hey all, I'm currently raising my first boa constrictor, and am very happy with her! However, I do have a few questions which I haven't really been able get answered just by reading.
The first one is about defecation frequency. I find that my female boa, about 8 months of age, will defecate every 3-4 weeks the past 2-3 months, and that is only with a soak in warm water for a while(was treating for mites). They are pretty large defecations too, significantly bigger then when is was once every week or two. This seems a little infrequent, and while its nice not having to clean the cage often, I was wondering if theres anything I'm not doing right. The humidity is fine(between50-60 most of the time), and I don't think shes dehydrated at all. Should I be worried or is everything alright?
My second question has to do with thermoregulating. Has anyone had experience with a boa that didn't seem to thermoregulate much? My current set-up is a 20 gallon-long aquarium with a 100W ceramic heat emitter on a dimmer switch, and unfortunately I am having a few problems getting the temps exactly how I want them. I can get the warm end with a basking spot consistently about 88-92ish, but with the hotspot at that temp the cool end of the tank generally doesn't get above 80 degrees(damn aquariums not holding heat). Before anyone says that I should get a new set up, I know this and plan on getting an AP/Boaphile/something similar with a radiant heat panel and a thermostat, but it will have to wait another month or two until I can afford it. But back to the point, my concern is that having the cool end at generally 75-80, she seems content to stay there all day sometimes, and feels fairly cool to the touch. Of course she will go under the hotspot sometimes, but a lot of the time she will stay away from it for a few days at a time, and be pretty inactive.
Along those lines, how active are boa constrictors normally? I have to say I haven't had much experience with boa constrictors, and while I know they aren't as active as colubrids, its a rare day that I even see her moving freely around the cage. The most movement I observe in her (besides handling) is when I put her back in the enclosure, and thats usually only for a few minutes. If this is normal thats fine, and I have an idea that its partially due to the temps, because she is SLIGHTLY more active when shes under the basking spot.
Sorry for all the questions, but I have just one more for now haha. A main attraction for me is the larger size that boa constrictors get (my kingsnakes just didnt do it for me), and someone told me that a good safe way to raise a snake to be larger is to keep the ambient temps slightly higher and feed SLIGHTLY more often. I DO know about power-feeding and that overfeeding can lead to numerous heath problems, so I was wondering if there is any truth to what this person said. When I say slightly higher/more often I mean ambient temps of 85-86 with a hotspot in the low-mid 90's and feeding every 5-6 days instead of every 7 days as my boa is on right now. Of course I want to avoid having an unhealthy obese and inactive snake, but if this is a safe way to get my boa a bit bigger then I'd like to know. And I know that I should decrease feeding frequency after about a year, so no worries about that 
Thanks to everyone in advance for your replies, this website has been an incredible resource for me, and has been taking up more of my days then I would like to admit
P.S. can someone tell me how to post photos on here? (I have no experience with posting photos on message forums)
