Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i bought a dumeril boa yesterday and the ny metro reptile expo. the snake is absolutley beautiful, i will have pics soon, but i have a feq questions first.

the snake seems very melow. i've read that these snakes hide about 95-98% of the time. but if i take him out of his hide, he doesnt move for a while. i dont do it much b/c i dont wanna stress him i just wanna make sure he's ok since i never see him. is this normale for these snakes to be this calm and melow.

i am used to brazilian rainbow boas so i am new to any other boas. what should the dumeril boas humidity be.

any other info would be helpful

thanks in advance
steve

They hide a lot. They are ambush hunters. They will burrow under and just poke their heads out if your using wood chips or something similar. Don't worry about him not moving, they are really lazy snakes and are happy to just sit there in the same spot. I don't worry about the humidity. It is in an aquarium with a screen top for now. I do have a water bowl big enough for soaking and I spray her daily in shed though, never had a problem.
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Tim W.
http://tsw.f2g.net

lol ok thank you so much.. you made me feel so much better. i thought something was wrong that he hasnt moved.

anyway... you ay they are ambush predators. what exactly do you mean. how would i go about feeding him. my bralzilian rainbow boas were easy, i put them in a tank with a mouse and they went for it no problem. are dumerils hard to feed?

They hide under leaves and brush in the wild, and wait for food to walk by, then they burst out and grab it. They don't usually hunt food down, they wait for it to come to them.
If you are feeding it live mice, it will probably walk close enough by it for it to grab it soon enough, or it might go out after it. If you are feeding prekilled or frozen thawed, try "walking" it by him when he is burrowed. That got mine eating prekilled.

Mine was never refused live food (except when she was shedding), it just took a few tries to get her on prekilled. I hear some are tricky to get on prekilled food though.
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Tim W.
http://tsw.f2g.net

It is probably hiding a lot because he is stressed from moving and being in a new home. Mine stayed hiding for a week straight when I got her. It will get used to its new house and you after a while.
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Tim W.
http://tsw.f2g.net

ok, when i try feeding it in about a week or so i will put a gide in the tank with him and then after a while drop the mouse in.

but if most of his body is in the hide how does he coil it. or does he take his whole body out to attack it?

should i keep a hide in the tank or no?

Mine never used a hide so I can't help you there. She just shot up out from under the wood chips and wrapped around it. I'm guessing it would come out to constrict it.
Mine never was shy about eating, she'd kill and eat with me watching over her.
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Tim W.
http://tsw.f2g.net

Im right there with you bud. had one for about a month now. WHAT I DO. i prekill a mouse, then use huge tweezers and dangle it while moving it by her head...it takes about 1 minute then she takes it and jumps up and strangles it, even though it's dead. Now she's getting lazy and not strangling it too hard...best of luck!