Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 3-4 yr old female (?) boa that has gotten an increasingly more and more pink belly for the past several months. I checked my heat pad against a friends and mine was a little too warm. I always clean her aquarium as soon as I can after she messes it (and these days she messes it big), but there are some days where she has sat in it for hours before I came home again. She is about 7 feet long and 18-20 lbs. She lives in a 75 gal tank for now with paper towels as substrate.

I dont know any other info to give. Can anyone help me with this?

My guess is... a human heat pad, or even reptile heat pad, with no thermostat or regulation, on glass, with only papertowels as substrate! is much too hot for her and is burning her belly a bit.. you should have a different form of heat, something that would heat the enviorment, and overhead heat, since you have a tank.
You can place a thin rock, piece of shale/slate over it to difuse the heat, or maybe a few layers of that artificial green carpet. Glass won't difuse the heat, and neither would several layers of papertowels... maybe lots of newspaper would work too.

take care, Joe
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

You may want to try newspaper as substrate and if the ventilation in the aquarium is not good enough you can cause her to get a fungle infection or scale rot from laying in urine too long.
Most aquariums are not suitable for snakes unless they require higher humidity. I don't know what the lid looks like but you may want to get a screen lid for maximum ventilation.

Take care,
Nick Gancarz
Boa's Ark c.b.r.