Writing a boa (bi) care guide?

So, I’ve been thinking for a little bit upon this. And I want to just like to start the process of compiling the different methods, gradients, and temperatures that we all use. And making a wiki where we can display and share everything so that we can see that variance and present it to all beginners that would be looking for this type of information. I don’t think we should go into breeding just yet but maybe after we do like the first “installment“ then we can circle back and add breeding later.

Some things I would like us to focus on are :arrow_down:

  1. How we are heating (temps, hot spots, cool sides, and gradients) (how your state might effect your enclosures)
  2. Humidity (how are keeping it up, what substrate we are using, etc)
  3. How, what, and why are we feeding a certain way
  4. How we are cleaning and maintaining our enclosures in a hygiene perspective
  5. What type of enclosures we are using: tank, tub/rack

Obviously into anything you guys find that should be added.

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Location of said keeper could also be added. As someone in Florida may maintain differently to someone in the north, due to different climate/humidity. Locality of breed also can play a role in different methods. Dumeril’s boa might be different to BCC

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Added it! :wink:
@patriotballs it is a wiki so you can edit it and add more that you think of.

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Here is my first summary

Personally for heating, I use heat tape on proportional thermostats (VE 300x2). On my adult enclosures, T8s from animal plastics, I use 21 inch heat tape from Reptile Basics. I cover 1/3 of the bottom. Due to me, living in Florida, I do not need to heat the other side. Additionally, the heat generated by the tape itself is enough to keep the ambient temperature within the enclosure at 83. I run a hotspot of 89° and a warm side of 85°. My cool side sits at 80 ish and this changes during the seasons.

For humidity, I run my humidity from 60% to 75% and usually on the higher end of that scale is only for shedding purposes. I provide Reptichip substrate. It’s not super thick, but it definitely is about an inch to 1/2 inch. Again living in Florida, where humidity is naturally high, even inside your home, my humidity levels tend to take care of themselves for the most part. If I want to raise humidity, I usually just spray down the enclosure with a spray bottle. I also offer a water bowl, but usually not a huge one.

For feeding because it’s so variable on the size and age of the animal. I’m going to talk about it a little bit.
I feed males the same size of the girth every 7-9 days for baby to yearlings, every two weeks for yearlings to three years old, every 16 to 18 days for things that are 3 to 5, and lastly, anything over five goes out to four weeks on something else ever so slightly larger than the girth of the middle of the body.
I feed females slightly larger than the girth, every 7 to 9 days for babies to yearlings, every two weeks for yearlings to three years old, every 16 days for 3 - 5, and lastly every three weeks for +5.

For cleaning, I spot clean whenever I notice it. I tend to take my animals out of their enclosures a lot, so I notice when there is some feces and what not in the enclosure. Every two or three amounts of feces that I find, I will do a 50% substrate removal and replace with fresh substrate. After another two or three rounds of feces, I will then do a 100% substrate change where I sanitize the enclosure using very very hot water and Dawn dish soap. I also wash all of the interior decor as well. Water bowls are also washed in my dishwasher once a week and wiped out every other day.

I use T8 enclosures from Animal Plastics. They are PVC enclosures that are 4’ x 2’ x 1’. I believe they’re very high-quality and make extremely wonderful enclosures for boas. At least from my living conditions, they maintain heat and humidity very well for me. When my boas are younger, especially when they’re in quarantine, I remake Hefty bins into temporary housing. They all get a heat mat with a thermostat and holes in the top and side of the tub.

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I have my BCIs with a gradient from 90 hotspot to around 75 cool side, and they use it all. In fact, they are much more likely to be towards the front cool end, where the light and visual activity is highest as well, unless they are digesting.

Do you see this with yours? Normally, if someone told me this, I would say “your temps might be too high, check them.” So, I do. They go from the 90 hot spot to 75 on a pretty steep gradient. The rack is damn, too much leakage/ventilation. Keeping temps and humidity up is a daily challenge. Just haven’t got a good setup for them yet.

And they dig all the substrate away from the chosen spot to lay on bare tub. And they don’t hide, they act like they want to be part of any movement they see.

And one of them only poops in the water bowl, … every time I clean it, … like every day. I feed her one ASF hopper a week. But she fouls her water bowl every day or so…:person_facepalming::person_shrugging: And inspite of the fact that I know she’s going in the water all the time, I’m constantly battling dehydration with her. Same rack as the others, same humidity (pain in the…) as the others, but she always seems to look dehydrated. But she eats, sheds, and is active so idk :person_shrugging:.

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Maybe add if you have an exceptionally large boa (6-7 foot or more) that a bigger enclosure is recommended. I don’t keep boas but a 4x2x1 seems a bit too small for the bigger females out there. As I said I don’t keep boas (even though they are a dream species) so I could be completely wrong about this

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Yeah, you are right. For bigger females, a 5x2x2 would work great. And also it doesn’t look as small as you probably think it does. Once you’re talking about 8, 10, 12 ft.² of floor space it looks quite spacious because while boas move around, they’re not like a Colubrid that moves like all the time. At least with my animals, I’ve noted that when I put small individuals in these larger enclosures, they act the same as when they are bigger and go into the same size enclosures. They stretch themselves and they don’t really use their hides a whole lot, and they tend to be near the front of the cage elongated. Also maximizing surface area makes it look even bigger for them as well. But definitely, if you have a seven or an 8 foot female, she could have a 5 foot enclosure.

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Yeah, I have noticed this as well. At least from what I have read and heard, this is a normal occurrence with them. I have even thought about lowering the ratio between hot side and cool side because I have noticed this. It might be something to consider in the future of care if the hobby can keep the low end in the right range…

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