Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,
About 2/3 weeks ago I added a brazilian rainbow boa to my snake collection. Purchased him at the White Plains expo in NY. I put two hides in his 10 gallon, one on the cool side and one on the warm side (he usually stays on the cool side).
He hardly EVER comes out. Over 3 weeks I've caught him once taking a sip of water. He seems very frightened of me. I placed a hopper inside the cage, he stretched out of his hide, and took it back in with him to eat it.
Wondering if this is normal for the boas. My hognose and kingsnake are very active, esp. this time of year.
Also, recommendations on how and where to feed him would be great. Since he's going to be a bit bigger then my others, I want to make sure I get him totally used to me and his feeding regimen.
Thanks in advance!!!
katie

Well, the first thing would be to ditch the aquarium and go to either a tub of some sort or a full-on snake cage (boaphile, animal plastics, etc, etc, they all work well). The reason for this is that aquariums are notoriously bad at holding both heat and humidity, both of which are very important. Baby rainbows need 90% relative humidity. That's nigh impossible to maintain in an aquarium because the screen top lets it all out.

The second thing would be to read Dave Colling's excellent care sheets: www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com/Care Sheets.htm

They answer just about all of your questions if I recall correctly.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

Also to add...its normal for baby rainbows to be rather 'shy' at first. After he's eating regularly for a few weeks or more, it is alright to take him out (I recommend during the day, definitely not during the times of even you would normally feed him and of course not right after you fed him either..wait about 48 hours before handling after feeding). Its fine to take him out for a few minutes, get him used to being gently handled. If he bites, (which at a young age shouldn't hurt at all or not much anyway...no more than kingsnakes anyway). With gentle handling they learn being held by you isn't a threat to them.

I would keep the handling very short, pretty much till he calms and goes into explore mode (tongue flicking out frequently, movements more relaxed, no longer holds itself in the 'S' pose of potential striking).
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PHLdyPayne

Congrats and welcome to the forum. Looks like all has been covered except maybe temps, I keep my babies at 80 hot end, about 75 at cool end of tub.

lol, don't get me started on BRB's in fish tanks.....

Oh yeah, one other thing required to post here...PICS!!!!
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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 (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I know you mentioned you just got him but any idea how old it is? My BRB is the same way, like yours he spends alot of time in his cool side hide. Mine never comes out during the day, unless i just put him back in from handling then he'll explore for 5 minutes and go back into a hide. Im pretty sure the BRB is a Nocturnal snake so most of the moving around would be done at night. I wouldnt worry about them. About you using an aquarium, most people here dont prefer the use of them, but if you have to do what i did and get some plexi-glass and seal off a good 3/4's of the screen lid. It will save you some money rather then putting out for another tank and will do what you need. Now after your able to keep the humidity in make sure to spray the tank at least twice, maybe three times a day. Like always keep your temps right as well.

As far as it being frightened by you, of course its going to be your 100x's the size of it. Frequent handling will help solve this, remember no sudden movements and not to smell like food, and that will help progress your snake to being able to be handled. Like someone else had already stated always give them time after feeding, dont handle them within 24-48hrs since there last feeding.

Oh and about feeding, you asked where to feed them. Ever since my first snake ever i have always had something separate to feed my snake in, some people prefer this some others dont really care. It helps them learn that not everything that comes into the cage (your hand for example) is food. I feed my snake in a Tupperware container about a foot round, you dont want something so big that the snake has to chase the food around plus keeping it close to prey normally initiates a quicker strike rather then sitting and waiting for it to realize there's food.

Katie,
...Welcome to the forum. By staying almost entirely in the cooler hiding place your snake is telling you that the entire cage may be too warm. These snakes are nocturnal but they do come out sometimes during the day. Staying hidden all the time may be caused by stress. Too much light or activity or noise around the cage will stress the snake. Temperatures too high can also cause stress. Get an accurate thermometer and find out what the temperature is down inside the hide where the snake is staying most of the time. As you have already read many of us do not like tanks for Rainbow Boas. Tanks will work if you cover 95% or more of the screen top. The covered top will stop the escape of humidity from the cage and make maintaining the humidity much much easier. Be careful covering the top as along with holding the humidity inside the cage it will also retain heat and could overheat the cage. If the room temperature is in the 70s most of the time the cage might actually work best with no added heat. Get accurate temperature readings to be sure. The biggest mistake new keepers make with these snakes is keeping them too hot and/or too dry. Ideally a cage should be long enough to have one end in the very low 70s and the other end in the high 70s to low 80s. In a cage that is too small to make the gradient work like that try to keep the entire cage in the 70s. Watch what your snakes do. They are often trying to tell you something.
Jeff