New Light boa (pic)

[Mr Maggot]

I dont think he's trying to attack you, but he has a point. Bacteria grow like weeds, when contained ion a moist environment. There is no way to prevent it. On the other hand, Boas thrive on soil in the wild, and it seems to me that soil is very easy to keep reitively clean-- I say go for it and use soil, i have about 1/4 of my Argentines enclosure composed of it!

[paolo_28]

Nice snake, I like your set up.

[boa_mania]

i am quite sure everyone will have an opinions about this topic. I totally respect your opinions as well as others. Yes sure i will agree that it is true that boas and other snakes species do live in an environment that is does contain soil, and leaves, and rocks, and pebbles, and sand and etc... But we must remember too that in their natural environment, boas are constantly on the move, searching for food, evading preditors, etc. and sure they cover alot of ground on top of soil, but they are never on the same soil for long periods at a time. but in captivity, they are confined to roaming in a small enclosed space, and unless you are changing the soil on a regular basis, then your animals are forced to remain in the same space and on the same soil snd this may become a problem, wut happens if they have internal parasites, what then (and please do not believe that just because you have captive born animals, that they are never exposed to parasites, because they are), the younge of some of these parasites, are so small that if they are passed out by the animal they can remain undettected within the animals enclouser. ,And when the animals is left in this confined space, it is at a high risk of re-infestating itself. In the wild boas pass parasites all the time but they continue moving and it is hardly unlikely that the parasites it passes will be reintroduced to the animals... you may say, hey my boas dont have parasites, but i can tell you from experience that everyone should de worm their collection a couple of times per year, because it is their food items that many of the internal parasites are introduced. Trust me, I have lost a few nice anaimals over the years due to this assumption. And i do have experience with keeping boas in soil, i did this when i was a teenager oh so long ago, with only negative result. my personal collection consist of well over a 100 boa's, and i have learnt from over 20 years of experience, simple is always best. we have a tendancy to keep our animals in environments that best suit our needs and for our pleasures, but at what expense. But like i said, it all ultimately comes down to personal choices, you may choose as well as others to keep boas in soil, this is fine, but serious though, is it absolutley nessasary to do so, what is your animals well being worth to you. I have rare boas in my collection that are worth thousands, so I personally think of health and cleanliness to be the absolute priority. Please do not take offence to what i am saying, take it as face value, I am only offering my opinions, nothing more nothin less, what you do with what i am passing on to you is totally up to you, disreguard it if you like. but also please consider it as well. thank you, mike

[rethius]

I do see your point mike. In the past when I had a larger collection I used newspaper, now that I have reduced my collection I have chosen to use some organic soil only because I have the time and resources to regularly change the soil. Although as my collection continues to increase I will most likely re-switch back to newspaper! Thanks everyone for posting your comments! Now back to the snake, how do you like her?
-Jeff W

[Gary D.]

Hey Jeff,
Looking forward to a full body shot in natural light. If she looks like I think, Ive got a great male to compliment her. I'm normally not big on breeding loans, but considdering the nature of our collections, it might be worth thinking about.

Now as for the soil. No matter what anybody says, I think it was one of the best substraits I've ever used, it's even recommended in the Boa Constrictor Manual. Only problem was how messy it was. Also finding good soil free of fertilisers or vermiculite was getting harder to find. Now I use mulch.

On another note, what I found for getting that picky male to eat, I attribute to possibly a combination of things. First a small comfortable enclosure that he could adjust to easily, and little or no distractions/interaction. Second was the fresh cypress mulch, sadly my source dried up and now I'm just using cedar free western mulch. And lastly was a prey item that smelled just right. For him it was Dwarf hamsters. I've heard other people having success with dwarf hamsters for trouble feeders aswell.

Later.
Gary D.