New to boas? Simple questions for the snakes well being.

[Phanpy]

I am consideering getting a rtb, and just wanted to ask a few questions.

First off, what is the size tank I will need for an adult male columbian? And if I bought that tank would the adolesent snake be able to cope in it? I know ball pythons won't, just wanted to know about rtbs. And I would prefer a tank over a tub.

And what are the humidity and temp requirements, I have seen huge variations.

Also, how best can I secure a regular fish tank to prevent escape.

Finally does $150 for a 24" columbain sound too much? All of them have been vet checked adn come with the records. A pet shop close-ish to me has a few, beautiful. And the lady knew what she was talking about I think, since we had a decent conversation on bp morphs and diffrent BCI types like the hogg island and such.

That is all. Thanks for the help.

[Peter Williams]

The only one of those questions I can answer correctly is how to secure the tank to prevent an escapee. My advice to you is to buy a Hagen tank, and an exo-terra lid (Exo-terra is part of Hagen). If you get the right size for the tank you buy, it is an absolute perfect fit. It latches around the plastic rim at the top and has 1-2 access doors on top. I've had my bp in a 35 gal with that lid since february, and she has never escaped. And I just got my tank set up for a RTB today with one of those lids. Exo-terra makes 2 types of terrarium lids, make sure you get the one with the metal bars, not the screen mesh. Don't worry, the bars are very close together.

[frankykeno]

A lot of your qustions are answered in our caresheet for red tails.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=13

Personally I wouldn't pay any pet store $150.00 for a baby BCI when there's usually some lovely ones available from reputable breeders that you could have shipped to you and be assured of a well started, properly sexed and healthy baby. Female BCI's are significantly bigger than males usually so sexing on these snakes, even just as a pet, should be a requirement for future enclosure planning and other issues.

We started our 05 male BCI in a sweaterbox type plastic enclosure and moved him up to his current large glass tank as he grew. We did move him up a one point a bit too quickly and he obviously felt stressed and changed his habits. Back to the sweaterbox and he did quite fine until he grew a bit more. They don't stress as much as ball pythons but any young and small snake can feel exposed and nervy.

As far as lids on tanks. We prefer to use the metal framed mesh lids and buy strong metal clips made specifically for securing these type of lids for glass tanks. All major chain pet stores generally carry them, 2 to a pack and they are rated by size of tank. We've had two BCI's and a sneaky Milksnake confined using these metal lid clips and if they can't sneak out...nobody can LOL.

[dirty ric]

If you have a adult female, 72 x 24 x 12 (6ft cage) would be a proper size, and if you have a adult male a 60 x 24 x 12 (5ft cage) would be good. Average size for female is around 7.5 ft to 9 ft and a male 6ft to 7.5ft. Humidity is around 50 to 60% on warm side. Low ambient temps would be around 80d and high basking temp around 88 to 90d (can be as high as 92d). That is a good price for a healty 6 month old rtb.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Go for the biggest you can go, rtb will usually use any space you give em. If you decide to put a baby in its adult home, remember to add a few more hides than usual