Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a question about which is a good size container for a boa that's about 5-6 feet long? I spent the last 2 weeks getting them healthy (RI infection) now I need to seperate them. I realize a better thing would be a good size tank or hand built cage, but due to room this will have to do for a couple of weeks. I'm still in the planning stages and honestly this is a last resort so any info would be greatly appriciated.

The better question is why weren't they separate from the start? Or at least after one or both of them became sick?

Unless you acquired sick animals, which I don't know why anyone would, if you had not kept them together you likely would not have had two sick animals.

People need to think about these things before they get new animals.

With that said, a large sterilite bin with a secure lid will be fine. Provided you supply the proper heat with something like flex-watt and monitor the temperatures with a thermostat, or at the MINIMUM a rheostat.
Go to the store and judge the size in relation to your boa for yourself. Height isn't much of an issue, but since Sterilite doesn't fabricate products with boa keepers in mind, taller is better than too short.
Because the normal strength of the lids wouldn't even keep a baby boa inside, you will have to secure it somehow. I would drill a small hole in the lid and the rim of the bin, insert a small bolt with a wing-nut to hold the lid tight, and do this in a few spots. That way you can still get inside, but your boa will not be found elsewhere.

Do yourself and the animals a favor, and next time, plan ahead.

"The better question is why weren't they separate from the start? Or at least after one or both of them became sick?

Unless you acquired sick animals, which I don't know why anyone would, if you had not kept them together you likely would not have had two sick animals.

People need to think about these things before they get new animals.

With that said,..."

THAT, didn't need to be said.

Look, we all make mistakes, at one point or another, and the fact is, there are countless legitimate reasons for two snakes to be housed together and both becoming sick. For all you know he may have just recently rescued them and they were housed together when he got them and both were already sick.

You may have good intentions but you ain't his daddy, so quit actin' like it.

BTW, there's no possible way to plan ahead for every conceivable situation. And even if you wre to be "Mr. Perfect Herpetologist," I guaran-dang-tee you that there's at least one area of your life that you're a slacker in.

Next time, stick with just answering the person's question and don't try to belittle them or make them feel any guiltier than they already do.

I hate to be so hard on you but it's been a long, hard day and I'm sick & tired of seeing posts like yours.

Other than that, have a great day!
MIke
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

LMAO !!!
Granted a square kick in the ass for some people wouldnt bring home the truth when it comes to careing for animals.
Then there are those moments when ones mind is in nuetral and the mouth keeps running ......

M/

>>"The better question is why weren't they separate from the start? Or at least after one or both of them became sick?
>>
>>Unless you acquired sick animals, which I don't know why anyone would, if you had not kept them together you likely would not have had two sick animals.
>>
>>People need to think about these things before they get new animals.
>>
>>With that said,..."
>>
>>THAT, didn't need to be said.
>>
>>Look, we all make mistakes, at one point or another, and the fact is, there are countless legitimate reasons for two snakes to be housed together and both becoming sick. For all you know he may have just recently rescued them and they were housed together when he got them and both were already sick.
>>
>>You may have good intentions but you ain't his daddy, so quit actin' like it.
>>
>>BTW, there's no possible way to plan ahead for every conceivable situation. And even if you wre to be "Mr. Perfect Herpetologist," I guaran-dang-tee you that there's at least one area of your life that you're a slacker in.
>>
>>Next time, stick with just answering the person's question and don't try to belittle them or make them feel any guiltier than they already do.
>>
>>I hate to be so hard on you but it's been a long, hard day and I'm sick & tired of seeing posts like yours.
>>
>>Other than that, have a great day!
>>MIke
>>-----
>>It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

Gee, please forgive me Chris, see I traveld over 80 miles one way in a crummy wind driven rain to pick up two "free 5-6'" boas from a guy who could no longer keep them. Being a reptile lover I could not refuse a rescue. The gentilemen was in a hurry to get to work so I basically scooped them up and ran. Upon my arrival back home I discovered instantly that they were sick. What should I have done? Killed them? No I asked for help from this board and recieved great advice. Now I asked agian for advice and I instantly get a lecture from someone who ASSUMED I was a novice, I'm not I've been into reptiles almost 20 years, just been out of the game a bit and needed some aid, sorry. Thank you though to Mike I appriciate the kind words.

Just remember to put them on slow cook for acouple weeks and post pics when ya can !

M/

>>Gee, please forgive me Chris, see I traveld over 80 miles one way in a crummy wind driven rain to pick up two "free 5-6'" boas from a guy who could no longer keep them. Being a reptile lover I could not refuse a rescue. The gentilemen was in a hurry to get to work so I basically scooped them up and ran. Upon my arrival back home I discovered instantly that they were sick. What should I have done? Killed them? No I asked for help from this board and recieved great advice. Now I asked agian for advice and I instantly get a lecture from someone who ASSUMED I was a novice, I'm not I've been into reptiles almost 20 years, just been out of the game a bit and needed some aid, sorry. Thank you though to Mike I appriciate the kind words.

