Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys! I recently acquired a 2 yr. old red-tail boa from a friend of mine. I have kept large snakes before but haven't done so in years. I setup his terrarium days before I got her. She is in a 40 gallon breeder, for now, which has: 94 basking spot during the day, hide-spot with a temp. of 90, slightly above 80 in the cool. During the night, temps drop 5 degrees on both sides. Substrate is Aspen and I maintain a humidity of about 50. I fed her 3 days after she was settled, outside of her terrarium, a medium rat (which she had been eating prior me acquiring her). It has been almost 6 days since she ate and she has not yet defecated. I can't remember how many days after they normally go. So, my question is, how many days after eating do 2 yr. old juveniles normally defecate?

Thank you!

If you are really worried about the defecation cycle ditch the aspen. Many of my Boa's defecate only urates from time to time, these may be hard to notice in aspen. Just like people Boa's are different, some go awhile between deposits others not so long. Its about the quality of the sample that matter's. Runny discolored stool and hard extremely large stool's are cause for concern as they indicate a problem.

Your humidity is a bit low you may see some change by increasing the humidity.

Lastly Shed cycle always seams to throw off the defecation cycle. Most of my Boa's make a deposit right after they shed.

Cheers
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile
Specializing in Boa Morph's

1.0 Snow "Khal"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Khal"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Khal" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Suriname/Columbian cross
0.1 Anerthrystic

Typically every 7-12 days over here. It depends on the size of food,wethar they spend more time on the hot or cool side, or humidity. It is variable too. Often when I spray the cage at night with warm water on day 8-10, I'll find a pile in the morning.
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Snake room janitor