Boa constrictor enclosure advice

[Joelb922]

So im picking up a gorgeous square tail boa pretty soon, and im gonna start building a home for him, now, ive built them before, but not one quite as advanced as i want to this go around, the general frame and body ive got down, i just dont know how im going to do the lighting, heat, and humidity. The enclosure is going to be 7'L x 3'H x 2'D.
Its gonna be a big tank, but i want it to look like i took a chunk out of a South American rainforest and threw it right into the enclosure, any advice on the 3 issues im having would be great, thank you.

[dannybgoode]

Are you going to have live plants in there? This has an impact on lighting.

[Joelb922]

Well because of how big he could get, i didnt plan on live plants, i feel they would get destroyed, another question i had, would you advise a pegboard top? Or a solid top with vents on the walls? The tank i built for my ball has a screen top and it wont hold humidity for anything.

[dannybgoode]

I have live plants in mine and lots of branches. She seems to avoid trampling the plants so far. She's just shy of 4' currently.

I use a florescent tube unit from a diy store such as you'd mount under or in a kitchen unit together with a 20W T8 10% UV tube which she spends a lot of time basking under.

For heat I use a ceramic heat emitting bulb controlled by a thermostat. I've just replanted her Viv after a house move so well take some photos and post them up.

[Joelb922]

That would be awesome, i bought some waterproof led strips for lights both day and night, i fogured they would look really cool, i was thinking of doing ceramic until i can get my hands on some radiant heat panels

[dannybgoode]

Really would strongly advise against using any light at night. Can be disturbing for them.

To be honest once I filled her vivs with plants and a couple branches and fitted UV she hardly ever hides during the day even though she has plenty of options to and at night I leave her alone as that's her time.

[Joelb922]

I use a faded blue bulb for my ball, ge sleeps all day and as soon as his day light shuts off and that blue bulb conws on, hes out and about, what would you reccomend for the top of the tank, pegboard or solid board with vents on the walls?

[Joelb922]

So, i got the age of the boa, hes about 4-4 1/2 feet long, and hes 3 and a half years old, from what ive read that seems pretty small for him, is that right?

[dannybgoode]

Sounds right to me. Boas are slow growing unless power fed. My girl is coming up to 2 yo and is under 4' currently.

Males may only reach 6' and unless you know the lineage and have the paperwork (which usually isn't the case for a boa) it may have been crossed with a dwarf sub species as well at some point.

6' is on the smaller side for a male but most don't get much more than 7'.

Don't be tempted to overfeed either. A 3 yo is be feeding every 3-4 weeks maximum. My snake (as I say not quite 2yo) gets a weaner rat every 3-5 weeks. Usually nearer the 3 but i do space out sometimes and she's grown just perfectly.

I'd still ditch the blue night light for both the boa and the royal. No need for light at night and it is very disturbing (think of all the research into blue light from mobile phones and tablets disturbing human sleep). Bear in mind also moonlight is not blue - very little natural blue light is present at night.

Would love to see photos.

[Joelb922]

Id im correct, the breeder im getting him from feeds either every week or twice a month, ill have to double check, and okay, i thought there was a spectrum of blue light that they dont register as light, thats the rrason i bought it, plud it gets a little cold in my house at night, it also provides a little heat, just to keep the ambient temp up

[dannybgoode]

Id im correct, the breeder im getting him from feeds either every week or twice a month, ill have to double check, and okay, i thought there was a spectrum of blue light that they dont register as light, thats the rrason i bought it, plud it gets a little cold in my house at night, it also provides a little heat, just to keep the ambient temp up

Snakes can see all the way into ultraviolet (more on this in a forthcoming separate post) so it can certainly see visible blue light. There's some debate as to whether they can see far visible red light but personally I just let the lights go out at night...

[Joelb922]

Fair enough, i just like a cool dieplay tank, but as for my ball, he hasnt shown any signs of stress with the night light, he comes out when its on, sleeps all day, eats and poops regularly. Thats why i figured it was good to use for any snake.

[dannybgoode]

My boa Viv.


http://www.dannybower.co.uk/photos/Viv2.jpg

Note many reptiles are more crespular than true nocturnal meaning they're more active around dawn and dusk so perhaps the blue light is making your ball think it is dusk hence it's activity. If you're going to keep the light I'd put it on a timer so the snake gets a period of true darkness

[Joelb922]

Alright, ill have to give that a shot, thats a pretty cool setup you have to use uvb for live plants correct?

[dannybgoode]

Alright, ill have to give that a shot, thats a pretty cool setup you have to use uvb for live plants correct?

Plants don't need uvb. They light of colour temperature of 6500K. Currently they don't actually have that but our big DIY chain has started selling 9W 6500K LED bulbs so I'm experimenting with those as they're c. $6 each

Arcadia do their jungle dawn series which are very good but expensive.

I do have uvb in there for the snake though - see another thread for the for and against arguments of doing so!

[Joelb922]

Well theres a lot of experimentation thats gonna happen with this enclosure, actually, im currently having a problem with nats in my royals enclosure, even after i did a full substrate swap,and cleaning everything

[Joelb922]

Hmmmm, i may put a couple small live plants in the backdrop but for the larger ones that give cover and make it look more natural i may stick with fake, idk yet, i have time to decide everything, im building the base sextions this weekend, and from there is where it will get complicated haha

[Joelb922]

Well i plan on experimenting a little before the boa goes in, im currently having a problem with nats in my royals enclosure, i clean the cage for poop regularly amd did a full substrate swap and cleaned everthing amd theyre still there, any suggestions on how to get rid of them?

[Scubadiver59]

Plenty of advice on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QhLxX1YjeE)

Well i plan on experimenting a little before the boa goes in, im currently having a problem with nats in my royals enclosure, i clean the cage for poop regularly amd did a full substrate swap and cleaned everthing amd theyre still there, any suggestions on how to get rid of them?

[Joelb922]

Haha i didnt realize there was a second page, i thought it wouldnt ley me post haha