Actually I already did that. THANKS TO YOUR ADVICE my good friend and it work wonders! Both have now shed, (both of them in one complete shed) and are looking for a good meal. I'll post pics as soon as I can.

I see no one else bothered to answer your question though.

I didn't mean anything bad about it, just a friendly critique.

Still, after you had got the animals, you should have separated them when you first noticed they were sick. As I mentioned in my initial reply, I did allow for the possibility that you obtained sick animals.

Glad to hear you stuck with it, and are continueing!

Well, like I said earlier, we all make mistakes, including me. I could've said what I said in a nicer, more effective way. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and apologize.

Sometimes it can be hard to determine a person's thoughts, feelings and/or intentions when reading their post. Things have a tendency to get lost or added between a poster's thoughts and the reader's interpretation of the post. I've had a few posts that were interpreted completely different than what I was thinking when I wrote 'em.

No hard feelings on my end.

The reason I didn't address the Sterlite container question is because I'm pretty much container-ignorant. I've only used a few and I'm not familiar with their size, etc... I couldn't have added anything beneficial to your suggestions on it.

Take care & have a great day!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

I should appologize as well, I know what you mean about text being taken the wrong way.

Brian,
The reason I didn't reply to your container question is because I'm pretty much container-ignorant. I've used a few as holding tubs for cage cleaning but never housed anything in them and I'm not familiar with the various sizes.

I think Chris has a good idea about looking at them to determine what size would give the snakes enough room while keeping the tub size acceptable for you.

I'll undoubtedly be going back into town within the next few days & I'll run into Wally World to see what they've got and will post back my recommendations. I live in the boonies, 25 miles from town and 5 miles from the nearest pay phone. (Further than that to find one that works most of the time.)

I looked at what they had just the other day because I had to get me a new holding tub due to my 10ft Burmese busting through a crack in the one I had. The one I just got is a 45-quart/170-litre. It's aprox. 36" x 18" x 18" and has hard-plastic lid keepers on the ends. A snake the size of yours could still push the middle edges up enough to get out, so you'd need to secure the middle edges better. I feel that this size would be acceptable, temporarily. You can even go a little shorter on the height, like maybe 12". I paid 13 bucks for the one I just bought, so they're definitely cheap.

So now you can see why I didn't reply to your question; because I really couldn't add anything beneficial to what Chris said about it.

I'll post back after I take a look within the next few days.

Take care!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

No problem. I really appriciate all the reply's to my question. I myself don't have alot of experiance with containers I usually build my own or use large tanks. My big problem is that I've taken a job with a local mom and pop pet store and seem to get every Tom, Dick and Harry come to me with there unwanted reptiles. Sadly I will not turn down an unwanted critter cause my feeling is they are better of with me (and a little cramped) then with somewone who is neglecting them. It's really disgusting how people buy on a whim not understanding what they are doing. I do appriciate all the help these boards give me and others thank you all.

Hey Brian, just read through all the posts. First off, congrats on them doing better and your obvious caring about these and other "unwanted" animals.

I'm not up on the sterilite tub numbers but I did just recently make a rack for Iris CB110's. They seem to be large enough for subadult and small adult boas. The shelves are 20" x 40" and the tubs have a fairly smooth floor - easy for cleaning. If you are rescuing many animals you might think about a tub rack to save space. Even multiple racks so you can have three seperate categories. Healthy, quarantine and sick.

Some pics and if you want details, I can provide:

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, selectively bred from good stock)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
12.24 BRB
11.13 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Nice racks, Dave!

Please forgive my cage building ignorance but how are the inner melamine shelves held in place? With the little pre-formed angle braces they sell for melamine?

Thanks!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

Thanks Mike, you can do a lot with a pneumatic brad nailer. and it leaves small almost invisable holes.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, selectively bred from good stock)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
12.24 BRB
11.13 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Brian,
I was in Wal-Mart this afternoon & I took a look at what they had. Here's what I thought would be acceptable, temporarily, for a Boa the size of yours.

Sterlite 90 quart/85 liter, w/snap-on lid
Measurements: 32"L x 12"W x 12"H
Cost: $9.50

Rubbermaid 95 quart/89.8 liter, w/two hard plastic lid latches (one on each end)
Measurements: 30"L x 12"W x 13"H
Cost: $12 (on sale for $10)

Iris (VE-175) "Holiday Tree Storage Box", w/two hard plastic lid latches
Measurements: 48"L x 18"W x 11"H (the lid had an additional 2 inches of height, making total height = 13"
Cost: $25

All of these tubs were semi-transparent.

I hope this helps.

Take care!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

Awesome thanks alot. I really apriciate all the help I've gotten recently. BTW both boas ate 2 jumbo rats each today. Although the jumbos did seem a little tiny they still took the easily. Looks like the sickness is now totally gone.

You're more than welcome for what little bit I did.

Glad to hear they're doing good. Keep up the good work, it'll come back around to you, somehow, some day.

Take care!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.