Rainbow and Common Boas

snakelover · #1 (**permalink**) 26-01-2007, 07:39 PM

Care sheet: Rainbow and Common Boas
Latin Names: Epicrates Cenchria and Boa constrictor.

Rainbow Boa Origin:
Rainbow Boas originate from South America, in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Peru, Columbia, Guyana
Common Boa Origin
South America
Size:
Rainbow Boas differ in size, ranging from 3.5ft to 7ft average length. Guyanas and Argentinian being the smallest, and Brazilian being the biggest followed by Columbian which average at 5-6ft.
Common Boas are a lot bigger than the Rainbow Boas. The length and the girth are bigger than the Rainbow’s. So 8ft Brazilian Rainbow Boas are no way as near as big as an 8ft Common Boa. Common Boas grow from 8-13ft, some times bigger, rarely.
Enclosure:
Rainbow Boas: Hatchlings can be kept in small contico boxes, or small plastic containers with vents (ventilation). But need a bigger enclosure when they are bigger, the bigger specimens like the Brazilian need a tank around 4ft length by 2ft by 2ft, the bigger the better, and may need a bit of height as they are semi abdoreal. But the smaller specimens can be housed in a 2ft-3ft tank with enough room to roam around.
In the enclosure should be one or two hides, water dish big enough for snake to bath in, a branch, maybe a large sandblasted branch, and also a lot of plants, artificial and/or real plants. A little bit of moss, sphagum moss, will help raise the humidity. You should only keep one snake in each enclosure/cage.
Common Boas: Hatchlings can be kept in contico boxes, or plastic containers, but must have vents. Common Boas will out grow the small containers and will need a BIG enclosure, which will need to be a minimum of 6ftx2ftx2ft, and again, bigger the better. The enclosure will need one or two hides, water dish, and maybe branches and plants, artificial and/or real plants. You should only keep one snake to a enclosure or cage.
Lighting:
Rainbow Boas: Lighting is not need for Rainbow Boas because they are nocturnal, and do not benefit from lighting. You can use lighting to help raise temperatures, you can also use a 40 watt bulb, for you to see the set up, but the snake will not benefit anything from it. ALL LIGHTS SHOULD BE GUARDED! With a light or ceramic guard.
Common Boas: UV lighting is not needed in a Common Boa set-up and no light is needed. But you can always use a light for you to see the set-up, and make it more attractive, by putting a fluorescent light in it, or a 40 watt bulb, ALL LIGHTING MUST BE CAGED/GUARDED OF FROM THE SNAKE!
Heating:
Rainbow Boas: You can use heat mats connected to a habistat, to control the heating. If using a heat mat, you should put it underneath the enclosure on 1/3-1/2 of the bottom of the tank. When the snake is in a bigger enclosure you can use a Ceramic Heater, connected to habistat, and/or heat mat. Also any lighting in the tank will raise temperatures. A temperature in the 70s in the night, and in the 80s in the day. Some specimens like the Columbian prefer warmer temperatures.
Common Boas: Heating for these is more or less the same but they prefer around 90f in a basking spot and as cool as 70-80f in the cool end of the tank. You should previde a 24hour heat source, heat mat and/or no ceramic heater.
Substrate:
Rainbow Boas
&
Common Boas: There are many substrates to choose from. Aspen bedding is a popular choice today, also there are kitchen towel, newspaper, wood chips, coco chips, repti-carpet (astro-turf) and more, make sure what ever you pick it isn’t fine, like fine sand, which can be breathed in or eaten, and cause impaction. Also for Rainbow Boas mosses are used, these are good for the humidity needs, so moss is popular for the rainbow boas.
Humidity:
Rainbow Boas: Humidity needs to be very high for Rainbow Boas. You can get high humidity by, big water bowl, spray the cage with spray bottle, water fall or Exo-Terra fogger, moss, block some vents of (not all, just half or so). You can measure the humidity of the tank by using a Hygrometer (Exo-Terra), these give you your tanks percentage of humidity. Rainbow Boas need a humidity of around high 80s medium 90s