backwards...

Regardless of age or experience, I see some questionable behavior on both ends. But this isn't personal, this is about the boas, right???

Ok, so, you've been suggested not to house them together, or build a cage which will be housing them together, which is what you wanted to do, no?

There are MANY reasons why they shouldn't be housed together, there are also many ways to get them to live together which will lead to many complications, wasted time and effort on your part.


They shouldn't be housed together, period.
They can be, the cage can be designed for this, but it will take a considerable amount of effort, time, money, and more to do so.
We're talking atleast double of everything, which is the easy part.

The hard part is all the time and effort you'll be spending watching over them and taking SO MANY precautions so that they don't accidentally get into problems.

I mean, afterall, come feeding time, they don't see each other as siblings, and wait to share their food.

They smell the prey, and whatever is close to them IS that prey.

They will strike and wrap, then you have problems.

Seperating them will take time, patience, maybe two people, maybe hot water, maybe a stick (just throwing possibilites out there), maybe more. The result could be you being bitten and wrapped, one or both snakes bleeding, with lacerations, scars (which lead to discoloration, possible infection, etc.), broken teeth, bloody mouths, broken ribs on the snakes from being wrapped, possible asphyxiation, the possibility of one eating the other, which almost AWAYS results in BOTH dying, and much more. Very easily can prove fatal in many ways.

To properly feed two snakes being housed together, and I mean to avoid ALL POSSIBILITES of problems from feeding, this could mean instead of a 10-20 minute feeding session, it could take 2 hours or more.
Just a little example...

(seperating both before they get a chance to even smell the prey, preparing prey, feeding both, waiting atleast 30-60 minutes after they have fed to calm down, attempting to put them back in their cage without you getting bitten or them regurging, observing them for atleast 30-60 minutes after being in the cage because if they even smell the faintest wiff of prey on eachother, it's feeding time again for them!!! Then GOOD LUCK!)


A tall cage could be used, afterall, they have proven to sometimes be a bit arboreal in the wild, but it is not practical, and not the best enclosure.

One reason would be trying to remove this snake that will wrap on everything in the tank as you're pulling it out. Another being less floor space, which is what they do mostly utilize.

A tall cage would also be very difficult to heat and keep humid properly.

If you did put them both in one cage, with a divider, you might as well have two cages, because you will need double of everything. Supplies, electronics, heating elements, temp/humidity cages/control, water, hides, substrate, etc., etc., etc. It would be nearly impossible for them to thermoregulate considering the size and space restrictions.
This is impractical, amongst other things, for many reasons.

You will eventually spend more time and money than it is worth, and you will spend even more time and effort trying to maintain this. It will not be that easy, not as easy as seperate containers. Nowhere near as easy as proper cages.

You know why I switched from home made enclosures to professional enclosures like Boaphiles? Not because my snakes asked for them, or because I hit the lottery, or because I thought spending $300 a cage as opposed to building one for $100 was cool, I did it for one main reason.

It cut down the cleaning time of maintaining 50 snakes from more than a week, to only a couple of hours!!! That's because almost everything was already done for me, or built in a way that made it much easier to do so!
And now that I have 250 snakes, and work for a week to maintain them, I can't even imagine what it would be like if I never bought professional enclosures! I don't even want to think about it! I would NEVER be able to catch up, and would NEVER be where I am today.

You say you have their best interest in mind, and wouldn't mind checking up on them, but when you are checking every 30 minutes to an hour because you HAVE to, it's not fun. That's not something anyone here wants to do. Doesn't make sense. These plastic cages are built for efficiency, amongst other things. It kind of takes care of itself. It's designed this way so you don't have to do all of it manually.

Wanting to build your own cage is great, finding a way to do it yourself, cheap, online, etc., is even better.
Not keeping the boa in mind is not so great. Afterall, it does seem that your main concern is having it fit your living room wall and look nice.


I don't mean to also come down on you, I just want to point out what was said and what you may have missed, or why it is important.


I'm sure I also left out a great deal! I'm sure many others can post many other reasons why it isn't a great idea.


Please do read more on caging, housing, living requirements, care and feeding for these animals in particular. Whenever you see a restriction or a mandate on how something should be, ask yourself why and make sure you don't proceed until you have that understanding.

Maybe you'll get to the point wheere you can pull this off safely, but if you are looking to save money and space, that probably won't be the case.

Either way, please don't let this deter your ambitions in anyway, it is great to want to learn and find out what/why/how and so on. And this IS the place to do it, so keep asking all the questions you want. Just please do pay attention to the answers, don't discount them just because they've been said before, or are said in a way that isn't favorable. If it gets down to that, it's probably for a good reason 8)


Best Wishes, Joe Rollo - Bci Joe

PS - I'm always available for assistance 8)



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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

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