getting a brb

[kidchameleon]

ive been thinking about getting a brazilian rainbow boa, probably at the show on june 5th in hamburg. ive been doing tons of research, and i'm confident that i can keep one. im just a little hesitant because a lot of stuff i read said that they are not a good boid to start off with, and i should start off with a bci or something easier to take care of. however, i know two friends that keep them, and both say they are easy to take care of. also, in a thread on here someone sai that they are NOT hard to take care of.

also, if this helps, everything i read said that chameleons dont make good first reptiles, and if you get one it should be a veiled. i got a jackson(for my frist) awhile ago and it is very healthy. i also bought a 5 week old veiled about 2 months ago. and she too is doing great.

basically, i just want some of your guy's input on what you think. thanks

[Invictus]

It all boils down to this: can you provide the extremely specific conditions required to keep this species? (ie, HIGH humidity). If the answer is yes, and if you are not going to sacrifice the snake's needs for say, display purposes, then by all means, get a BRB. They are incredible snakes.

[HeatherRose]

My first snake was a BRB, and she's growing fine...I keep her in a rubbermaid which keeps the humidity high, but doesn't make for good display. If you can handle the snakes' specific requirements then I say go for it :)

[kidchameleon]

i can definately meet teh humidity needs. i'd keep it in my basment, where the humidity stays at 60%+(and thats in cham cages with lights). so i figure as long as i give it some good mistings, it'll be fine(humidity wise).

just one more question, how many holes should i drill in it for ventilation? its an 18 gallon rubbermaid (the dimensions are
12h x 15w x 22 1/2L.

thanks

[kidchameleon]

ok, ive been doing research on them, and im gonna give you guys a little caresheet that i've made up from what i read. i would like you guys to give me any suggestions that you do to keep yours. well here it is:

Temperature: 78-88 (day)
70-78 (night)

Humidity: 75%-90%

Substrate: papertowels

Feeding: juvenile - 1 pinky/fuzzy every 7-10 days
semi-adult - 1 hopper/adult mouse every 7-10 days
adults - 2 or 3 adult mice every 7-10 days

[jjnnbns]

I keep my warm side at 85F and cool end around 74.

My humidity is always above 80%, usually over 90%.

Papertowel seems to break down quite fast in such humid conditions and newsprint has worked much better for me.

Finally, my adults pair are each taking medium rats, one a week for the female and every other week the male takes one.

[kidchameleon]

ok, thanks for the advice jjnnbns. i guess ill use newspaper instead of papertowels.

please continue posting what you do to keep them, i still want to get as much advice as i can. thanks

[kidchameleon]

anyone else have any advice or suggestions on anything?

[ChristinaM]

- I keep my temps around 90-95 hot spot.....85 ambient....80 cool

- newspaper instead of paper towels.

-water bowl large enough for the snake to soak in
- humidity for young snakes of 90-100% it is very important when they are young to watch this
-it's hard to comment on your prey sizing choices, because each snake grows diffrently.....generally follow the guideline of feeding prey a bit bigger than the biggest part of the snake. But I believe you may be estimating low on the sizes.....a juvie will eat at least a fuzzy I believe.
- I personally prefer rats over mice as feeders, in turn have started to raise my own.
- feeding schedule sounds fine....

I'll post more as I think of it :)

Aside from the humidity requirements, in my limited snake keeping experience, I believe these guys to be a great first/second snake when they've been properly researched.

[kidchameleon]

ok thanks a lot. ive done a lot of research on them, but i always like to get some personal opinions on keeping them.

[ChristinaM]

nothing beats personal opinions as far as I'm concerned.
You can read caresheet after caresheet, but you get so much info from those who've kept the species.

I dunno, for me, even tho I hadn't met anyone who gave me their opinion, it still seems more "real" than a zillion caresheets :)

[kidchameleon]

yeah i know, because people that make those caresheets might just know enough about them to keep them alive, not to keep them very healthy and thriving. but whenyou talk to someone that has been keeping a sertain snake for awhile, you seem to trust them more and feel like they know what they are doing better than other people.

[BoidKeeper]

Personally, I think 90-95 is way too hot, especially for a young BRB. I keep mine at 86-88. I've always only used newspaper. I started out with a shoe box rubbermaid then a sweater box and now a 33g layed on it's side with plastic food wrape wraped around the screen lid to help keep the humidity up. Inside the cage I use two rubbermaids for hides filled with damp newspaper. I mist about once a week.
Cheers,
Trevor

[kidchameleon]

thanks a lot trevor.