Boa for Birthday!

[BoaBoy]

Hello everyone! I am new to this forum. Looked around and this looks like an amazing community. Anyways I am turning fourteen in like 3-4 months, and I am wanting to get a boa as my first snake. I currently own a crested gecko, and have worked with a large number of species at my local reptile shop. When it comes to boas, I have worked with sand boas, ground boas, dumeril boas (probably my favorite), red tail boas, and that's more or less it. So, I was wondering what boa ya'll would recommend to a beginner in snake keeping, who also has a little bit of hands on experience under their belt?

[KMG]

Do you have the enclosure, tstat, and other equipment figured out?

[richardhind1972]

Welcome to the forum boa boy
Boas are amazing, I have 12
There are lots of stunning variations in the boas from the smaller island localities to the larger Suriname and all the morphs in nearly most colours depending on budget you can shake a stick at in the boa imperata types.

all totatly different and unique on there own and beauty is in the eye of the beholder .
You could always go to a local breeder or join a local reptile society or even a rescue centre, this Will give you more experience , I know you have some but may also make your Mind up the type you fancy

If I was you I would go for a hatchling size, this way you will get to know each other and grow old together in the next
Few months there should be loads available
I had my first snake for my 13th birthday it was a grey rat snake I had for 17years and so did my son and he is totally hooked
Good luck with your quest and don’t forget to post Pics when you have chosen

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[BoaBoy]

Do you have the enclosure, tstat, and other equipment figured out?

Enclosure size depends on if I get a baby (which is likely) or an adult. I have been researching snake keeping for around a year, so I have a good idea of things I will need to properly setup an adequate eclosure. Here is quick list -
1. Enclosure (depends on size of snake when bought)
2. Thermostat (Vivarium Electronics VE-100 (little overkill, and will probably use something a little less))
3. Heating - Ultratherm Heat Pad + Basking Light
4. Thermometer (Two) + Hydrometer
5. Bedding - Aspen
6. Hide(s) (depends on size/type of enclosure)
7. Fairly large water dish (size depends on size of snake (have heard boas LOVE to soak)
That's more or less it. Most of the products on here are from reptile basics and the have a large variety of supplies.

[Sauzo]

I would go for a BCI. They are pretty much bulletproof and very forgiving about a little 'loose' husbandry practices.

-You can put babies and adults both in 4x2 PVC cages. I would go for that especially if you are getting a baby. I keep my bigger boas in 6x3 PVC cages.

-Get the best T-stat you can afford. Dont skimp on it. It is the most important item. My advice is get more than you need as we all know here, one snake is never enough lol. I started with Herpstat 1 and 2. Ended up selling off most of them and just buying 2 Herpstat 6. I personally would not buy anything under a Herpstat 4 but thats me lol. At minimum, i would get a Herpstat 1. That and any model above it have the mechanical safety relay.

-Ultratherms are really nice. Good going there. Be sure the heat tape only covers 1/4 to 1/3 of the cage floor so the snake has plenty of room to get away from the heat if it wants. Ditch the basking light. If your room is cold and you cant keep an ambient of 77-80F in the cage, get a little CHE. This is for a glass tank. If you are going the PVC cage route, then either get a RHP or stick to heat tape. For lighting, i would use just a LED undercabinet light strip you can get at Home Depot or Lowes.

-Get a nice big water dish. It will help with humidity.

- And i see you are going with Reptile Basics. I love their hides and that is all i use for all my snakes except my GTP obviously lol.

[richardhind1972]

Nice to see someone been doing there homework boas are just great think you be better starting off with a juvenile so you can watch him/her grow up


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[BoaBoy]

Thank you all for the responses. I agree with the term “one snake is never enough”, but one snake is probaly gonna be it for me until I move out. I have been really looking into dumeril boas as they are so puppy dog tame, and while a little smaller than BCI’s still very impressive with their girth.

[CALM Pythons]

I would go for a BCI. They are pretty much bulletproof and very forgiving about a little 'loose' husbandry practices.

-You can put babies and adults both in 4x2 PVC cages. I would go for that especially if you are getting a baby. I keep my bigger boas in 6x3 PVC cages.

-Get the best T-stat you can afford. Dont skimp on it. It is the most important item. My advice is get more than you need as we all know here, one snake is never enough lol. I started with Herpstat 1 and 2. Ended up selling off most of them and just buying 2 Herpstat 6. I personally would not buy anything under a Herpstat 4 but thats me lol. At minimum, i would get a Herpstat 1. That and any model above it have the mechanical safety relay.

-Ultratherms are really nice. Good going there. Be sure the heat tape only covers 1/4 to 1/3 of the cage floor so the snake has plenty of room to get away from the heat if it wants. Ditch the basking light. If your room is cold and you cant keep an ambient of 77-80F in the cage, get a little CHE. This is for a glass tank. If you are going the PVC cage route, then either get a RHP or stick to heat tape. For lighting, i would use just a LED undercabinet light strip you can get at Home Depot or Lowes.

-Get a nice big water dish. It will help with humidity.

