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I NEVER see my Braz. rainbow boa.When I go to feed him I have to dig him out of the cypress mulch.He doesnt even come out at night.Just hides all the time.He doesnt use his branches or even his hides.Just burrows down and doesnt move.I thought they would be a bit better then a ball python?
Ive had him for two months and he will be a year old in October.
He is super relaxed and will eat right out of my hand if I did that sort of thing.He has never bitten or hissed at me either.
Will he be a bit more out and about when he is an adult or is this just the way it is.Hes in a 30 gal with about 3 inches of cypress(to hold humidity) and big branch.A giant water dish with a hide under it.The top has a glass plate over most of it to help the humidity as well.
76-90 temps.The 90 is only directly on the glass under the cypress on the warm side.

Try cutting back to half an inch or less of the cypress mulch and see how that works. As he gets older and bigger he will not be quite so defensive and will be out where youi can see him at least occasionally. Until then cut back on the mulch so he does not have so much of it to burrow into.

While Humidity is important for rainbows it is not as critical as people often think, especially when they are older. I have 38 rainbows and only have then on newspaper and big enough bowls for them to get into. As long as your snake has a good clean shed and looks/acts healthy I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you are into the look of the cypress mulch you can only put enough to cover the bottom of the cage but not enough for your rainbow to hind underneath.

John

My female did the same thing up until about two months ago, and she's only a little older. Now she gets out and roams a bit at night. Used to be that I always had to dig up the substrate too, but now it's rare to find her burrowed in.
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~Cynthia

"And in the spring, I shed my skin and it blows away with the changing wind..."

I keep finding differing opinions on this.One site says they need at least a 88 degree basking site and another says less.
The room is around 80-82 degrees anyway so do I even need any additional heat?

Thanks everyone.I figured as he got bigger he might spend a bit more time out.I will change out most the bedding, right now he is blue.Another question,,,Of all my snakes he takes the longest to shed.Ive been waiting so I can feed the poor thing and he still is blue. I did have him in a bin and switched him out to a 30gal and the humidity is around 65-70 now but has a big water bowl.
I wonder if I should just put him back in a bin since I cant see him anyway.Its easier to maintain but not nearly as pretty.

There's a lot of different info out there, and everyone does things a little differently, but 88 is just too high in my opinion. Anything consistently close to 90 is going to be detrimental, could even be fatal if they can't get away from the heat. 80-82 is a comfortable high temperature for them, so I wouldn't add more heat, but your boa may want to be cooler than that at times. 75 is probably a good low temp for them if you're able to do that.

As for shedding, sometimes my BRBs will take a while to shed, too. From the time they start to blue to their actual shed can be around 2 weeks, but all of mine will still happily take meals during that whole time. Just probably want to make it a smaller, more manageable meal.

And since yours is almost a year old, I wouldn't say humidity needs to be as high as for a baby BRB, but it might be good to get the ambient humidity higher than 65-70. You could just keep him in the cage and provide a humid hide so that your boa has the option and can regulate his own humidity, just like temperature. For this, you can use some sort of ziplock container with a hole cut in the side with some damp sphagnum moss inside, or I use Jeff's method: red clay pots soaked in water (just have to chip the drainage hole into a wider circle with a hammer when the clay is damp and then smooth out the opening's edges).

Once he does shed, that'll tell you whether your humidity is fine or not. If he sheds in shredded pieces, or has pieces of unshed skin stuck on him still, the humidity needs to be increased. But if his shed comes off in one piece or close to it, you're good.

-Dustin

Thanks so much.I took the temps in the cage today and its actually 74-76 so I guess I will have to add either a small light or a small strip of flexwatt set at 85 and not the giant piece I had under it before set at 90.Sometimes I amazed at my own stupidity.