Resuced Hog island boa and a few questions

acidonangles · 08-13-16, 12:23 PM

Yesterday I drove 4 hours to pick up the hog. I wasn't going to take him but the old owner was slacking and knew it and wanted to rehome. He said if he didn't find a home for the snake he was going to let it go outside. Gave me everything he had for the snake which wasn't much but he gave me the 55 gallon tank, decor which was meant to act as hides but are too small, and uth which is meant for a 10 gallon with nothing to control temps.

Hes 3 years old and eats adult mice. The old owner was feeding him 2 mice every 2 weeks.

Cool end of tank is around 78 while the warm side is around 85 with a hot spot of 90. Humdity is hovering around 60-65%. I have the water dish under the ceramic heat emitter to keep humidity up. I have him on eco earth coconut fiber.

I plan on getting better hides, another water dish(i like to have 2 in case I'm not home when they trash one), make a humid hide, a proper sized uth and a thermostat to go with it.

A few questions :P
How often should I feed? One mouse every week or every 2 weeks?
Would vines and good section cups hold up of he tried climbing?
Or what are some other options for climbing space?
And any tips or things I should add?

trailblazer295 · 08-13-16, 12:31 PM

How big is he? I'm guessing it sounds like he should be eating rats. Mice will be more expensive.

No suction cup will hold a boa up in the air unless it's a tiny baby. Could try leaning branches on angles and see if he will use it. It varies boa to boa but doesn't hurt to offer it. If he does use it then you can look into better and more intricate climbing options.

Depending how big he is you could create a second platform to climbing on. It will create 2 teirs and maximize your cage. It's common in carpet cages. I bought a large branch for my BCI. Provides cover and a climbing option.

A picture of your setup would help as well. Good luck.

acidonangles · 08-13-16, 12:53 PM

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

Some not to good pictures for now.

**Tsubaki** · 08-13-16, 01:52 PM

Beautiful animal, but definetly not a hog island. That's a hypo boa, he looks like he should be on rats in stead of mice.

bigsnakegirl785 · 08-13-16, 01:56 PM

That's not a Hog Island boa. It's a hypo Colombian-type. I see no reason to believe it's a mix, either.

Judging by your hand next to it, it's either the size of my ghost boa, or in between my sunglow and ghost boa. So, it should probably be eating weaned rats. Which are 2-3x the size of a jumbo adult mouse.

The bedding also looks dry, which isn't good for a tank set up. I pour water directly into the bedding, and mix it up. Do it in sections so if you mess up you can just mix in the dry bedding to dry it out. When you're done, it should be dark and expanded from its dry state, but still fall freely from your hands without clumping up. If it clumps, it's too wet.

Ditch the analog thing there and get a digital hygrometer/thermometer, you'll get better results. Humidity should be 70-80%.

Best case scenario you ditch the tank completely and buy a tub or PVC enclosure, it will make your life easier. A tub is really cheap and you can get one set up for well under $100, including heat tape and a thermostat. You just can't have ambient heat, so that's why if you can afford it, I'd advise a PVC enclosure, so you can get a heat panel set up in it. You're looking at several hundred dollars, though, between the cage and the panel. You can still use a cheap thermostat like the Hydrofarm on Amazon, but I'd advise getting a Herpstat or Vivarium Electronics with pulse-proportional as they are more reliable than Hydrofarm and pulse-proportional is healthier for your heating elements than ON/OFF.

Also: a tub isn't suitable for life-long housing, so eventually you'd need to invest in a bigger enclosure.

trailblazer295 · 08-13-16, 01:57 PM

Good looking boa for sure, someone can correct me but looks like a salmon. Hard to tell scale for size but looks like he should on medium rats if not large rats every 3-4 weeks.

bigsnakegirl785 · 08-13-16, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trailblazer295

Good looking boa for sure, someone can correct me but looks like a salmon. Hard to tell scale for size but looks like he should on medium rats if not large rats every 3-4 weeks.

