My BCI "burrows"?

[GpBp]

My BCI never ever burrowed himself in substrate. The only time he did it is when i moved him to his adult enclosure and took his hide away. He kept burrowing until i gave him his hide back. Give him/her a hide and they won,t burrow. This is what i have experienced so far

Oh? Roe has two hides in her tank, a big rock corner hide on her cool side and a small log on the warm. I've had these in there ever since I got her, and she's always burrowed

[AbsoluteApril]

I use paper/corrugated substrate for mine with hides but when I did use aspen I saw the behavior from time to time. Burrowing is a very normal behavior for boas.
If a boa doesn't have a hide, it may burrow to feel secure.
If it has a hide and deep enough substrate it may do either or both (use hides, burrow or burrow in the hide).
They also will simply hang out in the open happily enough, especially once larger.

[Godzilla78]

91 is not nearly hot enough to burn the snake, on the UTH.

[GpBp]

I use paper/corrugated substrate for mine with hides but when I did use aspen I saw the behavior from time to time. Burrowing is a very normal behavior for boas.
If a boa doesn't have a hide, it may burrow to feel secure.
If it has a hide and deep enough substrate it may do either or both (use hides, burrow or burrow in the hide).
They also will simply hang out in the open happily enough, especially once larger.

Thank you! Sorry, do you use like, shredded paper or newspaper bedding or am I just reading it wrong? Also, I don't really understand why she'd do it because she's got two appropriate sized hides... If there is anything I could do to stop her from burrowing please tell me because

1. It seems like it might be more of a... I'm not gonna say stressed but maybe more of a behavior they do when they feel insecure? I want to make her feel safe without her having to dig.

2. I'd like to see her out more often. She's just so pretty!

[AbsoluteApril]

Thank you! Sorry, do you use like, shredded paper or newspaper bedding or am I just reading it wrong? Also, I don't really understand why she'd do it because she's got two appropriate sized hides... If there is anything I could do to stop her from burrowing please tell me because

1) burrowing doesn't mean she's stressed or insecure. They simply like to burrow sometimes, it's a natural behavior and nothing to be worried about. I assume she's still young, as she gets older and bigger, she will most likely not do it as often.
As to how to get her to stop, well, you'd simply have to not give her the option to do it.

As for bedding, I use multiple flat sheets of dunnage for the smaller ones (unprinted newspaper) and singleface corrugated for the adults. I use these because of the number of snakes I have, makes cleaning a stack of cages quick and simple and it's quite inexpensive. If I had only a few snakes I'd probably go back to aspen.

Here's an old photo of one of my subadults on the corrugated:

[GpBp]

1) burrowing doesn't mean she's stressed or insecure. They simply like to burrow sometimes, it's a natural behavior and nothing to be worried about. I assume she's still young, as she gets older and bigger, she will most likely not do it as often.
As to how to get her to stop, well, you'd simply have to not give her the option to do it.

As for bedding, I use multiple flat sheets of dunnage for the smaller ones (unprinted newspaper) and singleface corrugated for the adults. I use these because of the number of snakes I have, makes cleaning a stack of cages quick and simple and it's quite inexpensive. If I had only a few snakes I'd probably go back to aspen.

Here's an old photo of one of my subadults on the corrugated:

Good! I was worried about that! She is young, about 6 months old (a tiny little noodle). I think I'll just stick with a thick substrate so she can dig if she wants. Because of this reason... I tend to think of my snakes like people like they have feelings too. I know they don't! It just makes me feel good if that makes sense (lol) Idk it'd just make me feel guilty for some reason to take that away from her. That's weird I know, but I've always thought about them that way. It's a wonderful idea though! And beautiful snake!

[Sauzo]

I'll kinda go through everything you said and tell you what I'm doing for it if that's ok?

As far as substrate goes, I've honestly had the opposite experience. When I had the aspen, I took -dug lol- her out one day to handle her, but she had maybe 2-3 aspen chips stuck in her mouth to where she couldn't really close it. IMHO Eco-Earth seems to hold humidity better, but that's just what I've seen in only a little over a year of working with snakes lol. It doesn't seem like It'd mold, huh. "there is nothing like sinking a finger into a cold turd" ! But it is a price I'd pay for having a comfortable boa Is that what you're using in the top pic?

Ok, I'll turn the T-stat down. would like 88° be okay?

