Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone! Glad to be here. I can already tell that this is going to be a great place for information.

This past Sunday I purchased a captive bred 6 week old female Colombian Red Tail Boa Constrictor. She was bred by a vet, is a proven eater and has been tested for existing parasites. She seems to be very healthy from what I can tell. Along with my snake, I purchased a 30 long tank, an under tank heating pad, an overhead lamp w/ bulb, a water dish, a hide box, bedding, a grapevine branch, 2 thermometers and a helpful book about Boas. I got out the door for ~$350 out of pocket. Not too bad...

I got the cage all setup on Sunday night. It took a while for the temperatures to rise to the recommnded levels, but as of now I have the hot side in the very high 80's and the cold side in the mid to low 80's.

Last night I had the pleasure of watching my snake eat for the first time. I bought several frozen fuzzies from PetCo, and placed the snake in a seperate box along with one of the fuzzies. It took a while, but after about half an hour she finally started to slither towards the fuzzy, and began to eat it. It was a really cool site to witness. I was also very pleased that she decided to eat because many sources have told me not to be surprised if your snake doesn't eat for the first week or so because it is still getting used to its new surroundings. So I guess my snake is pretty comfortable.

Now, on to my very first question for this board. Is tap water alright to use in my snakes water dish? I have read the book cover to cover, and have searched quite a bit online for this, but I haven't yet been able to find a good decisive opinion. Should I be using bottled or filtered water? It may not make that much of a difference, but I would like to use whatever is the preferred alternative.

Thanks everyone! I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.

David
Young Red Tail

I think the safety of tap water is different in every city. We use filtered tap water to eliminate chlorine and other possible contaminants.
-----
Jaremy Douglas

I've got a young-un Colombian also, and we give him filtered water from the dispenser on our fridge, which seems to be better than plain tap water. I'm sure tap water is fine, but I live in Vegas and the water here has lots of minerals in it which will gunk up any water devices you have and leave a ring around your snakey bowls after a while. If you don't have a fridge-filter-dispenser, one of those water filtering pitchers would probably work well to get out some of the minerals and particles if you're worried about it.

Good luck with your baby!
Les

i give them bottled spring water... it may be going a little crazy, but its not that expensive to keep a few jugs of arowhead arround and it makes me feel better
-----

recycle your pets

Tap water should be fine...and is what I personally use. Then again, I have 23 snakes versus just one. If you want the extra peace of mind, you can buy bottled water or purchase one of the pitcher-style water filters (the Britta ones do take that chlorine taste out of the water). Just keep in mind that many of the supposed 'spring' waters out there are really just tap water run through an extra filter and bottled by any number of different municipalities.

Raven

Thanks for the advice everyone! I have really been enjoying my new boa over the past few days. I am amazed at how much info there is on the web about these snakes. Of course some is good, and some is bad. I have found this site, and ProExotics to be the most helpful. Reptiles Magazine site is also good.

Has anyone on here tried the ProExotics TempGun? I am thinking about placing an order with then for a TempGun and a bottle of Virosan. They seem to be very valuable things to have around.

I'm also going to buy one of those filtered water pitchers over the next few days. I have been wanting to get one for myself, and now that I have a snake it is all the excuse I need.

Thanks again everyone. Pictures soon to come!
-----
David - Houston, TX
Young Red Tail Boa
Purchased 11/16/03
www.geocities.com/davidag02

np