Can it be done ?

[wyz]

http://www.magazoo.com/albumsphotos/wyzza/Boa%20Arc-en-ciel/brb_setup.jpg

This picture is the setup we had when we got them on day 1, it's been modified since in order to attain proper humidity and temp.

All the pictures I see, BRBs are on news paper substact, they are in woden cages or rubbermaids.

We have had a young trio for a couple of months now and we are keeping them in a glass tank with partialy covered lid.

The humidity is allways between 60 and 80, they are misted 2 to 3 times a day.

Their sheds are all perfect, they eat like pigs, the are calm yet alert, they are really active when in our hands.

Will we be able to keep this up when they get bigger ?

I don't mind upgrading them in bigger tank every 3 months, it's not a problem. In can even built custom cages, not a problem.

Our #1 priority il their health and #2 priority is to have them in a nice natural setup so we can look at them all the time.

Do you see anything that can keep us from doing this ?

I thought of building them a 3 level cage for when they will be adults, with different levels of temparature and humidity.

What should I plan for ? Will I be able to keep these beauties in natural setups, or will I find out that it's impossible and will have to keep them in rubbermaids ?

Thanks .

WYZ

[ReptiZone]

It all depends how much time you want to put in to your snakes I say after the first year you should seperat them so you can monitor them closer. But that is up to you.

news paper is realy good to help monitor and keep clean I was always told there is 2 ways to keep reptiles.

#1 keep them clean
or
#2 keep them in a big enugh cage and give them a natural set up.

For some reason ppl kep finding the wrong way...LOL

but if I were you I would seperat them and give then somthing like 6 foot cages each and make huge natural set up's but keep in mind you can waight till they get a bit biger B4 you place them in large cages.

Or you will find that you can put them in rebermaids and every time you want to show them off you just go and get them it is realy up to you and how much time you have to dedicate to your hobby.

[Darren Hamill]

IMO the best way to keep Brazilians is the simple way... Good humidity, cage temps and simple set up. As long as they have the proper humidity and heat requirements they'll do just fine. Brazilians are much more sensitive to their humidity requirements then most people think. Neonates and juveniles can very quickly become dehydrated and perish...

In my experience it's best to keep smaller Brazilians cooler and more humid then the adults. An ambient of 80-84 and a hot spot of no more then 88 F works well.. In some set ups these temps can be slightly different... Humidity should always be at least 70-80 %. IMO it's the best way to raise any Brazilian..

Substrate is the key to humidity, newspaper may work well for older animals but not for anything less then a year or so of age. Cage carpet, Astroturf etc is also a poor choice because it will in time harbour fungus within the carpet itself and in turn will most likely cause an repertory infection or bacterial infection. Mulch (without cedar) , Peat or Sphagnum works best...

Many people recommend different ways of raising these beautiful boas but it's very different when it comes to individual cages... Care must be used when achieving each of their criteria.. Believe me, I've seen enough people keep their Brazilians incorrectly because of the wrong advice and lose them to one or another problem.. Take all steps to do the right thing now so that you don't pay for it in the future..

Best of luck to you...

[Linds]

Darren's post was well put. I couldn't have said it better myself. I do have a few points I would also like to add...

Tanks are very ill-suited to Brazilians as well as any other high humidity animal. It is impossible to hold an increased humidity level from the ambient room humidity while maintaining any kind of adequate airflow. Tanks already have no cross-ventilation, but due to the fact that they entire top is open, it still allows for enough air to circulate for desert species. By covering any portion of the top you further decrease airflow, this leads to stagnant air, which molds, etc thrive in. You don't have to keep your snake in a rubbermaid, these snakes can be kept in naturalistic vivaria as well, just not tanks. Custom enclosures (or snake-intended enclosures such as visions, etc.) or rubbermaids are the way to go. Keep in mind, with such high humidity the maintenance of a naturalistic vivaria is very demanding and time-consuming. In addition to the various substrates mentioned above in Darren's post, I would also like to add that I have had success using dampened Carefresh in the past as well.

I also agree with Chondro python in that you should consider separating them. Snakes are solitary animals and only come together in the wild to breed. It is unnatural and can be highly stressful on them to be forced to live together. Also, as they reach sexual maturity, males will breed earlier than females, which can lead to females being injured (possibly fatally). If one snake falls ill then all the snakes may contract it, as well as you cannot keep adequate records... if you wake up one morning to a regurgitation or runny poop how will you know who it came from?

Anyhoo, those are just a few of my thoughts on the subject. Hope it helped a lil :)

[wyz]

ARGGGG.. you're messing up my dreams guys ! :)

But thanks for your help, all you're saying does make sense.

Let's say that I am willing to put the time, the money and the space to have them live together in a perfectly adapted encloser... can something be done ?

i.e. a 6 x 4 multi-level cage, 8 feet high. With 3 separate hide box, etc... Could I work something out with that ?

I'm seeking your experice in order to see all the flaws possible in my future project. :)

Doesn't mean I'll give up, but only if it's 100% impossible to have healty BRB in such an encloser..

So, I'm still waiting for some more comments,, from you guys and others..

WYZ

[Linds]

Well, that still doesn't solve most of the problems associated with housing multiple snakes together. You could make sort of one that has three compartments that would act as separate caging, but would still be one unit...

[Jezabel]

A friend of mine got 2 brb as neo 2 yrs ago. He put them together, thiking nothing could happen if feed separatly. One morning he woke up and saw both snake contricting each other and bitting at each others mouth (as they probably open their mouth and strike at the same time). He manage to separate them but the damages where there. He even did 2 trip at montréal best vet but nothing could be done. The female is now completly blind. In perfect health but still... Here's some pic of her to confirm. BRB are not suposed to be canibalistic or overly agressive so he might have been really unlucky but, well, it can happen with any snake I guess. I keep anything separate unless breeding.

http://www.hissnherps.ca/Stef%20-%2024.jpg

http://www.hissnherps.ca/Stef%20-%2026.jpg

Good luck with the little trio :) They look great!

[wyz]

Hum, does make me think.. :(

Do you know it what type or size encloser they were when this happened ?.

Thanks.

WYZ

[Jezabel]

Home made wood enclosure if I remember corecly. About the size, well a bit bigger then a 33gal but shape more square.

I does made me think at this time also. As I said, he as probably been really unlucky but, there's a risk.

[Linds]

Although feeding seperatley does greatly reduce the risk of injury, snakes still may smell the the prey on the other animals body somewhere afterwards (which is possibly the reason for the unfortunate incident mentioned above), or movement, etc may trigger a response... and sometimes snakes, like people and all other animals, just don't get along...