Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have spent some time researching snakes in general and have become very interested in the Dumeril's boa. I have a 150 gal tank (4ftX2ft)which has been modified to include a poster board/Styrofoam insulation on the outside of the tank on three sides and on the bottom. Inside the tank I have mounted two lights from above (both lights have been screened so that a curious snake cannot hurt themselves), one with a higher intensity than the other. There are two digital thermometers on separate sides as well, so that I can keep a hot and cold side. I wasn't sure if I should purchase another hygrometer or if one is sufficient to measure the relative humidity of the tank. There are two hide boxes, one for heating and the other for cooling. In the middle is a small pool of water, and an enclosed box with a single opening. I plan to include moss so that it may serve as a humidity box. Everything that has been included within the tank has been cleaned with water containing 5% or lower amounts of bleach. The items were then left to dry out for almost a week before being placed in the tank.

I am still a little confused about the better temperatures for the Dumeril's boas. Some things I have read mentioned low 90s for the hot spot, while others discuss high 80s. Low 80s to mid 70s were mentioned for the cold side. What temperatures would work better from a tank that lights from above? I plan to use a ceramic bulb at night. Would the temperature be set in the high 70s as well? From what I've gathered from my research, the humidity should be about 60% while some pet stores I talked to recommended as low as 50% and as high as 70%.

There are two major pet stores in my area that breed feeder mice and rats (usually white in color, but brown rats are available too). I raise quail and chickens, so baby birds wouldn't be a problem either. I have chicken broth on hand just in case too.

I have found a 4 month old female Dumeril's boa that I will be purchasing at the end of this month. The breeder has mentioned that she feeds well, has been handled frequently and is quite tame. She didn't appear to be lethargic, shedding, injured, or sickly in appearance. I didn't notice any mites on her or any sores or deformities of or within her mouth. She was very interested (but not frantic or pushy) in trying to get to the floor and out of my hands, which I would take as being normal for a snake.

In the past I have owned a Ribbon Snake and a California Kingsnake. However this was back when I was a child and they were fairly forgiving snakes, environment wise.

If you could throw some pointers on how to get the tank set up just right so that my new snake will arrive to a mostly stress-free environment, that would be greatly appreciated. The snake will be left alone for about a week, perhaps more if that is better, before I feed her. I have a large plastic box, about 1.5ftX2ft with which I plan to feed her in.

The breeder said that she's reluctant to accept frozen mice and still prefers live ones. I will try to use pre-killed if I can in hopes of weaning her off of the live mice. I've seen pictures of injured snakes and wouldn't like to lose my snake or see her suffer. The king snake I had was hooked on live mice for a while too, until we started feeding him pre-killed and then eventually frozen mice. I hope this snake will be persuaded too.

As for the 150 gal tank, this will not be her home indefinitely. My husband wants to convert a room which is about 10ftX6ft into a "snake room" for her. Later on, if we decide to get another snake, this room can be divided to form two enclosures. There is a door on opposite sides of the room, so this conversion wouldn't require walking through one enclosure to get to the other. This idea is at least a year away though.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If necessary, I can delay the arrival of the snake until I have everything set up properly.

It sounds like you have done your research! As far as heat goes mine do not appreciate temperatures in the 90s at all. I would be careful using too much heat in the cage as aquariums heat up too much. I haven't ever used a light for a snake. Since they prefer to be buried they often do not recieve the heat needed from above. I have always used heat pads in my cages. Ask around and see if you can find someone who uses lights to get an idea of how to set them up. In my experience, Dums do not like a warm night, and room temperature ~75 will suit them just fine.

I would avoid feeding the dumeril birds unless it is necessary...it is very hard to wean them off. I have a male whose gone from home to home because nobody wants to deal with his picky bird eating habits.

I used to own an iguana, and a room sized enclosure is necessary, but a dumeril's will not utilize a room the way you might expect it to. They will sit under a box for 23.5 hours out of the day, and maybe hunt at night, and you don't want to walk into a room with a 6 foot hungry female dum on the prowl. They are ambush predators and strike wildly when hungry. I use 4x2 custom made cages for my dums (the biggest is 5 feet and 18 pounds). I highly recommend you do not put a hatchling dumeril's in a 125 gallon tank, save it for when she is big. A baby dumerils wants to feel cramped and secure, and will often times not eat in a cage that size. It also takes female dumerils who eats on a regular basis 3-5 years to reach full size...so you may have to make a few cage changes.

I did my best...hopefully some one else will chime in!
-----
---------
7.14 Normal ball pythons
2.0 Pastel ball pythons
1.0 Plains Garter
0.1 Normal Kenyan Sand Boa
1.1 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Mid-Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
1.2 Dumeril's Boa
-----My list is too long, so I'll stop here!
*Amy*

Amy gave very good advice.

When she was saying that baby Dums want to feel cramped and secure - pretty much any snake will want to feel that way; a 20L aquarium would not be a bad size to start out with for a baby Dum. Too large a space, no matter how well-prepared can stress a snake.

Ask the breeder what the dimensions are of the enclosure the snake is currently housed in, and if any hiding spots are available, what those are, and how big. You may be surprised to find out just what a tiny space your snake is used to. If you can mimic these dimensions in whole or in part (even just the hiding places) this will probably help your snake to adjust.

My '04 female Dum is in a 20L aquarium, and has plenty of space yet before I need to worry about getting her into a bigger cage! She is smaller than most Dums her age, but I chalk that up to her own peculiar feeding habits - or, rather, that she pretty much didn't eat in her first year, which was before I bought her. She only ate live mice when I got her, but she switched to thawed without missing a beat.

I feed her in a plastic box separate from her cage, and I wholeheartedly believe that that is the best method. My Dum prefers that I cover the feeding box with a blanket or towel so it looks dark before she will eat, but when fed this way, has never refused a meal!

The substrate I use for my Dum is newpaper - as it is free for me, and easy to clean(replace). I have a large ceramic bowl - a dog dish - that I use for her water source. Instead of an actual hide box, I use Spanish Moss on top of the newspaper. I spread this out to about 2 or 3 inches thick throughout the whole cage. My female loves this as she can "burrow" through the moss freely, or just hide underneath it as she chooses. I also like it because I think it smells good, it is relatively cheap, it lasts a while, and when I mist it, it can hold a fair amount of moisture - and not get too soggy - and it's kinda pretty. Spanish Moss is the stuff that a lot of people put in pots around fake or real plants to make the pots more decorative. You can buy Spanish Moss at any gardening/home improvement store. It is a good idea with any natural material like this to put the material in the freezer for a week or so before you intend to use it - just in case there are any bugs in there.

I use two incandescent bulbs to light/heat the cage - a "day" light and a "night" light. While this works, I am not thrilled with this set up, as the lamps tend to dry out the cage more than I like. I mist the cage about once a day or every other day. I would prefer to move to using an under tank heater (UTH) and a fluorescent light, but I kinda got "burned" on my first attempt at finding an acceptably priced fluorescent light... which doesn't want to work for me(!). My Dum does seem to like basking under her night lamp, so I'll keep using my lamps for now.

Good Luck!
~Rebecca
-----
0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)