidity hide until I can go to home depot. I'll try and post pics later if he's not too moody.

Gonna name him Stolz

[Vypyrz]

I don't have any experience with them, so the best that I can offer is the link to the caresheet on this forum. I do know that the temps and humidity must be monitored closely and they don't handle higher temps (in the 90's) very well. Good luck...

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...rates-cenchria)

[DewBunny]

The only problems I've ever had was trying to keep humidity up on aspen bedding. Since I'm on Cypress now I think I should be better off than I was. Also once I have the plexiglass it'll hold some of the heat better so it shouldn't fluctuate much except when I turn the lamp off at night. Really I'm just looking to see if it's good or what I could improve. If I had my druthers I would have given it a few weeks before I got the snake just to make sure everything was set up right and everything was working right.