Reptile & Amphibian Forums

. JDouglas and I recently discussed temperatures for BRBs in a thread here on the forum. His BRBs are doing well with warm end cage temps considerably warmer than what I recommend. I know that many others of you keep your BRBs warmer than the temperatures suggested on my website. I also know that given a cage with enough length that BRBs can do well with the warm end of the cage higher much than what I recommend. If the cage has enough length the snake can find the temperature it wants away from the hottest end of the cage. So why do I recommend warm end temperatures no warmer than 85 for BRBs? I have been keeping and breeding Rainbow Boas for quite awhile. For the last several years I have gotten literally thousands of emails and had many hundreds of conversations with snake people about Rainbow Boas. Whenever I am at a snake show people seem to seek me out to talk about Rainbow Boas. One very common thread in these communications have been that many people like and want to keep BRBs but they or someone they know has had a BRB die soon after they got it. When I discuss with these poeple what happened to their BRB the one common factor has been that they either had the BRB die while transporting it home from a show during the warm months of the year or the BRB died soon after they had it setup in a cage just like they use for their Ball Python or Boa Constrictor. Little BRBs do well in smaller cages and so many people set them up in plastic shoe boxes and smallish storage boxes. These snake can do well in these boxes but if the warm end of the cage is too warm the other end of the cage is so close to the warm end that it becomes too hot and the snake has no place to escape from the heat. Many poeple are also not as accurate with their heating systems and may have the hot end warmer than they think it is. So to be on the safe side I recommend relatively cool temperatures for these snakes.
Jeff

That lack of water is probably the second most common cause of BRBs getting stressed to the point of dying. They MUST have access to a least a decent sized water bowl and halfway decent humidity.
Other boids are must less demanding in this regard and there is more room for keeper error. But with BRBs you must be a delligent keeper.
They are easy to keep when you meet these simple needs.

>>That lack of water is probably the second most common cause of BRBs getting stressed to the point of dying. They MUST have access to a least a decent sized water bowl and halfway decent humidity.
>>Other boids are must less demanding in this regard and there is more room for keeper error. But with BRBs you must be a delligent keeper.
>>They are easy to keep when you meet these simple needs.
.

Im using 2 temp meters in my cage on the warm end.

1 is stuck to the glas between the lamp and the bottem and the 2nd 1 is on the bottem under the lamp. I also use towels now as sub and they also use it as hiding spot for under the lamp.

I totally agree! You must watch your ambient temps and if you have a small cage you will need a small basking spot. Although my adult BRB does use his 95F basking spot he is able to easily get to temps that are 79F. I also use a large plastic tub that holds humidity well. I think that higher temps is a double whammy because high heat causes lower humidity which leads to dehydration. Especially in neonates. This is especially true if heat lamps or emitters are used. I just didn't realize that little BRB's would thrive at such low temps. I researched a little and the NERD website suggests temps very close to yours and I have lowered my hot spot to 85.

Thanks again,
Jaremy
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Jaremy Douglas

I have a 7 month old BRB and she is thriving. As Jeff always states in his posts i pay very close attention to detail. I am almost obsessice about my BRB. Anyways I keep her in a balnket box with cypress mulch. I leave the ambient temps as my room temps wich are 82-83 degrees in day and 73-75 degrees at night (using digital thermometer) I keep another snake on top of her in another shoebox. The heat pad for the second box radiat a small amount of heat for basking if she climbs to the spot. I have never seen her want warmer temps. She always eats and sheds perfectly. All with her temps never reaching above85 so I definitly agree with Jeff.
Sorry kinda long.
_mike
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1.1 Leos
1.1 Corn snakes (1 Lav & 1 Ghost)
0.1 Banan California King
0.0.1 Childrens python
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow boa
1.0 Rat (as pet not food)
1.0 Cat
"whats with you and all those dang reptiles?"