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New to Rainbows

jpk4 Nov 19, 2008 08:00 PM

Hi my girlfriend just bought a 2 year old female venezualan rainbow and at the pet stores here no has any idea what they are talking about. I've been trying to find out what kind of habitat is best for the venezualan, she has a glass tank with heat lamp and is getting temps of 82 or so but her humidity is usually only up to 35-40%.

Wondering where it needs to be and if anyone has some good advice to get that humidity up.

Thanks

Replies (9)

rainbowsrus Nov 19, 2008 08:26 PM

I'm not up on VRB care but to raise humidity.....

Cover most of the screen top...

Lose the heat lamp and switch over to some kind of UTH with thermostat.....

A damp moss hide box.....

>>Hi my girlfriend just bought a 2 year old female venezualan rainbow and at the pet stores here no has any idea what they are talking about. I've been trying to find out what kind of habitat is best for the venezualan, she has a glass tank with heat lamp and is getting temps of 82 or so but her humidity is usually only up to 35-40%.
>>
>>Wondering where it needs to be and if anyone has some good advice to get that humidity up.
>>
>>Thanks
-----
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:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

jpk4 Nov 19, 2008 08:43 PM

Awesome, thanks...so my girlfriend is new to rainbows and i'm new to snakes all together. Probably a dumb question but what is a damp moss hide box?

rainbowsrus Nov 19, 2008 10:26 PM

One of those spo often asked questions I have the answer saved....

I use a sterilite 1754 sweaterbox for my damp moss boxes. I cut two access holes. Note the holes are "U"
shaped so if multiple sections of snake are going through at same time, it can lift the lid if necessary.
I had two kinda stuck one time with a round hole. One had it's body going both in and out while a second also
was going in one direction for a total of three body widths at the same time. They probably woulda been fine
and worked it out on their own but I didn't like it so I opened the top of the holes to the current "U" shape.

With the top removed you can see the green moss and the "U" shaped holes in the sides. I only use an inch of
green moss but it does expand to about two inches when damp.

Pulled up the corner of the moss to show the layer of peat moss
underneath. This serves two purposes, adds mass for water and heat retention and provides a bit of drainage
for when they urinate. They will urinate and deficate in the box. I pull the solids and replace the entire
contents about monthly give or take depending on circumstances. For example, they will go longer between
changes right now with no food intake.

And you can use smaller boxes for smaller snakes.
-----
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:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

jpk4 Nov 20, 2008 04:56 PM

Sweet, that helps a lot. Where can you pick up the moss from? I assume petland wouldn't sell it.

rainbowsrus Nov 20, 2008 05:34 PM

I get the sphagnum moss from home depot and the green moss from mossproducts.com
-----
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:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

natsamjosh Nov 19, 2008 08:42 PM

You also should consider making or buying a snake enclosure, it will keep humidity in better than a glass tank. Please
post some pics if you can, I'm curious what the snake looks like.

Good luck!

Ed

>>Hi my girlfriend just bought a 2 year old female venezualan rainbow and at the pet stores here no has any idea what they are talking about. I've been trying to find out what kind of habitat is best for the venezualan, she has a glass tank with heat lamp and is getting temps of 82 or so but her humidity is usually only up to 35-40%.
>>
>>Wondering where it needs to be and if anyone has some good advice to get that humidity up.
>>
>>Thanks

jpk4 Nov 19, 2008 08:47 PM

Yeah I think that's her plan eventually and I'll see what I can do about the pics. It'll probably be a couple weeks.

Jeff Clark Nov 20, 2008 12:53 AM

All subspecies of Rainbow Boas do well with high humidity and warm but not hot temperatures. There are several different subspecies of Rainbow Boas that might be sold as Venezuelans though there is actually not one that is correctly called a Venezuelan Rainbow Boa.
Does the snake look like any of these three?

This first one is a Colombian Rainbow Boa and they range from Costa Rica down across the northwestern part of South America eastward into Venezuela. This one is a large adult that has lost all of it's pattern. When they are born they have a pattern somewhat like the Brazilian subspecies and they lose the pattern over the first couple of years to become solid brown like this.

This next one is a Brazilian Rainbow Boa and they range across most of the northern half of South America including into Venezuela. They have a great deal of variation in color.

This next snake is a Campina Grande Rainbow Boa which does not come from Venezuela but there are Rainbow Boas in Venezuela and Guyana called Guyana Rainbow Boas that look very much like this snake, though usually they are darker. I used this PIC because the Guyanans usually have stripes on the side of the neck like this snake but with the stripes continuing intermittently all along the side of the snake. There are also some Rainbow Boas from Venezuela that look like they may be crosses of different subspecies and they are impossible to identify.

>>Hi my girlfriend just bought a 2 year old female venezualan rainbow and at the pet stores here no has any idea what they are talking about. I've been trying to find out what kind of habitat is best for the venezualan, she has a glass tank with heat lamp and is getting temps of 82 or so but her humidity is usually only up to 35-40%.
>>
>>Wondering where it needs to be and if anyone has some good advice to get that humidity up.
>>
>>Thanks

jpk4 Nov 24, 2008 09:16 PM

i'd say it looks closest to the third but i wouldn't say it looks too much like it.

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