Help please

[Shrimply]

OK so just got back from Switzerland to find I had got eights 1s in my Standard Grades(top marks ) so I am hopefully getting a new snake. I have fallen in love with a common boa baby who is tiny. And after a chat with the Guy at the reptile shop decided that I would be much better with a slightly larger boa than a dwarf that can be very temperamental. Now I have to say very soon if I want the snake as he will hold it for me until I get everything set up so really just looking for some pointers as to care.

Basically at the minute it would go into a 2ft vivarium. I think a heat mat is alright for heating at this stage. Correct me if I am wrong. Once it is bigger I will probably switch to ceramics. And humidity needs to be higher than a corns so is a misting every day all that is required? Eventually it will go into the 4ft by 2ft and live there till it needs something bigger which should last a good 3 years by which time I will have more room hopefully. Just any quick tips. Obviously I will be doing some research and the guy will give me a thorough run through but I know that You keep some john and your advice is always top notch. Thanks


By the way as far as my parents are concerned this snake will not get over 8ft and I intend to keep it that way. Although I will get a male if possible.

[Shrimply]

OK so a quick update. I now have a beautiful common boa and red-tailed cross on hold for me. It is 8 weeks old and male. He is tame as anything and has some really nice colours. I also have some ceramics on order. The man said after the first year he wouldn't advise to use a heat mat due to the snakes burning themselves if they go to the toilet on it. SO after I mentioned that I had got a pulse proportional day/night thermostat on ebay (£30 brand new) he suggested I would have no problem using ceramics and it wouldn't work out that dear. This seems a better solution than heat bulbs or mats.

As to substrate it was suggested I use coconut bark or Eco pellets as it holds the humidity better.

Just want to make sure this advice is alright. I can't wait to get him home he feels so much nice to handle than the corns. Costing me a fortune of course the snake itself is £80 then I have about £35 of heating equipment on top of the thermostat. . Anyway I am off to silicon the edges of this viv and then out to get a branch for my new baby. ;D

[John Pilling]

Nice 1 mate, you've got a good snake their.

Caging wise, i would be aiming for chrismas time, or just after for the move to a 4 foot viv, trust me they grow and quick, lol, and they need the space to stretch out. A 4 foot viv will be great till he reeaches 4-5 foot, then as he's a male, i'd just go for a 6 by 2 by 2 which will be plenty for a male bcc/bci.

Heats are ok, but ceramics really are the better choice, so nice 1 for ordering 1, i need to sort 1 out myself for zeus in the next week or 2. Again tho, i'd only se the ceramic in a 4foot viv or bigger as the heat they produce, even on a stat is huge and very wide spread. Dave's is set at 86 floor temp, and this is enough to heat the water bowl, 6foot away, to a nice human face wash temp if left for 2-3 days, not complaining, just something to be awair of.

Good choice of substrate, it holdsmore humidy then aspen (which i'm using at the min) so you'll probabley only need to spraay once a week instead of 2-3 times like i have 2 at the min. Remember aswell, to spray every day when the little 1 is in shed, i alternate it, one day in the viv, 1 day on the snake (they don't mind this after 2-3 time's, it's only like it's raining in their natural surroundings, but a little 1 won't be used to this, so go easy the first couple of sheds, lol).

Best advice with a boa is to handle it regulary, i handle mine at least 4 times a week for around 20 mins each on an evening between 6-11 pm. I keep it varied so they never get used to a time and won't stress if i need to go in at any other time (spot checks, light bulb changes ect). I've been hissed at a few times, and daves bit me quite a bit at the start when i got him (bear in mind he was a rescue and 5.5-6foot long when i got him, so he hurts when he bites). He very rarley strikes now, but does still tence up about 3 out of every 10 handleing sesions, he's also not 100% happy about me going into the viv, but he doesn't strike or hiss now, just give me the "look" lol, you know what i mean. Basicley, some boa's are very teratorial, but as you are getting a little 1, this shouldn't be an issue, just saying that if you get hissed at, its because he feels like his teratory is being threatened, so go gentley and slowley if he hisses at you.

