Care Sheet for BoasAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 0 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 11/12/2007 |
Main Category: | Snakes |
Sub Category: | Boas |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | Megalumanycle |
Years Experience: | 5 to 10 Years |
Species: | Solomon island TREE boa... |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | Solomon Island Ground/tree boa, Indonisian Boas
(I have seen this many times when people assume the tree boa is the ground boa...
One sure way to not make this mistake is pay close attention...
Tree boas tend to be longer and much thinner than the ground boas
Ground boas can be about the same length but are much much thicker.. around the width of a ball python) |
Sexing and Characteristics: | Very easy to sex....
Turn them over on their belly, usually probing or piping is not needed. Males more often than not have very large spurs near their tail and well females do not |
Mostly Active During: | Night |
Substrate and Water Needs: | Substrate is pretty basic. Usually small aspen chips or coconut fiber does the job...
Always keep a full, fair size water dish (one the snake fits comfortably in). They enjoy a good soak, but put in fresh water every day, they can make messes in the dish...
They also will need a good hide box. A small Rubbermaid or Tupperware container works perfectly. Just make it a bit more cozy by putting in some damp sphagnum moss.
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Lighting and UVB: | No lighting is needed...
Maybe uvb, but if the snake is in a well lit room there is no need for lights at all. UVB is mainly there to help the animal absorb the nutrients.
(If lights are used incorrectly they can cause very severe burns to your snake)
Instead use an under tank heater on one side of the tank(make sure its not directly IN the tank... stuck underneath is perfect), desert heat pads tends to heat up nicer and keep a better temperature than the rain forest types of under tank heat pads. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | Around 80-90.f
Humidity is fine...
If u use the under tank heater, keep the water dish 1/2 on the pad. That will give you just the right amount of humidity. If you start to see some condensation put less of the dish on the heat pad.
They do enjoy a good mist every now and again as well..
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Heating and Equipment: | Desert type under tank Heating pads...
Try to avoid overhead lighting.
especially for tree boas. They enjoy being up high in branches they can burn them selves!!! |
Caging Provided: | The Tank we have is a good size 60gallon tank with a screen lid. We have a mixture of aspen chips and coconut fiber mixed for substrate. We also have an under tank heater for one side of the tank, One 1/2 of the water dish is put on the heating pad for some natural humidity.
We also have plenty of sticks/branches in the tank because well tree boas... very self explanatory
We also have small rubber maid container filled with some damp sphagnum moss that gets misted every few days to keep from drying out. This give the snake a nice dark place to hid during the day.
The temperature is kept fairly high for our Solomon Island Trees. 4 of the 5 that we have are rescues recovering from mouth rot. Other then using antibiotics that were given by the vet that weren’t working, we did the more natural thing and kept them very warm and very humid. This has worked wonders. Mouth rot never fully goes away but can be greatly improved. I’m very pleased to say they are no longer wheezing or cracking when breathing. They are eating wonderfully as well.
On average anywhere from 80-90 F, is perfect!! |
Diet: | Carnivorous |
Description of Diet: | Most people will try to give these guys mice with no luck. In the wild they enjoy eating small lizards and frogs.
I find that green or brown anoles and green tree frogs (all bred for feeding of course, not pets) are what they enjoy
If your feeling bad about feeding them lizards and frogs u can always try to scent a mouse with the frog or lizard but its not guaranteed that will work.
They have a very VERY slow metabolism so its best they are fed every 2-3 weeks depending on your snake.
It is also important not to handle your snake at the very very least 24-48 hours after a meal. They can regurgitate (puke) and that’s not good for the snake at all |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | Every now and then you can dust your feeder anole or frog (or scented mouse) with calcium powder but you don’t have to. Most of the feeder animals are fed a certain way that they already have all the good stuff your snake will need. |
Maintenance: | They are a very easy snake to take care of. Most important thing is to keep your little friend in the best health possible. Most importantly keep their house clean!!! I say do a good dump and rinse out of the tank every week, two weeks is ok, but that’s pushing it a bit.
Between cleanings make sure to look in for any snake turds. You can just scoop those out with a Kleenex or cat littler scooper.
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS!!!
I cant stress enough to keep their water clean!!! Fresh water is needed every day!!!!! Regardless if there is a visible mess in there. They sit and soak in their water. |
Some Words on this Species: | Overall these snakes are amazing. Not only are they gorgeous but they have a great personality. They don’t mind being handled at all but tree boas especially when they get a good wrap around your arm (not a squeeze, just to hold on). Its sooo hard to get them off. Sometimes it can be a 2 person job.
Just make sure u have clean hands when holding your snake
and you don’t hold it right after a feeding. Wait a day or 2
and well enjoy your pet. I hope this was helpful to you guys. I’m not a vet or anything, but I have a lot of experience with these guys. I have one that’s going on 22 years old right now, so id like to think I’m doing something right!!!
Let me know if u have any more questions :)
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