Help with my older BRB!

[brbfan]

So, I've inherited a 21 year-old male Brazilian rainbow boa. He's about 5.5 feet, seems in good condition, and super chill and inquisitive. I've had him for about three months and his sheds are always perfect, defectation habits seem normal, and he's a good eater.

I keep hearing that BRBs can live in excess of 25 years? Some sources even say up to 50? :eek: I don't have a lot of experience with this species so I wanted to see if there is anything I can do to upgrade his habitat. He's currently housed in a 40 gallon glass aquarium with towels (no substrate) and an extra large sturdy tubberware container for his water/spa. Under-tank pads on one side only for heating, and the mesh tops have been replaced by plastic lids, so the humidity and temp stays constant. His former owner tells me he has lived most of his life in this set up. It's easy to clean and the towels are switched out frequently.

What do you all keep your BRBs or Columbians in? Is this set-up ok for him for the rest of his life? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

[Jim Smith]

Ideally, a mature BRB should have a 48"x24" inch enclosure, but you can get by with 36"x24". Your snake would be more comfortable with an organic bedding material like coco husk mixture which holds the moisture better than paper towels. Also, you didn't mention any hide, so you should add a hide, preferably a moist hide with moist sphagnum moss in it. Bottom heat work okay as long as you have it attached to a quality thermostat. Good luck and thanks for asking how you can make your new snake more comfortable. That's the sign of a responsible snake keeper.

[brbfan]

Thank you! I'll have to go look for a nice hide for him. The towels are cloth, not paper, but it should be easy enough to keep mold and junk from growing on organic substrate with regular husbandry (I've always wanted to try a vivarium so this will be good practice for me). Thank you again!

[Shauna0522]

Going bioactive would be great for him as well I myself would definitely think about sizing up. You can build your own Viv out of plywood and there are some good videos on YouTube here is one for waterproofing for an aquarium. https://youtu.be/6FDUfglurns
idk if you would be interested in doing this but I thought I would share, also there is a great group on Facebook that can give you lots of good information about bioactive setups here is there page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/bioactivegroup/
I hope I'm not over stepping, this is all what I am in the process of doing myself so I'm pretty excited about it. I also love the idea of not having too worried about constantly cleaning and replacing the substrate which can get expensive. So anyway I hope you enjoy your new baby. ��