Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Folks,
I've been lurking around for a short time. My wife found a BRB that she wants (read as: We WILL be getting soon).I don't know her age, but she is about 1 1/2 to 2 feet long and eating fuzzies. We have found plenty of care sheets for them online, but they were divided. Half said high humidity not low, red light not regular light, UV light not a regular fluorescent light, under tank heater and or heat bulb.......etc.

Would you folks mind telling me what is a good set up please? We will start off by keeping her in a 20 gal long. After she gets bigger we'lll move her to a bigger tank. Maybe aspen bedding (We already have a bag of it) or maybe cypress or coconut. A true under tank heater or maybe a heating pad with low, medium and high settings? Should we use a UVB light? If so, 2.0, 5.0, 8.0? What about heat lamp? What are good temps? Should the high temp stay there all the time or go down at night? Right now she will just be a pet, so we will be wanting to make the tank look good too.
Any info that you can offer would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks
Rob

aspen bedding is no good, brbs raquire 75-80 percent humdity, and aspen molds too quickly i suggest moss or reptibark. i find that a daytime high of 85 degees and a low of 78 degrees is good. make sure to put hides on both sides, the warmer side with the undertank heater, and one on the cooler side. brbs are very perticular about their humidity, so you may even raise the humidity to 90%.

...Do you have any recent photos of that snake?
Jeff

>>aspen bedding is no good, brbs raquire 75-80 percent humdity, and aspen molds too quickly i suggest moss or reptibark. i find that a daytime high of 85 degees and a low of 78 degrees is good. make sure to put hides on both sides, the warmer side with the undertank heater, and one on the cooler side. brbs are very perticular about their humidity, so you may even raise the humidity to 90%.
>>

First off, UV light is absolutely unneccessary for a brazilian rainbow boa. They get all of the nutrition they need from the rats they will be eating. The only reason you need to consider lighting is if you want to show off the cage colors during the day. (your snake will be hiding so the light won't show off the animal's colors).

I prefer to heat the animals from below with "Flex-watt" brand heat element. It's paper thin and easy to set up. I don't use lights to heat because it seems like a waste of energy. The snakes don't climb that much and they certainly don't hang out in the branches so there's really no need to heat the air. Brazilians spend most of their time curled up under their hiding spots. This is where I like to regulate the temperature. Whatever you use to heat the cage, I highly recommend using a proportional thermostat to regulate the temperature. I like the Helix DBS 1000. From what I've heard, Spyder robotics makes a nice unit as well. I really try hard to convince people not to use heating pads with a low, medium and high setting. First of all, even on low, they can get up to 90°. Way too hot. Second, you constantly have to monitor the temperature as the seasons and ambient temperatures change. It's much easier to program 84° on the helix and rest assured your snake won't overheat.

As far as bedding goes, there are lots of options. I have had success with newspaper, paper towel, pine shavings (aspen included), shredded coconut, and my new favorite, a western fir mulch that has a nice reddish appearance. My only caution is to stay away from cedar, or redwood. These woods are known to contain chemicals that can cause respiratory infections in snakes.

I agree with the previous post on the temperatures, but I have a different opinion on humidity. I spray babies and yearlings daily to every other day in the morning and let the humidity subside throughout the day. If I don't do this, they may have problems shedding. Juveniles and adults rarely get sprayed at my house and I don't keep any wet moss or humid hide box in the cage. I never measure the humidity and don't think it's that important for older animals. I do keep large water dishes in my cages so that the snakes can soak if the like. I've noticed tat when they are about to shed, they will often go for a soak. They will also use water dishes to thermoregulate on hot days or during mating season.

I hope some of this is helpful. If you haven't yet, please take a look at my website. I have an extensive section on captive care for these animals. While I wil be the first to admit that there is not one correct way of keeping these snakes, the info on my site is based on 16 years of experience withthese animals. I'd really like to help people enjoy these guys and to avoid some of the mistakes I made in the beginning.

Finally, if you'd like to shoot me an e-mail, I'd be happy to send you an e-copy of a care sheet I wrote. Wow! I didn't realize how long that was. I guess it shows how much I love talking snakes. If you have any more questions just let us know.
-----
Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

my rainbow boa set up is simple.

cage 3x2x1 feet
water bowl, 1 foot across.
eat tape at 92 degrees.
ambient air at 75.
if it feels humid its humid enough.
news paper substrate.
mist once a day
mist twice a day when they are blue.
remove newspaper once every 2 weeks, or when soiled.
whipe bottom of cage with chlorine free antibacterial wipe. rinse. dry.

the end.

these animals are so hard to mess up. you seriously have to keep them hot and dry or dirty to hurt them.
-----
1.5 west papuan carpet pythons
2.3 brazillian rainbow boas
1.7 ball pythons

If you want a more natural looking substrate, I really like the "Jungle Mix" by ESU, it's a mix of bark, soil, sand, moss, and vermiculite, and looks nice but isn't overly messy. It also holds moisture really well so it's great for keeping the humidity up.
-----
1.0 RES, Spunky
1.0 African mud turtle (P. castaneus), "Francois the Tortois"
1.0.1 Mali Uromastyx, Ajani, Guban(Goober)
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa, Nico
0.0.1 Northern Blue Tongue Skink, Owajabi(Jabi)
0.0.1 African bullfrog, Ushi
3.0 Cats
1/2.0 rabbit (friend and I went 50/50)

In my opinion, Rainbow Boas are one of the heartiest snakes to keep in captivity.

What they require is:

1. A temperature between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. A large water bowl which helps to raise the humidity,

3. An appropriate sized food item (mice or rats) once every 7 to 14 days.

It is really as easy as 1-2-3.

