Questions on local pet shop's care sheet.

[Dean]

Hello, I Have a few questions, but let me first say I have a 3 1/2 foot BCI (Nicaraguan or Central - I'll find out if it tries to eat me.)

A Local pet shop that really seems like they take good care of there reptiles sent me home with the following instructions.

82-90 Degrees under heat lamp only
86 degrees is Perfect
No heat or light at night unless under 60 degrees
Soak once a week for 30 minutes
Feed once a week, feed the size of the largest part of its body
Newspaper on bottom.

That's all great except I have been noticing that your suppose to be regulating the temps at night?

I asked them about the no heat at night and they said that Snakes are usually burrowed in a hole 3 feet deep and there isn't any supplemental Heating in the wild. Thanks.

[CoolioTiffany]

I would keep the temps constant ALL the time throughout the day and night. I say this because not too long ago my Kingsnake got an RI and I'm positive it was because the night temps got too low.

60F is DEFINITELY too low and will cause an RI. So, always keep the temps constant. UTHs are better since they provide belly heat, a lamp really isn't needed as they suck out the humidity in the enclosure which is important.

Also, the funny thing is, I highly doubt you'd have 3 feet of substrate the snake can burrow under to feel warmer. If you did, I doubt the snake would be warm, too. It would the same overall temp in the enclosure at night, so 3 feet of substrate would do nothing besides provide extra security if the snake is a burrower.

[Aeries]

And don't soak the poor thing once a week either, make sure the cage humidity is right or provide a humid hide.

but yeah, UTH is better than a light for many, many reasons, one being that you can run it 24/7 without messing up the light/dark schedule.

[Bo_]

+1 on what CoolioTiffinay and Aeries said, my Central American doesn't burrow but i have him on newspaper, a UTH is better USE A THERMOSTAT to control the UTH, it can be a simple rheostat(not the best but i use them when i QT animals) or as intricate as a helix or anywhere in between...just need something to control that UTH. Also get a big dog bowl i have one in my hypo-red tail cage and when she sheds she occasionally soaks in it but she will drink from it..

Good luck with your BCI

[771subliminal]

here is a great caresheet for you to go by if you follow it your boa and you will be happy.
http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=13

welcome to the site

[Dean]

Hey thank you for all the great responses.
I have another question, Starting Yesterday he has been throwing a mighty hissy fit whenever I touch his cage to get him out or to clean it, and this morning, he went to the bathroom for the first time since I got him, How do you get a hissing snake out of the cage, I tried rubbing him to get him to know its me but he took a strike at me, so i am a little hesitate to go gun-ho. The Previous pet store warned us though that if it was a Nicaraguan Boa then it would be very aggressive. Or maybe its just hungry. Thanks.

[Bo_]

regarding the hunger question..could be when was his last meal and what size was it?? my 4.5ft hypo-red tail can get very hissy when she is hungry

When i first got my hog island he was nippy no matter what i tried to do he would bite me.. don't laugh because this works i have welding gloves at home, go to abbco, harbor freight they are pretty cheap and they are thick enough that if he bites you, you wont really feel it and you can move him around to clean, how ever they are thick it can be hard to grab the snake.It took my hog island male a little bit to get used to being handed and i started out picking him up and holding him with the gloves then i would pick him up with the gloves and take off 1 glove

if you don't want to do that...if you can get a hide over the head you can usually get them by the back half of the body to pick them up..how ever you can still get bit but its harderish for them to get you if their head is covered

sorry for the long responce

[Dean]

I got him last Thursday, found him outside on the side of the road, tried feeding him Saturday with a pre-killed rat, stuck his nose up to it, so that went in the freezer.

Sunday Morning, I woke up and noticed he wasn't in his cage, he found a way to escape a fort knox style plastic tote, right through the bars (incorporated a grill for his light into the plastic cage design) Found him ofcourse behind the fridge all wrapped around the evaporator grill, still don't know how he didn't get cut up by the fan...mind you he hasn't bitten me from this point yet. I moved him into a smaller 3x1 tote until i could make his previous one more secure. Monday afternoon when moving his cage he started hissing at me really loud style. I fixed his previous cage by putting a layer of duct tape over the grill and using a UTH with a dimmer and put him back into it Monday night. This morning... He knocked over his hides, and used the bathroom, so I was going to clean it up and this is where the beginning was left off.


Read this if you are skipping ;D


I used a chemical glove which is thick enough to protect my hand and simply just picked him up and was able to take off the glove and he was fine. But what is it with hissing snakes that scare the crap out of me... Put him back in after cleaning up and in about an hour or so he was hissing at me again while i am walking by. So figuring he is stressed by seeing people and my two cats, I put 3 layers of duct tape from the bottom up three levels so he will not see us from his position. So from reading past Posts, hes either hungry or really stressed out.

Thanks.

[Dean]

sorry for the long post the other day, I just wanted to include every detail possible.

So I tried feeding Murphy tonight, Fed him a live baby rat, while making sure the rat wasn't hurting him etc. Well Murphy Killed it, that's about all he did. I had him in a blue tote with a towel over it for privacy. So after an hour, I put him back in the cage and put the dead rat in it with him, just to see if he'll take it in a more comfortable temp controlled place. As of right now hes sitting there with his head over the mouse. I switched back to the light as my Heating pad wasn't doing the job, I was setting the temp using a dimmer and monitoring using a accu-right and I set it at 94 Warm and its 82 in the house to ambient temp of that but he still seemed to be cool to the touch. Humidity is in the 60's with that water bowl in there helping. Think hes still stressed? He wouldn't kill it if he wasn't going to eat it would he? Thanks.

[SS4Luck]

killing rats/mice and not eating them does happen. It happened the first time i fed my BP.

has there been any imporvements in his behavior/feeding?