Let me know when you get the little 1, and don't forget plenty of pic's.

Anything else you know where i am mate.

PS: Congrats on the excellant results, well done.

[Shrimply]

Cheers John the plan is to pick him up next weekend. The ceramics are arriving wednesday and so should the stat. The guy reckons that if i findle about with the thermostat a bit and set it slightly lower than the temp I want I should be able to use it he ordered a 100w for me which he says should be big enough for the 4ft but at the same time might work in a 2ft. He says he has used them in smaller cages before so it might work. If I have problems though I have a heat mat as a back up plan. Or should I use a heat bulb. Which would be the best choice?

I don't reckon I will have any handling problems with them they are both hand tame completely. So much so that the guy just handed me the keys and let me get them out myself. And they just lifted out. I have more problem with my young anery corn lol. Who is still intense on tail rattleing 2 times out of 3. He is only the size of my youngest corn at the minute and has a lovely tail. It was much lighter coloured than the female he had.

The plan is for him to go into a 3ft viv after he out grows the 2ft them swap him and the corn over slightly later.

Just one quick question. The guy reckons I should not use a heat mat with a larger boa but I thought this was because they could get flooded. However, according to the guy it is because there is stronger acid in their toilet and if they go then lay on the heat mat the acid can burn them. This seems a bit strange, is it true?

[John Pilling]

Not sure about the acid burns, i've heard of it but have never seen any actual documentation for or against tbh. Zeus is in a 6 foot viv and is on a 23 by 11 heat mat and a 40 watt bulb (12 on 12 off for the bulb) and she's been fine with setup for about 14 monthes now, and she's now around 5 foot long, so from my experiance everything should be fine. Also with dave and zeus, they usually leave me a "log" in the water bowl.

Glad he's used to being handled, zeus was and has only bitten me once, which was my own fault, was a feeding accident, lol. She's never hissed eather, but dave has, and boy do they hiss when they get going.

Another tip is get him onto rats as soon as you can, if he can take a fuzzie mouse or bigger, then he'll be fine with a rat pup, i started zeus on mice and it took a few feeding sesions to convert her to rats, so the earlier you start the easier it'll be.

[Shrimply]

Thanks John. I wil let you know how it all goes. I will be experimenting with all the new equipment when it comes so will let you know what works best.

I quite excited now, just hope all my stuff comes soon. It never come on time when you really need it.

[John Pilling]

lol, i've had some things like that off ebay, sometimes a week or so longer then expected.

[Shrimply]

well i can't complain th stat arrived this morning. I won it Friday night. Anyway it is very cool and for £30 a 600w pulse proportional with night temp drop is a good deal. Brand new so im pleased.

Just a few quick questions not really important but might as well ask. For the night time temp drop do you think 5C is enough or more. (i heard they can cope with large night time drops). Also wondered if you thought a 8w light tube would need a guard. It's out an old fish tank and gives off hardly any heat.

thanks again

[John Pilling]

I would put the light guard in a gaurd, just to be on the safe side. And yeah a 5c drop will be fine, dave and zeus's both drop around 5-8c when the light goes out so 5-6c will be fine.

Talk about quick delivery, and on a bank holiday aswell. Well done on a quich and easy buy.

[Shrimply]

cheers john, found a plastic juice bottle that works like a charm for the tube guard, since it doesn't get very hot.

However, things have started to go down hill. Firstly i bought a analog hygrometer from a local aquatic shop for £5.50. I got it home and no matter where i placed it it read 70%. So somehow I don't thinks it works. However when I took it back to the shop the woman refused to believe it was broken repeatedly telling me that it read humidity and not temperature as an explanation. Anyway I haven't got my money back yet but i will. Now I don't actually know what the humidity should be. I doubt it would be as high as 70 and even if it was surely I would have seen a difference in the dial when I put it inside a humid vivarium.Anyway the guy at the reptile shop has one on order for me at £2.80 and to be honest i feel a bit stupid for going anywhere else.

