Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I fell in love with Rainbow Boas years and years ago, and always regarded them as my "someday" dream herp.

It just so happened that by complete accident, about a month ago, an 11 week-old male (now 15) found his way to me.
I don't know anything about is lineage, as he was a "My wife hates snakes, so I'm getting rid of him" situation, and his previous owner didn't reveal much about where he came from.

Anyway, he's a great little guy. Needless to say I'm absolutely smitten.

Here are a few pictures of Quetzal.

I look forward to being an active member of this forum, and getting to know everyone and their snakes.

Welcome to the forum. Great looking little BRB. Are you sure about the age of your snake?
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 www.corallus.com/cenchria/index.html

Hello Jeff! I've come across your name many times in my years of researching the husbandry of BRBs.

I'm not at all sure of the age of Quetzal. I'm just going on what I was told. He's about 2 feet long right now, and about the diameter of my thumb. He's eating a f/t rat pup once a week, which seems to take him about that long to digest fully.

Thank you for the warm welcome and additional information!

Welcome! That is one nice looking BRB, and I LOOOVE the name! I really like the contrast on him, and the nice uniform crescents. Hope you stick around and contunue to share pictures!
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Well thank you very much! I plan on sticking around, and certainly posting a ton of pictures.

You'll find this bunch here to be a really nice group of folks. Very helpful and minimal squabling.

Nice looking BRB, love the high contrast between the saddles and the background.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

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

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thank you!

I'm very excited to have such a great group of people to ease me into BRB ownership... not to mention provide an abundance of eyecandy with the photos of their incredible animals.
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Danielle

Herps:
1.0 BRB
1.0 Amel Motley Corn
----------------------
Other critters:
1.0 Great Dane
1.0 Siamese
1 Senegal Parrot
1 Blue Fronted Amazon

you would have never got it. I would have gotten rid of the wife instead! BTW welcome to the forum!!! Beautiful animal! Did you name the snake after Pharomachrus mocinno, the famous long-tailed quetzal of Central America?
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

smiles...
Image

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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

haha! Yes, that's my philosophy about pets as well.

I'm very familiar with Pharomachrus mocinno, in addition to serpents, I'm a bit of a bird geek.
Quetzal's whole name is actually Quetzalcoatl, after the Aztec Feathered Serpent deity.

Thank you for the warm welcome! I am so happy to have found this place.
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Danielle

Herps:
1.0 BRB
1.0 Amel Motley Corn
----------------------
Other critters:
1.0 Great Dane
1.0 Siamese
1 Senegal Parrot
1 Blue Fronted Amazon

Once again Welcome!!!! I am digging the name!!!
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

Welcome. Nice looking snake.
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0.0.1 BRB (Blue)
0.0.1 Ball Python (Nut)
1.0 BCI (Slash)

Thanks.
Glad to be here.
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Danielle

Herps:
1.0 BRB
1.0 Amel Motley Corn
----------------------
Other critters:
1.0 Great Dane
1.0 Siamese
1 Senegal Parrot
1 Blue Fronted Amazon