Brazilian Rainbow Boa

[rabernet]

OK, I thought that I would be a strictly ball gal, no other snake really captures my heart like a ball python. However, with that said, I've been seeing some lovely pictures of BRB's and I'm fascinated by them.

Any words of advice for doing background research on them, good breeders, good sites, etc? It's not a purchase for the immediate future, I like to research the heck out of care of any new animal and of course get their habitat all set up. Any words of advice on keeping a BRB?

I'm thinking maybe a year from now I might be ready for a BRB (after I hopefully aquire another ball from Adam before then).

Thanks in advance for your help!

[daniel1983]

My advice would be to increase your husbandry skills. BRBs require alot more accurate temp and humidity than balls or BCIs so that makes them more of an intermediate level snake. There is a care sheet on NERDs site that is great: http://www.newenglandreptile.com/CareBRB.html

BRBs are on my 'to get' list (ha ha...just like everything else). My wife really likes them. They are awesome beautiful animals. I almost considered purchasing one a while back but decided to fine tune my husbandry skills with my ball pythons (since they are a bit more forgiving) before getting a BRB. As far a breeders, I have seen a few breeders that breed them 'on and off' and some that aren't really producing normals right now due to morph projects.

Good luck and prepare very well

[jglass38]

I have a BRB and I would definitely recommend doing your homework on them. They are far less forgiving of husbandry mistakes than BPs. They have specific temperature and humidity requirements that need to be met. They prefer a cooler temperature of around 83-86 on the hot side and can never exceed 90 degrees. Humidity needs to be around 70%-80%. As far as breeders, I am not too sure of US breeders but Jeff Favelle (a great Canadian breeder) might have some more info. He sells some smokin BRBs. www.jefffavelle.com . Hope this helps and good luck in your decision!

[rabernet]

Thanks guys! Like I said, I like to research the heck out of things before I make the "plunge" and so I don't forsee making a purchase before a year from now at the earliest. And I may decide that it's not the snake for me, after researching them and may stick with just balls.

I appreciate your tips and insight!

[NevaeHReptiles]

We just purchased our first BRB male, 3 months old, at the Baltimore Repticon on Saturday. We also got a Diones male Rat snake, a male Rosy Boa and a Normal Motley female corn. I will try to get some pics up tomorrow. I have them on Corn Snake forums. We "tried him out" for a while before deciding to buy him. Rick probably got tired of seeing me at his table holding him! LOL
He was very sweet up until this evening when we had to move him to add some more holes in his tub because the humidity was up too much and he was nice and sweet then all of a sudden he struck at me twice and once at Mike before we could get him back in. But we were warned of this behavior from them when we got them so we knew it was bound to happen. I think we just peed him off because we moved him from his cozy spot under his water bowl. He hasn't used his humid hide much which I guess is a good thing. So far we have the humidity and temps stable. We knew it wasn't going to be easy with him but each day is a new day and another opportunity to learn more!! So I will take any suggestions too!

[NevaeHReptiles]

Here are a couple of pics of Picasso..not the best..first one was on cell phone. We were visiting my father while in MD so I didn't have my computer to post the pics then. I can't wait until he gets all settled in to get some better pics. And hopefully by then he won't be as pissy. But beings he is a BRB, it is doubtful..but I have hope! Oh BRB shoud stand for Bad, Really Bad!But I guess it could also mean Beautiful, Really Beautiful!




This is his "home"

[aalomon]

You should really let him settle in more. BRBs are NOT normally anywhere as bitey as people say. Ive had 4 brbs over 7 years and Ive only been bitten once.

The biggest thing is letting him settle in. You havent had him very long and you normally dont handle these guys until they have settled in for about a week. Id completely leave him alone. Remember, even though this is exciting to you, its very stressful on him and unneeded handling just makes it worse.

[NevaeHReptiles]

You should really let him settle in more. BRBs are NOT normally anywhere as bitey as people say. Ive had 4 brbs over 7 years and Ive only been bitten once.

The biggest thing is letting him settle in. You havent had him very long and you normally dont handle these guys until they have settled in for about a week. Id completely leave him alone. Remember, even though this is exciting to you, its very stressful on him and unneeded handling just makes it worse.

Yea, we plan on letting him settle. The only reason we moved him last night is so that we could add more holes to his tub and I didn't want the vibration of the drill or pieces of the tub to disturb/hurt him. But I guess that little disturbing I did with just taking him out was enough. Mike seems to think that maybe I had a mouse smell on my leg since I had just thawed out some mice prior to getting him out. I made sure my hands were washed really well but he may be right, the bag may have laid on my leg or something. Because he was so calm just crawling on my arms and legs (I was sitting) then all of a sudden he freaked.

So tell me more about yours..any issues...anything I should look out for? We have his humidity at about 76-80% right now and temps in mid 80's. We have a water bowl/hide on the warm part and a small water dish on the cool as well as his humid hide. With the humidity being in that range, do we still need to mist him daily? We are using the shop type paper towels as substrate.

[olstyn]

They prefer a cooler temperature of around 83-86 on the hot side and can never exceed 90 degrees.

I've actually seen recommendations for 82-83 warm side and 85 degree absolute max temp pretty commonly. Some additional care sheets for you to look at:

http://www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com/Care%20Sheets.htm

That's Dave Colling's website - he's a breeder who specializes in BRBs and BCIs. He produces some absolutely gorgeous BRBs, and based on my experience on another forum which he frequents, is very friendly and helpful. (I'd be happy to point you toward it via PM if you like.)

Other breeders include:

Aubrey Ross: http://www.slipstreamserpents.com
Will Bird: http://www.ectotherms.net/
Mike Lockwood: http://www.tooscaley.com/ (He originated the hypo morph IIRC.)
Bryan Hummel: http://www.rainbowboas.com/ (My brother's male came from him and is very pretty.)

I don't own a BRB yet, but my brother has 1.1 and every time I see them, I get the itch to get one even more. It's just a matter of time until I buy one from Dave or Aubrey.

I have to agree with those who've said they're not as mean as their rep. My brother's snakes are either the most well-socialized rainbows ever (possible, but unlikely) or the mean rep is not deserved, because even he has only taken 3 bites over the course of at least 7 or 8 years of having them, and he acknowledges that they were entirely his fault. (Messing around in the cage in a way that he could be mistaken for food, etc.) They've never so much as looked at me funny.

[aalomon]

Oh, ok. Sorry if I seems to jump on the stress thing, Ive just seen a lot of people really over handle their brbs when they first get them.

With my guys, I have a cool end at 78 and a hot spot of 84. If your ambient is in the mid 80s you might want to lower it a bit because anything over 85 and they start to get stressed.

Id still mist daily, especially with paper towels. Young brazilians are very sensitive to humidity and the daily misting are a great preventative measure. One thing to look for is after they shed, look at their scales. If your humidity is off, they will have a few scales that looks wrinkled. Its not a big deal and goes away after a few more sheds, but it gives you the heads up to change something.