Salmon is a line of hypo, you cannot tell by looking at them if they are salmon, you have to have papers that they come directly from Rich Ihle's line. Without the papers, it can only be called hypo.

Definitely not medium rats, way way too small of a boa. Medium rats are best suited for 5'-6' boas, and larges for 6'+.

trailblazer295 · 08-13-16, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

Salmon is a line of hypo, you cannot tell by looking at them if they are salmon, you have to have papers that they come directly from Rich Ihle's line. Without the papers, it can only be called hypo.

Definitely not medium rats, way way too small of a boa. Medium rats are best suited for 5'-6' boas, and larges for 6'+.

Thanks for the clarification on salmon vs hypo.

We don't know this boas size right now. Without a scale for reference it could be 5ft already at 3 years old as previously stated. Some people have big hands while others have very small hands.

bigsnakegirl785 · 08-13-16, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trailblazer295

Thanks for the clarification on salmon vs hypo.

We don't know this boas size right now. Without a scale for reference it could be 5ft already at 3 years old as previously stated. Some people have big hands while others have very small hands.

They have their hand right next to the snake, at the snake's level, it is at most 4' long, even if the person had big hands there's no way the snake is 5'+ long unless their hands were literally the size of a dinner plate, or bigger.

Also the snake is in a 55 gallon tank. That's 4'x1'.

trailblazer295 · 08-13-16, 02:35 PM

A 55g is 12.75"L x 48.25"W x 20.187"H. Compare the thickness of the body to fingers. My boa is 41" and barely more than 2 of mine and I have much smaller hands. My guy is 41" 564g at 1.5yrs old

Bottom line is without a weight and a measurement we don't have accurate size for proper feeding.

bigsnakegirl785 · 08-13-16, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trailblazer295

A 55g is 12.75"L x 48.25"W x 20.187"H. Compare the thickness of the body to fingers. My boa is 41" and barely 3 of mine and I have much smaller hands.

Bottom line is without a weight and a measurement we don't have accurate size for proper feeding.

I'm not sure how long my ghost is, but she's roughly 4' and she's almost as big around as my wrist and 500 grams. My hands are teeny, 5" spread and 3" width.

Although there's a big difference in hand sizes, there isn't a big enough difference to make a 4' snake look 5'-6' next to someone else's hand.

If OP could give us a weight that would be helpful, but length will probably be more difficult. If they could get a photo on SerpWidgets, that will give us a range within half a foot either way, but in my experience it's not a useful tool if you need an accurate length record.

trailblazer295 · 08-13-16, 02:55 PM

My boas feeding schedule is as follows.

keep him on 1 appropriately sized prey item every 7 days until he reaches 18 months then from 18 to 36 months you can feed every 14 to 21 days. Once your boa reaches 36 months you are safe to feed every 3 to 4 weeks.

acidonangles · 08-13-16, 04:25 PM

Thank you everyone for the replies! I figured it wasn't a hog island but that's what I was told and so was the previous owner. I plan I moving him to a pvc tank around Xmas. Planning on getting a uth with a thermostat and getting some digital hydrometer and thermometers. What's a good size enclosure for him? And the substrate is kinda dry right now bedside I had to quickly set this tank up. The guy said he was giving to relate the snake outside of i couldn't come and get it. I will weigh him and try and get better pics

acidonangles · 08-13-16, 04:51 PM

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A few more pics for refrence. I'll use a measuring site to try and get the length. I'll also weigh him in a few.

**Aaron_S** · 08-13-16, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

...Also: a tub isn't suitable for life-long housing, so eventually you'd need to invest in a bigger enclosure.

Incorrect. There are racks big enough for boas. Especially a boa that is stunted like this one, it will most likely not obtain average adult size.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

...you have to have papers that they come directly from Rich Ihle's line. ...

Papers can be forged quite easily. They mean nothing without coming from a reputable person.

Salmon is all but dead due to this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by acidonangles

What's a good size enclosure for him?...

Best size enclosure is the one where the snake feels comfortable enough to eat consistently for you right now. I would not go any larger than a 4x2 for this particular snake.