Areas you'd like to improve upon/explore within your husbandry and collections?

[jmcrook]

One big thing I'd definitely like to improve on is seasonal husbandry. I more or less stumbled through the seasons this year and could have prepped the boas for their winter turn-down better. At the very least, this is more or less the case for the Sonoran (who's from a higher latitude/more seasonal locale) than the longicauda (who's more or less equatorial and seems to be doing pretty well right now). Currently in the process of drafting up a seasonal feeding, photoperiod, and heat-period schedule so I have something more definite to stick to.

I'd also like to improve upon the enrichment I offer the boas, particularly now that I know both of them better. The longi likes to perch and hide, so I'm planning on getting him a couple of different perching and hide options and switching them out throughout the year. The Sonoran's a bit trickier. She hasn't really responded to any of the "toys" I've given her yet, but she seems to enjoy time out of her enclosure, particularly when she gets to climb any "tree"-shaped things and watch TV (the moving images and sounds seem to satisfy the wallflower aspects of her personality). I've already re-arranged her cork so she has a ledge to sit on by her favorite enclosure door (ie. the one from which she can most easily watch the room, the TV, and I), and she seems to appreciate it. (Her pushing also stopped when I did so. Coincidence? Probably not.) Next on the list is to get her some branches/grapevines/what-have-you for some new perching and climbing options, and maybe a fake plant or two to spruce up her enclosure.

The longi's due for an enclosure upgrade, so there's also that to plan for. There are definitely things I'd like to do differently this time around. First off, I'd like to have the RHP be more of a auxiliary/ambient heat source, instead of a primary/basking heat source. For the latter, I'd prefer to have either a DHP or a halogen bulb for a few hours a day (think peak basking times in the wild). Secondly, I'd like to have a small strips of display LEDs installed and use those as the primary photoperiod lights, with the UV-B light only coming on during basking hours. This would simulate more intense sunlight around peak basking times. An enclosure like this has a lot of moving parts, but I think it would be a very enriching environment if done properly.

Finally, I'd like to continue avoiding reptile impulse purchases and grow my little snake pit in a controlled manner. I've actually done pretty well on this front so far and would like to continue that trend. At this point, things will go one of two ways: either I'll build boa pairs, or I'll get a carpet. Either way, I'll be putting a lid on things for a while afterword. Three/four snakes of the sizes I have is my maximum "easy pet load" capacity, and I'm not quite sure I'd like things to move beyond that right now.

Great ideas all around here! I as well will be doing seasonal husbandry differently next winter. I plan to start dropping temps about a month later (Mid-Late December) and get some animals cooler than others. Hoping to have everyone, or most of them, in some form of enclosures with RHPs at that point so I can manage things a bit more compartmentally. I always forget how long it takes Mississippi to get cold and I'd like to use the weather outside more to my advantage when cycling my snake room. I'll probably use a similar schedule of temperature drops weekly until bottoming out for a couple weeks and bringing them all back up. I'll feel more comfortable about doing that with them all older and larger.

Interesting that your sonoran seems to need entertainment in that way. If it works, it works though! Still trying to figure out how to get my surinam boy from cramming his entire head into the gap at the cage lip. I'm probably just feeding very conservatively and he's begging to eat like a glutton. Sorry 'boutchya kiddo... He'll get a bit of an increase in size or frequency but it will be modest. Next option is stick him in a 4x30x24 that has different doors/cage lips he can't do that with.

Photoperiods are something I don't address in great detail aside from a window in the snake room. I have remote multicolor LED strips in all enclosures so I could put them all on timers if I wanted.

Enrichment is always a fun thing to address. Once I put coco husk chips back in boas cages the suri started burrowing and what not a lot more like he did when he was little. May give him deeper substrate when his sole heat source is from above. He does like to bury his waste though, so I could see that getting annoying for me really fast.

I say dive right in a get that WOW line Jungle from Mike Curtain! Boas are fantastic, don't get me wrong, and I love both of mine to pieces. But something about Morelia scratches a deep, multi-decade itch for me in such a good way and I'm beyond glad I did it.