I'll bump the humidity up when I get back. I don't overmist, I lightly mist maybe... 4 times a week? I'm not sure, but it works for my bps. I also use sphagnum moss with foil on the top. Which brings me to the fact that her setup is a 10-gallon, with 2 hides and a water dish. Also some leaves. I absolutely know I'll have to upgrade her to at least a 40-gal, I just got this 10 when I was at the dollar a gallon sale, and when I bought it the tank was originally going to be for a hognose.

I'm not home now, but tonight will be dedicated to adjusting the temps and humidity.

(Beautiful boas and great pics!)

Well if Eco Earth works for you, then stick with it. Everyone will have different preferences for substrate. It's kind of like the argument i see a lot of 'which is better, RHP or heat tape" And the answer to that is neither. Both work well depending on your cage set up, room temps etc.

You can go a little gung ho with the misting. It wont hurt them. Most of my boas seem to like getting misted and will actually come out and spend a good hour or so just wandering around afterwards. Just make sure you use warm water. Remember, when you mist the water will cool down pretty darn fast so you dont want to mist them with cold water. You will know if it's too cold as the snake will probably run away like acid has just been poured on it lol.

As for caging, i personally would ditch the tanks. Just go with a nice PVC cage. And if you want to just get one that will last your boa it's life whether it is a girl or boy, go with a 72x36x18 cage. Boas tend to be more active unless they are overfed which then leads to a lazy fat snake that doesnt move around much. All of my snakes are out and about nightly. Dottie my BP is out all freakin night climbing her shelf and causing trouble. Same with the little GTP who recently has a huge fascination with the deli cup water bowls on the floor haha. And my dumerils is a bulldozer at night. She pushes aspen all over and digs under her water bowl and I'm still not quite sure how she manages to push it.

Tempwise, 88F is fine as long as that is the temp at the hot spot. I'm not sure how 90F became the norm for hot spots but most of the breeders I've talked to about BCC stuff keep their hot spots at 86F. They experience the same thing i do when you turn up the hot spot. The boas never go there and you end up with a 4x2 cage turning into a 3x2 cage and a 6x3 cage turning into a 5x3 cage lol.

In the top pic of Vicky, i was using ReptiChips there. I switched back to aspen for everyone but they still burrow in the aspen like that.

As for molding, i had Eco Earth mold on me because Rosey my big girl would pack down the Eco Earth just from her weight crawling across it. So the stuff would get no oxygen, be wet and warm which is awesome for mold lol. I would have to turn it with my hand to aerate the stuff and would find clumps of mold in it. If you use a thin layer of it, it might work good. I know a lot of people also mix it with something chunkier like ReptiChips so the stuff can kind of drain.

[Sauzo]

Oh? Roe has two hides in her tank, a big rock corner hide on her cool side and a small log on the warm. I've had these in there ever since I got her, and she's always burrowed

Boas will burrow given hides or not. Heck my babies burrow under their hides and create their own doors to the hides lol. You can see that in the 2nd pic which is my baby suriname in her cool hide.

[Sauzo]

Good! I was worried about that! She is young, about 6 months old (a tiny little noodle). I think I'll just stick with a thick substrate so she can dig if she wants. Because of this reason... I tend to think of my snakes like people like they have feelings too. I know they don't! It just makes me feel good if that makes sense (lol) Idk it'd just make me feel guilty for some reason to take that away from her. That's weird I know, but I've always thought about them that way. It's a wonderful idea though! And beautiful snake!

This is probably what April is using. I know a few BCC breeders who use this stuff too.
https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...Flute-24-x-250

And i wouldnt worry, boas will be boas. That first pic is my almost 6 foot sunglow, Vicky who still like to sometimes sit half buried lol. Other times, she sits in the front of the cage hanging out and still other times, she will sit half in a hide. Then Rosey, my big girl only uses hides when she is shedding, otherwise she shoves them aside and sits next to them or sits half on top of them.

[Sauzo]

1) burrowing doesn't mean she's stressed or insecure. They simply like to burrow sometimes, it's a natural behavior and nothing to be worried about. I assume she's still young, as she gets older and bigger, she will most likely not do it as often.
As to how to get her to stop, well, you'd simply have to not give her the option to do it.

As for bedding, I use multiple flat sheets of dunnage for the smaller ones (unprinted newspaper) and singleface corrugated for the adults. I use these because of the number of snakes I have, makes cleaning a stack of cages quick and simple and it's quite inexpensive. If I had only a few snakes I'd probably go back to aspen.

Here's an old photo of one of my subadults on the corrugated:

Nice looking boa. Looks almost exactly like Rango hypo het snowglow boy.