Help get boa eating rats

[Lindale450]

There is a ceramic heat emiter on his tank already, plus the heat pad, plus the light, I can put another ceramic in the lamp housing but he won’t have any light then. I also have a question about regulating the heat pad, where do you put the probe? Because if it’s not right inside his hide how will it know what the surface temp is?

[Jakethesnake69]

UTH should be regulated by probe sandwiched between it and bottom of glass on outside. There should also be a probe for CHE at about surface level. If thermostate only controls one zone you would need two thermostats one for each. Do you really need both lamp fixtures going or is it just the dome with two sockets and your using both?

[Lindale450]

Two lamp fixtures, 150w ceramic and a 100w lamp

[bcr229]

Two lamp fixtures, 150w ceramic and a 100w lamp

Good lord that's going to throw a lot of heat. How big is the enclosure? And what is the room temperature?

With a four foot boa you really need to get your hands on a T8 or similar PVC enclosure as quickly as you can.

[Bogertophis]

Good lord that's going to throw a lot of heat. How big is the enclosure? And what is the room temperature?....

This ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ????

[Lindale450]

It’s a 90gal aquarium with a screen top, the cool half i lined with plastic but the hot side is open screen. the room temp I’m not sure on, the house is 19c, but his tank is in my room which is small and the door stays closed so the room is noticeable warmer than the rest of the house. I will get the heat pads and the heater regulated as soon as I get back. Might try and see if I can get it to hold 90 without the lamp and more of the top covered as well

[Bogertophis]

It’s a 90gal aquarium with a screen top, the cool half i lined with plastic but the hot side is open screen. the room temp I’m not sure on, the house is 19c, but his tank is in my room which is small and the door stays closed so the room is noticeable warmer than the rest of the house. I will get the heat pads and the heater regulated as soon as I get back. Might try and see if I can get it to hold 90 without the lamp and more of the top covered as well

A 90 gal. aquarium is going to need some insulation to retain heat in a cold house. Your 19* C (house temperature) = about 66* F, so even if your room is "warmer",
I'm pretty sure that your boa is refusing food because he senses it's too cool...a healthy boa with adequate warmth is normally an "eating machine". I'm not here to
criticize housing a boa in a glass tank...I'm a fan of glass tanks myself, but you need to tweak things to make it suitable, especially in a cold house. I would advise
insulating the glass on the back, sides, bottom, top & partway up the front; many materials you can easily use to help keep the heat in, & you'll save electricity too
in the long run. You'll want to minimize the air flow, & I'd use both UTH under 2/3 of the tank (controlled by thermostat & seasonally adjusted) and overhead heat.
RE insulating the bottom, you need to leave a little air gap for the UTH to 'breathe' (for safety, to not over-heat) but that's easily done.

[Lindale450]

Yeah I’m gonna try getting it to hold the heat better when I get home. I might run a space heater on a thermostat in the room so the room stays Warmer. Figure something out so I can ditch the heat lamp for just a light for daylight hours. A bigger heat pad might be the best way to go if I can’t get it to hold 90 over night. I just find it strange that he eats mice no problem comes out in feeding mode as soon as he smells food, even the rats he comes and eagerly takes it but then looses intrest in it but will take a mouse and eat it literally right after

[Bogertophis]

Well, some snakes do have personal preferences. Rats & mice smell vastly different (I've raised both for decades) so presumably they taste different as
well. While it's unusual for a boa to be a picky eater, perhaps you have that one out of a hundred? (& I'm just making up that statistic as an example)
It may not be convenient for us but I suppose snakes are entitled to have an opinion, lol...

BTW, when I kept a large BCI for many years, she lived in a very large aquarium too, ate voraciously & remained healthy. I did as I suggested above- I
insulated the tank, & ran 11" wide UTH (Flexwatt) under 2/3 of her cage, & over that heated area I built a custom hide out of wood (coated with non-
VOC waterproofing) with a tile-board top & 2 doorways cut at the one end so she could enter & leave easily, & sure enough, she seemed to love the ease
of movement it gave her. It was about 5" tall, and even with 2 doors at one end, it was long enough that she felt safe & well-hidden.

But the best part of that was the rubber-backed (non-slip) carpet mat I put on top...snakes don't like to slip & many hides (plastic etc) are slippery on top
so that space is wasted. Not this one...I made the hide to just barely fit inside the aquarium, and she used the top (carpeted area) as much as she did the
"cave" beneath. Over that hide I used a warming light for her basking pleasure...in this way she had a choice of belly-heat & over-head heat. Don't let
anyone tell you that UTH doesn't raise the temperature inside a cage: of course it does...heat rises! But the amount of heat your cage retains depends
on whether or not you insulate that cage, & while UTH alone may not be enough (depending on your ambient house or room temperatures), it still helps
make their warm hide super comfortable & helps their digestion. Remember that heat rises, so while overhead lights (or CHE etc) do raise the cage
temperatures, much of their output never goes into the cage...it goes up & away, inefficiently. Be sure you are measuring the temperatures where the
snake actually is...I'm wondering if the cage floor isn't as warm as you've been thinking it is?

The better your snake digests, the hungrier they get & usually, the less picky they are about food... So I cannot guarantee yours will get on rats, but
he may if his cage is better regulated for privacy & warmth. BTW, my BCI's water bowl was on the unheated "third" of her cage, and she sometimes laid
there as well...they need to have temperature choices, & she never turned down food. Her tank was insulated- first I put up scenery on the glass (for me,
snakes don't care) and taped snugly behind the scenery are sheets of bubble-plastic. (you can also use corrugated cardboard, styro-foam sheets, poster
boards -w/ foam sandwiched between thick paper outside-, carpet tiles, cork, etc etc.)

[Bogertophis]

... If it’s ok for them to have the light on all night I can do that I was just under the impression that it wasn’t good for them...

I wouldn't advise leaving a light on all night ("24/7") as snakes do respond to the photoperiod to instinctively judge the day length (& thereby the season), but you
can use a CHE (ceramic heat emitter, which emits no light) or use a black or red incandescent* bulb with a dimmer (rheostat) control to add dim light & warmth at
night. Most of our snakes don't like bright day light, so consider these options for day use also. But keep in mind these black & red incandescent light bulbs are
getting harder to find. The black bulbs (when dimmed) simulate moon light. Many of my snakes enjoy any of these options, even those that aren't nocturnal.