I house my snakes separately in food-grade plastic cages. They are 4-feet wide, 3-feet deep and two feet tall. I have used various bedding materials and have found shredded Cypress to work well (do NOT use Cedar, Pine or Aspen). I keep my snakes on newspaper for several reasons. It is sterile, cheap, easy to take out of the cage by rolling it up with any unwanted material inside, easy to install in the newly sterilized cage and it keeps me current on local events. Each cage has 1 to 2 square feet of heat tape under a back corner of the cage. It is on a timer and a rheostat and gets about 85 degrees for 6 to 12 hours each day. The water bowl is on the opposite corner of the cage to allow for the maximum temperature range for the snake to thermoregulate between. The water bowl is always large enough for the animal to fully submerge and all of my Rainbow Boas take full advantage of this and soak regularly. Although many keepers mist their snakes to raise the humidity, I do not. I feel that the large water bowl creates enough humidity inside the cage. If a snake is "Blue" (in shed), I will often splash some water on to the newspaper to further raise the humidity. The damp paper is removed and replaced with dry paper after the snake sheds. Adults have a 15 Quart Sterilite clear view storage box as a pool which is cleaned / sterilized weekly along with the cage. I sterilize with Basic-G, a germicidal cleaner from Shaklee. It says that it is Bactericidal (Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Salmonella...), fungicidal, and Virucidal. Because I am not a veterinarian, I do my best to keep my snakes healthy. I am not sure that the Basic-G helps, but I have not had a sick snake in several (5 ) years.

The jungle carpets rarely soak, and they have only a 4 quart water bowl. These snakes are arboreal and will benefit from climbing branches, especially as babies. They also like slightly warmer temperatures for the hotspot.

If you have further questions, or think of anything to add to my list,

please E-mail me at Rainbowboa@Hotmail.com .

http://www.rainbowboas.com/housing_requirements.htm

>>In my opinion, Rainbow Boas are one of the heartiest snakes to keep in captivity.
>>
>> What they require is:
>>
>>1. A temperature between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
>>
>>2. A large water bowl which helps to raise the humidity,
>>
>>3. An appropriate sized food item (mice or rats) once every 7 to 14 days.
>>
>>
>>
>>It is really as easy as 1-2-3.
>>
>> I house my snakes separately in food-grade plastic cages. They are 4-feet wide, 3-feet deep and two feet tall. I have used various bedding materials and have found shredded Cypress to work well (do NOT use Cedar, Pine or Aspen). I keep my snakes on newspaper for several reasons. It is sterile, cheap, easy to take out of the cage by rolling it up with any unwanted material inside, easy to install in the newly sterilized cage and it keeps me current on local events. Each cage has 1 to 2 square feet of heat tape under a back corner of the cage. It is on a timer and a rheostat and gets about 85 degrees for 6 to 12 hours each day. The water bowl is on the opposite corner of the cage to allow for the maximum temperature range for the snake to thermoregulate between. The water bowl is always large enough for the animal to fully submerge and all of my Rainbow Boas take full advantage of this and soak regularly. Although many keepers mist their snakes to raise the humidity, I do not. I feel that the large water bowl creates enough humidity inside the cage. If a snake is "Blue" (in shed), I will often splash some water on to the newspaper to further raise the humidity. The damp paper is removed and replaced with dry paper after the snake sheds. Adults have a 15 Quart Sterilite clear view storage box as a pool which is cleaned / sterilized weekly along with the cage. I sterilize with Basic-G, a germicidal cleaner from Shaklee. It says that it is Bactericidal (Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Salmonella...), fungicidal, and Virucidal. Because I am not a veterinarian, I do my best to keep my snakes healthy. I am not sure that the Basic-G helps, but I have not had a sick snake in several (5 ) years.
>>
>> The jungle carpets rarely soak, and they have only a 4 quart water bowl. These snakes are arboreal and will benefit from climbing branches, especially as babies. They also like slightly warmer temperatures for the hotspot.
>>
>>
>>
>>If you have further questions, or think of anything to add to my list,
>>
>>please E-mail me at Rainbowboa@Hotmail.com .
>>
>>http://www.rainbowboas.com/housing_requirements.htm

Thanks for your thoughts on how to house these snakes. I got some cypress mulch and a decent size under tank heater and a rheostate(SP) for it. I'd rather get the thermostat that flavor recomended, but that one costa as much as the snake (Getting a good deal from a semi local PS) I'll put a good size dog water dish in there for water. And some kind of light so we can see in there.

After the stress of the hour and half drive home and the new enclosure, when would you suggest I try to feed her? Give her 4 or 5 days to kinda settle in and then try feeding? I know that it also kinda depends on when she was last fed.

The mulch I got is kinda moist in the bag. Do you think that I should bake it to try to kill any bacteria that may be growing on it right now while it's still in the bag and then put some moisture on it later? Or maybe right out of the bag and into the tank?
Thanks again for your thoughts and suggestions,
Rob

Rob,
I'd give your snake at least 10 days to settle in (assuming this is a hydrated, healthy BRB).
The mulch is good right out of the bag but some may recommend baking and then rewetting; whatever makes you most comfortable. Snakes really are pretty hardy if given the right conditions.
If you hav'nt already secured your enclosure; I recommend a tall enclosure with plenty of climbing opportunities; in my experience these snakes love to climb and will spend the evenings cruising about the cage. My group can often be found laying out on a limb at night. I heat my large enclosure with night lights but this is not the norm for keeping these snakes.
Good luck and post some pics when it settles in.
Paul

Thanks for that bit of info. I'm heading out to get her in an hour or so. I'll try to put up a few pictures of her when I get back.
Rob