Aspiring Emerald Tree Boa Keeper

[BoaFanatic]

Howdy all,

I'm interested in keeping an Emerald Tree Boa,this has been a long aspiration of mine, and is my ultimate goal in snake keeping. I would love nothing more to have a beautiful emerald perched on a branch to showcase. I find them extremely fascinating and I love a good challenge when it comes to species specific requirements, and replicating such in an ideal captive habitat.

Let me first say, if you've read my intro you understand that I've kept snakes before and have experience in their care and maintenance. I've also done some extensive reading into emeralds and understand the basic challenges in keeping them, which I hope you guys will be able to help explore in more detail.

Please keep comments like "You don't have enough experience to keep these snakes" or "These snakes are only for the most elite" to yourselves. I'm a very scientifically and biologically minded individual, I'm not Joe Shmo that saw an emerald somewhere and said "I want that" and am going throw it in a tank. I believe if you have an understanding of an animals biology, ecology, and care requirements, you can keep it happy and healthy given the resources to meet those requirements. Yes, I've read the FAQ's sticky.

My eventual goal of this thread is to be able to create a summary of tips and guidelines detailing caging, maintenance, and husbandry requirements.

So here's what I understand so far

About the snake

-Requires higher humidity during the day, with it dropping some at night.
-Can be aggressive especially when specimens are wild caught.(Mine will be CB)
-Requires heating in the form of ambient temperature(no Heat rocks or pads)
-Has a slow metabolic rate(requires meals on its own schedule, no larger than the girth of the snake)
-Is prone to problems with regurgitation especially when stressed or when fed large prey.
-Frequent problems with wild caught/imported specimens include worms, mites, and parasites.(which is why I'm starting with a young captive bred specimen)

About the Enclosure

-Height is more important than length when choosing housing.
-Should have multiple perching levels allowing the snake to thermo-regulate
-Hygrometer and thermometer are necessary to monitor temperature and humidity.
-Should be decorated with plants to give the snake some sense of privacy and safety.
-Should have a variety of perch sizes,with perches being the diameter of the snake or slightly larger a main importance.

I more than welcome any corrections to the above assumptions, and please explore any of them in more detail if you can,

My Questions

1. What have you found to be the most hassle-free and beneficial floor covering?

2. Have you had any success with foggers to maintain humidity levels?

3. Do you use artificial or live plants? Are they both suitable, why?

4. I see that many like to use PVC as perching material, and some I've seen have what appears to be Camo Tape wrapped around them, how does that work out?

5. When you have a young snake, do you find maintaining appropriate temperature and humidity is easier in a smaller enclosure?

6. Should I just buy the snake it's adult size enclosure first, or start it in a smaller tank and upgrade later?(in relation to the question above)

7. I plan on buying an Exo-Terra glass terrarium, would one of these work well?

Thanks for looking guys, I appreciate any feedback!