Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want to get a baby BRB and wanted to know what size to start it out in. I wouldl ike to go as big as possible if i can.

IMO, they can be housed in as large a cage you want PROVIDED you supply adequate SMALL hides and proper temps / humidity.

Having said that, I still recommend smaller cage to start out with. My hatchlings are kept in shoebox sized racks. now approaching 6 months old and just about ready to move up to sweaterbox size racks. They could stay in sweaterboxes for another year. Then to ultimate cage, at least 2' x 2' better if a bit larger. Say about 6 square feet.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

So i shoulsnt keep a new baby in a 55, i am building a shelving unit and was going to put 2 55 in it for a juvi ball in one and the baby BRB in the other i can start smaller i guess but was hopping for that

Yeah, a 55 would be quite large for the baby. Many will tell you they will get stressed out in sucha large enclosure. I feel really sorry for the wild born ones then, no enclosure at all!

IMO, they get stressed for several reasons:

Inadequate hides - The babies like to feel hidden and protected. Providing a large hide just does not give them a protected / hidden feeling. Kind of like a hermit crab, they need various sized places to hide so they can cram themeselves into their hide and feel secure.

Basic environment - hard to keep the humidity up in a larger habitat. Critical is limiting the ventilation, they don't need lots of fresh air and unless your house is humid, the ventilation will allow the moisture to escape. Also harder to provide temperature variations they can achieve without exposing themselves to the ever present predator (hard wired in their pea brains)

In a glass type habitat, they see all movement around them and literally are afraid of it.
-----
Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Can you post pics of youe enclosures

Would waterfall and a fogger be ok in the 55 or would it make it too wet? Also what is the temp range for a BRB

n/p
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

Bigd,
....Great advice posted so far. This is a copy of the caresheet that goes with with all the baby BRBs I sell.
Jeff

CARE OF NEWBORN BRAZILIAN RAINBOW BOAS
Epicrates cenchria cenchria
By Jeff Clark

Brazilian Rainbow Boas (BRBs) make great pets. They are very hardy and typically grow to around 6 feet in length. Many BRBs have been kept in captivity for over 20 years. Their size is much more manageable and practical than many of the other Boas and Pythons. They do require high humidity. This is especially important when they are small. If kept too dry they will dehydrate. Minor dehydration will cause feeding and shedding problems. Major dehydration will kill them. Baby BRBs should be maintained with close to 100% humidity in their cages. This can be accomplished by using damp substrate and limiting the ventilation. They do require some ventilation but in cages with large screen sides or screen tops the humidity will rapidly escape from the cage. Ideal substrate material for little BRBs is paper-towels or newspaper. The advantage of paper-towels and newsprint is that it can be easily changed. Damp substrate will quickly grow mold. It should be changed often. BRBs drink more water and pass more liquid urine than most other snakes. Substrate that is kept in the cage too long will become contaminated with urates which are very acidic and this will harm the snake’s skin. Many people use mulch and chipped bark substrates. Some of these substrates are excellent but you should be careful not to use one that is too acidic or one from a garden center that may have parasites in it. I especially like the cocoanut husk chunks and chips substrates for BRBs. It is vitally important to not use cedar substrate. The oils in cedar and similar woods are toxic to snakes. Pine shavings and aspen shavings are also not suitable for BRBs. Did I mention that you should change the substrate often? BRBs require cages with a cool end in the low 70s and the warm end in the high 70s to very low 80s. If you keep them in cages that are too small to maintain a temperature gradient in the cage they should be kept with the entire cage in the mid 70s. Temperatures higher than this can quickly cause dehydration and death. Most reptile heating products are too hot for Rainbow Boas. These snakes are nocturnal and secretive. Using overhead lights to heat their cages will create too much stress for a BRB. Cage temperatures must be controlled with a proportional thermostat or a carefully set and monitored rheostat. Don’t guess what the temperature is down in the cage where the snake spends most of it’s time. Invest in good temperature measuring equipment and use it often to make sure you do not overheat your BRB. BRB temperature requirements are 10 to 15 degrees cooler than what is required for many other boids including Ball Pythons, Boa Constrictors and Burmese and Reticulated Pythons. People who try to keep BRBs hot like they keep their other boids often kill them. Extra care should be taken when transporting BRBs. If left in a closed car in the sun the temperature will rapidly rise and kill them. BRBs should be provided with caging with hiding spots so that they can avoid light and activity. Small plastic containers like margarine is packaged in with a small entry hole cut into the side of the container work well. Place substrate material such as damp moss or damp papertowels in the hiding container. BRBs need a waterbowl in their cage that is large enough for them to submerge. They will often soak in the water for several days before shedding. However, when they do not have a good hiding spot they may have to use the waterbowl for a hiding spot and spend too much time in the water. Adult BRBs can be set up in elaborate naturalistic caging. They look especially nice in large cages with exotic plants. However they will spend much of the daylight hours hiding in or under the plants. It is best with a new little BRB to keep the caging simple to make sure the snake is doing okay before adding too many variables that may cause problems. After the snake is acclimated and doing well you can make small changes in the caging and try different substrates and plants making one change at a time. Little BRBs should be fed small live mice at first. Many will also take live pinky rats for their first meals. They will feed much more readily on a live meal than a dead meal. They also like mice that are large enough to run around much more than they like pinky or small fuzzy mice. I have actually fed full-grown adult mice to BRBs for their first meal. They can handle very large prey but are more likely to regurgitate if fed extremely large meals When they have become accustomed to eating live prey they will easily switch to eating fresh killed and then frozen and thawed prey. Thawed prey will work best if it is heated to around 105 degrees for the first feeding attempts with it. BRBs are always more likely to eat undisturbed in the dark than when being closely watched in bright daylight. Do not force-feed a BRB. Force feeding is very stressful and stress is often the reason that one will not eat. These snakes are eating machines. If your BRB does not eat it is because of stress or improper husbandry. Eliminate the stress and correct the husbandry and they will eat readily. The most common husbandry problems are keeping the snake too hot or too dry or subjecting it to too much light or activity. Little BRBs have a very simple outlook on other living things. Anything it sees moving is either a predator or prey. When first born they will often strike and bite. The bite of a little BRB is not painful and usually does not bleed. If you handle the snake for several minutes everyday it will quickly become tame. If it bites or strikes it is because it is afraid of you or it thinks it can eat you. Just let it bite and hold on and chew if it wants. By doing this it will learn that you are too big to eat and that you are not harming it and that striking and biting will not make you go away. If you do retreat when it strikes you will reinforce the striking and biting behavior. Little BRBs can be handled for as much as an hour per day. Too much handling can cause stress and stress may cause them to not feed. It is okay to have them out of their cages in humidity much lower than 100% for short handling periods.

If you have any problems with your BRB email me at jclarksnakes@comcast.net
Visit the Rainbow Boa forum on kingsnake.com to get answers to any questions you may have about Rainbow Boas. The archives of posts there are full of information. My Rainbow Boa website has information on breeding Rainbow Boas and also has information about and photographs of the other subspecies of Rainbow Boas. The website is located at http://www.corallus.com/cenchria/index.html