Fostering/adopting snake

[CBK]

Hi,

Bit of background. We've been keeping snakes for a while. We have 3 Ball/Royal Pythons, 2 Corns and a Brazilian Rainbow Boa.

We've been asked to foster a snake after a lodger moved out of a house and left the snake. The landlord (who is the father of a friend of a friend) is trying to contact the lady to see if she wants the snake but he has no experience in keeping snakes.

The only information I have to go on is a photo (which ). I believe it is a common boa although my experience of boas is very limited to the brb we have. We have no idea of size, m/f, age etc etc. This obviously makes me very nervous. She left the beginning of April and the snake hasn't been fed or had temps checked although I believe he is making sure it has water. He has no idea what to do with snakes at all so I want to move fast on this for the welfare of the animal.

There are a couple of things I could really use some help on please.

Firstly, please could someone confirm if it is in fact a common boa?

I realise that taking a snake that we have no history of is a dodgy thing to do and if we decide to help it, it will be kept as far from our babies as possible for as long as possible (min 6 months if we ended up keeping it). Does anyone have any other tips on how to keep our snakes safe?

I will take it to our local trusted vet as soon as I can but are there things I should be looking out for? As much as I want to help, I don't have enough experience of boas to help a sick snake.

Any help or advice would be appreciated!

[riddick07]

Yes keep it far away from your other snakes. Preferably in another room/floor with completely different equipment (tongs, hooks, sponges, etc), disinfect, and toss your clothes in the laundry/take a shower after dealing with it. The fact the landlord has had it for almost a month without it being around other snakes could be considered part of its quarantine period too. It looks like a perfectly healthy common boa (bci/bi). Might actually be a little heavy and this brief period of no food is probably a good thing. A healthy adult boa can go months without food and not lose even a lb of weight. A fast my adult female for 3 months and she doesn’t lose weight.

Even though they left her it does look like they took good care of her. She has a nice iridescent sheen too, so I doubt she’s dehydrated.

Temps/humidity
75-78 cold
84-86 warm
88-90 hot spot
60-80% humidity

If she’s an adult, which she looks like, a large rat every 6 weeks will work but you’ll know what she can take better when you see her. She definitely looks big enough for larges in the picture. If she’s a little fat you could bump it down to mediums or just make her move around a lot to work off the extra weight. A boa with a healthy weight is a muscular, rectangular, loaf of bread shaped animal.

[CBK]

Thank you so much for the advice. It was really helpful.

We go to see it over the weekend sometime to double check for mites. We had a case of mites a few years ago and that was not an easy task. I don't fancy doing it again any time soon! We have made a space upstairs away from the other snakes and reptiles and will buy new equipment I think rather that use the spares we have here.

I like to do research and think about bringing a new animal into the house for a while before committing so this is making me a bit nervous. Your advice has helped loads though so I really appreciate you replying to me. Thank you.

[CBK]

Quick update:

We have had the snake about a week and a half now. He's lovely but it's clear he hasn't been handled all that much (or perhaps he gets excited when he first comes out or is just getting to know us). He has eaten and done all the other things he's supposed to do. He had a full shed before he was picked up which was left in with him so we were able to see that.

He was in a filthy condition (probably not been cleaned out since before Christmas) but quite healthy and happy although the guy who was trying his best to look after him gave him a half eaten wild rat that his cat caught and lost interest in!!!

I'm a bit scared of the size he's going to become (he's around 4-5ft now) as I've only had experience with Royals, Corns and Brazilian Rainbow Boas but he is lovely. We are still spending time researching and any information or good sources of information would be appreciated.

[Aaron_S]

Quick update:

We have had the snake about a week and a half now. He's lovely but it's clear he hasn't been handled all that much (or perhaps he gets excited when he first comes out or is just getting to know us). He has eaten and done all the other things he's supposed to do. He had a full shed before he was picked up which was left in with him so we were able to see that.

He was in a filthy condition (probably not been cleaned out since before Christmas) but quite healthy and happy although the guy who was trying his best to look after him gave him a half eaten wild rat that his cat caught and lost interest in!!!

I'm a bit scared of the size he's going to become (he's around 4-5ft now) as I've only had experience with Royals, Corns and Brazilian Rainbow Boas but he is lovely. We are still spending time researching and any information or good sources of information would be appreciated.

That snake will grow but don't be afraid of the size he'll become. It's likely he's more than a few years old and the growth will be slow so you'll get used to it. Also just feed a moderate diet and it'll be fine.


Oh, if the snake is "excited" when first coming out I'm assuming you mean he moves quick and seems to be flighty. I find with this species they like to have their tail "grounded" by wrapping it around a wrist or something. This makes them feel secure from falling and injuring themselves. You can also handle the snake closer to the ground or table so it feels more secure.