On top of that I got my ceramics, £20 for the bulb and fitting but although the thermostat controls the heat brilliantly like you said the heat is too wide spread. So I get the hot side hitting 30C and the cool side hitting 29C. Not much good so I reckon I am going to have to us to use a heat mat unless you have any more suggestions on how to control my heat. So final question is I have a 6" by 11" heat mat do you think this will do heating wise and on top of this what size of bulb should I use 25w ? It concerns me that this way the snake will not have a basking spot.

sorry about all that dribble, I am panicking a bit that I won't be able to get this all set up for Saturday and the guy will hold the snake for longer if necessary but i would rather just get t sorted.

[John Pilling]

A 6 by 11 heat mat will be fine for a 2foot viv, with a normal 25 watt bulb for basking, a good tip is the place the light on the side of the viv for boa's so they can climb onto the l1ght guard for the heat and basking all in 1 (my 2 do this anyway).

I thought the ceramic might run a little hot in a 2ft viv, be fine in a 4 foot viv or bigger tho as the night time drop without the light will make up for the slightley warmer warm during the day, tbh tho, both mine appeare to prefere the warmer half of the viv anyway and only go into the cooler side for a few hours every 3-4 days (oposite way around to corns, lol). If they do need to cool off quickley tho, they will soak them selfs in the water bolw, so this NEEDS to be big enough for them compleatley submerge themselfs in.

About the hydromitor, it's not a circle faced thing is it? If it is, then yeah it's duff, the one in my corns viv reads 60% and my boa top out at about 60-65% after a good spraying, lol.

Best thing to do is spray twice a week, about 8=12 times using one of those using this i spray on a wed and a sunday and i've not had a problem, once they are in shed i spray every day once the eye's have cleared about 8 times in the viv and 4-6 directley onto the snake untill they have shed. This will take a few times for the snake to get used to being directley sprayed, so just go with it for 2-3 shed then the snake will get used to it.

Set the heatmat and the light up today, check the floor temp latish tonight (light on the same side as the heatmat), give it a good 15 sprays tommorow, then go and get the snake and he'll settle in firn and my tuesday will be ready for a quick handleing sesion and a feed after being handled. If the handleing agoes well, and he eats fine with no problems, then he's compleatley settled.

Good luck, and keep me posted.

[Shrimply]

Well I was back at the reptile shop yesterday and left a lot happier. The guy suggested using a large food tin over my ceramic bulb to direct the heat down and it has worked like a charm. Hottest spot is between 32 and 34 with the rest of the hot side running at about 28 and the cooler side running at between 24 and 26. Obviously there is plenty of gradient in between so the snake will have no problem finding a good spot. Picked up my supplies as shown in the pics below and the nice chunk of cork bark at the back was thrown in for free so everything is going good. SO pretty soon my new guy will be home.

Also I was pretty sure the hydrometer was burst and yes it was a circular one so I will try and get my money back soon. Thanks for the reassurance.

The tin



And the viv

[John Pilling]

Excellant setup, boa's are great climbers and will love the plants and branches in their. Well done on a great setup.

[Shrimply]

well he's here and settled right at the top of the tree. here is a few quick pics.







and just to show his lovely tail

[John Pilling]

Excellant shrimpley, really good looking boa. The dark saddles are brilliant, much darker then my 2, and the tail is a good red colour.

[Shrimply]

Thanks john he is a really nice snake and I'm really pleased with him. I take that it is normal for them not to hide away as he seems to prefer hanging in the branches than using any of the hides I have provided.

I am getting a natural daylight lamp sent up for wednesday so that should really bring out his colours. Also I forgot to tell you the guy gave me £10 off him since I bought most of the equimpent of him as well so he only cost me £70 and although I am sure I could have got him a lot cheaper I am quite happy with what I paid for him.

I am not going to handle him till after he has fed on tuesday, it is the same day I feed my corns and want to get them all into the same routine but after that I am sure I am going to overload your photo gallery with pics.

[John Pilling]

Sounds good, and their should be no problems with feeding, most boa will even eat when in shed, but i don't feed mine once the eye's have gone blue.

As to the branch hanging, this is normal, as he gets bigger he'll use his hides more, but even then half the time he'll still like to "hang about", lol.

The more pic's the merrier.