- And i see you are going with Reptile Basics. I love their hides and that is all i use for all my snakes except my GTP obviously lol.

Sauzo great reply as always... Can you be a little more specific on the heating if he goes with Heat Tape on a AP-T10 PVC enclose. You know I use RHP's but if he went with heat tape could you use 2? 1 on the Hot side & 1 on the cool and run it on the Herpstat 2? I was thinking maybe your idea was to run cool side tape at 80 and hot side tape at 90 so the snakes floor temp was alway correct? Also can Ali at AP have a bottom made for heat tape cutouts on both sides? If Im correct (cant really remember) my enclosures only have the installation spot on 1 side of them.
BoaBoy let me say if your turning 14 in a couple months you have done more research and invested more time in planning than 60% of the adults that join this site each day hahahahaha. Thats awesome!! Welcome to the forum. I can tell your going to become a good asset & member on this forum

As far as a enclosures Id say go with a AP-T10. (Animal Plastics T10). They are $199+ $50 shipping but I say they're the best for the money out of all the PVC Display enclosures and a Boa can live in it all its life. The Herpstat 2 ($198) can run 2 heat sources. Hot Side and Cool side... As far as Heat Tape you see that on RBI. As far as Thermometers most of us use Acurite indoor/outdoor with the probe. They are about $10. I get mine on Amazon. They can also be bought on the Acurite site, they also ship to Walmart, Lowes ect....
Welcome again. Cant wait to see what you put together.

[Sauzo]

Sauzo great reply as always... Can you be a little more specific on the heating if he goes with Heat Tape on a AP-T10 PVC enclose. You know I use RHP's but if he went with heat tape could you use 2? 1 on the Hot side & 1 on the cool and run it on the Herpstat 2? I was thinking maybe your idea was to run cool side tape at 80 and hot side tape at 90 so the snakes floor temp was alway correct? Also can Ali at AP have a bottom made for heat tape cutouts on both sides? If Im correct (cant really remember) my enclosures only have the installation spot on 1 side of them.
BoaBoy let me say if your turning 14 in a couple months you have done more research and invested more time in planning than 60% of the adults that join this site each day hahahahaha. Thats awesome!! Welcome to the forum. I can tell your going to become a good asset & member on this forum

As far as a enclosures Id say go with a AP-T10. (Animal Plastics T10). They are $199+ $50 shipping but I say they're the best for the money out of all the PVC Display enclosures and a Boa can live in it all its life. The Herpstat 2 ($198) can run 2 heat sources. Hot Side and Cool side... As far as Heat Tape you see that on RBI. As far as Thermometers most of us use Acurite indoor/outdoor with the probe. They are about $10. I get mine on Amazon. They can also be bought on the Acurite site, they also ship to Walmart, Lowes ect....
Welcome again. Cant wait to see what you put together.

I personally run only Flexwatt on all my AP cages and i just use the 11 inch stuff as close to the wall as i can.

If i was running a PVC cage and acutally needed to up my ambient, depending by how much, i would either run a small RHP on the warm side above the flexwatt or just run a normal size RHP and skip the flexwatt altogether. Flexwatt will do close to nothing for ambient heating unless you are stacking cages so the flexwatt from the top cage would warm the top of the bottom cage. But in a cool room, i would not want to depend on that alone. My rule of thumb is if your ambient room temp goes under 75F, then use a RHP. If it is above 76F, then use flexwatt. Of course there is stuff like oil filled room radiators set on Herpstat HPs etc. Like i said, my bottom cages on my T10/T8 stack and my T25 stack both regularly hit 77F on the cool side and both my dumerils and normal BCI sit on the cool side most of the time.

As for cutouts on AP cages. There are no actual indentations cut on the floors. There is those little routed outlines but that is it. They are on both sides too so you can set the flexwatt on either side. I stack my cages flush to each other so there is no air gap between my cages at all and its fine. Only downside is sometimes the middle cages will run a little warmer ambient temp on colder nights but only by a couple degrees.

And yeah, not sure on your cash situation but a T10 would work good. I also use T8s for my babies and T25s for my adults. My advice is always get the shelf option. It's a cheap way to add floor space as i believe in the T8 and T10, the shelves are 8 inches deep. In the T25, they are 10 inches deep. I would also get the LED lights or at the least get the routing done from them for it. Then get lights on Amazon. I love AP cages but their lights leave a lot to be desired lol. I have had 6/9 burn out on me and a 7th one is on its way out. If you read this Ali, you will be getting another call from me in a few days to beat your brow about your shabby lighting lol. Good thing is, Ali is awesome about taking care of the problem and sending out replacement lights within a day.

But anyways, go for a T10 unless the cash is strapped. If so, then get a T8. They are a bit short in height but they are still WAY better than a fish tank and will house a baby boa for a couple years.

Here is a pic of both my stacks to give you an idea.

[CALM Pythons]

Funny you mention the LED from AP. I only use mine for 10 min here & there when I clean the enclosure and one of mine are already flickers and dimming. Must have 2 hrs on them total.