Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys, just wondering what you guys have found affects the physical condition of your boas. . .

I know there are a few obvious factors such as slow raising with high-quality prey items, as well as exercise, but how much exercise do you feel is appropriate? I take the one boa I have out at least 3-4 times weekly, usually for 30 mins to an hour or more. While she is definitely not fat, she doesnt seem to have very strong muscle tone (ie. is a bit softer then i think she should feel). The one thing I have noticed is that she is pretty much the laziest snake i have ever seen,I NEVER see her cruising her cage, or really moving at all. The temps/humidity are perfectly fine and she is active enough outside of the cage.
One thing I could be doing better with is the quality of the rats I feed her, they are from the local pet shop and its not the best conditions there.
I also feel that genetics could play a factor(with snakes in general), obviously there are big genetic differences in people regarding natural muscle tone.

Just curious as to what others people experiences have been.

I had a friend who used to have a very extensive collection of various boas and large pythons and I remember that he actually created a "jungle gym" of sorts for his animals. It was about eight feet tall, six feet wide and four feet deep and consisted of a tangle of various sized branches and boards.

I've always planned on building one myself, but I currently have space restrictions. However, it was a perfect set up to not only keep the snakes fit but we also "retro-fitted" a nice backdrop onto the jungle gym and were able to use it to also take pictures of his collection. Since the boas and pythons were allowed to find their own comfortable perch they tolerated photo sessions much longer than animals that were either held or placed onto the ground.

I was never a "boa guy". I liked assisting him with feeding and maintaining his collection but stuck mostly to pythons myself. Eventually he moved away and I never really gave the idea of owning a boa much of a thought again until a few months ago. Now I have a gorgeous Nicaraguan Boa (I never thought they were much to look at until I fell in love with this little stunner I picked up from the mom-and-pop pet store nearby). Until I brought her home I had completely forgotten how much fun it is working with boas. Now I also have a Suriname male that will eventually be coming from Barry Miller.

My wife and I will hopefully be buying our first home this Spring and I can't wait to start building some naturalistic vivariums for my boas as well as a jungle gym and a few nice cages for some of my pythons. I plan on having one "gym" outside for summer use and one inside for the remainder of the year.

Just noticed I messed up the dimensions of the gym. I can't be exactly sure but the dimensions were roughly 8'W x 6'T x 4' D. I'm sure you've seen those grapevine jungle gyms they sell at pet stores for use inside of a cage or tank... think of one of those only on a much bigger scale.

Yeah I always thought a snake jungle gym would be really cool, I remember seeing one on Jeff Ronne's website somewhere that he built, but it was more of a christmas tree style one. It looks so awesome with a bunch of snakes crawling around on it too, if I only had enough snakes for that. . .
Ive actually tried a similar thing with my boa (not elaborate or anything, just some big driftwood kinda pieces all interlocked), but unless I'm actually holding her she will move around for about a minute and then just sit there:/
I guess snakes are like people, some are active and some are just naturally lazy

Was your friends jungle gym enclosed so they couldn't get away, or would you guys have to keep a close eye on them?

We would usually place a snake or two on the "jungle gym" when were cleaning out their tanks. Generally, we didn't have to keep too close of an eye on them, but it's not like they were unsupervised or even in a different room than us.

Like you said, some were more active than others and we knew who would attempt to bolt and who would climb or lounge. We tried to give them all about 20-30 minutes a week on the jungle gym - not counting the time that they were being held or were on it for cage cleaning. He worked out of his home (as some sort of computer guy - nothing related to his snakes, they were strictly for his pleasure). Anyways, his basement was one big room where he kept all of his snakes, as well as the necessary equipment and the jungle gym. His "office" consisted of a filing cabinet and his desk located in a corner of his basement next to the jungle gym so he was able to take the snakes out to lounge or climb while he worked at his desk.