zorpasg, I guess I can't speak for everyone that uses this forum, but I at least live in the American midwest, and I really only ever see metric measurements when I am studying a foreign language or something along those lines.

So I did some research on the measurements you listed. Two websites that I like a lot for conversions are:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/calculator.php

http://convert.french-property.co.uk/#mass

The first one is a fish forum website, but is has a really cool volume calculator, where you can enter the dimensions of an aquarium (or cage) and find out its volume. I do this because, for all of my interests in science, I am TERRIBLE when it comes to math!!!

Anyhow, You said your room temperature is 23°C which is 73.4°F,
the cool end of the cage is 24°C which is 75.2°F,
the warm end of the cage is 27°C which is 80.6°F,
and that you want to raise these temperatures by about 3°C, which would give you 27°C on the cool end, which again is 80.6°F,
and this would raise the warm end to 30°C which is 86.0°F

You listed your cage dimensions as: about 80cm x 35 cm x 40cm high.
The fish website's calculator says that gives you a volume of 112L, which is equivalent to 29.473 gallons. This should be adequate for a neonate or young juvenile Dumeril's Boa... but not for an adult.

I don't really understand what you are describing when you said "the tank has a glass top which has a 2 inch width mesh screen in the middle that runs along the length of the top." I've never seen anything like that anywhere, that I can think of, so I don't really have a good concept of what your cage is. You definitely do not want to use a ceramic heat emitter if you cannot place it outside of the cage without it directly emitting heat into a pane of glass, as that will eventually cause the glass to crack. You also should not use a ceramic heat emitter inside the cage at all.

It sounds as if the temperatures you have in mind are good if you can find a way to maintain them. Unless I misread your post, you said you have a digital thermometer/hygrometer (very good!) but no thermostat. It would be a very good idea for you to purchase a good thermostat. Low-end thermostats run about $40 here, while the higher-end (more reliable) Ranco and Helix brand thermostats run about $50 to $100 respectively. I don't know well enough where you are to even have an idea what currency you would need to convert to. Sorry.

Another useful tool you should consider purchasing is an infrared temperature sensor. These are widely sold for gourmet chefs and racecar mechanics, and measure the temperature of a surface. This is particularly useful because you want to be able to ensure that no surface in the cage is hot enough to burn your snake while you are trying to raise the ambient air temperatures. The website I know of where I purchased my "temp gun," is: http://www.tempgun.com/main.html - I have and love the PE2 model.

Unfortunately, I am not an expert on Dumeril's Boas; I have one who is quite healthy and happy, and I have had her since June of 2005, so I have a little experience with this species. I have a lot more general snake keeping knowledge, as I grew up keeping several different species of colubrids, along with a long-term-captive Ball Python, and a random scattering of small boa species. I've actually only lived four years of my life collectively without keeping any reptiles.

That being said, I welcome any of the true experts that lurk on this forum to chime in and give you better advice. Good luck to you!!

~Rebecca



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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons



0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

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