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I plan on getting a rainbow boa within the next month. I have a 29g tank I plan to put him or her in for now, 'cause I am getting a baby, but I know I'll need to upgrade to a 55g eventually. I have lots of different kinds of pets, but I am new to snakes, and I am told this species has some special care needs.

So, tell me everything I need to know to prepare for his or her arrival. What do I need to set up my tank, and what sort of environment will it need, how do I accomodate it, etc.

Give me any advice you think will be helpful. I have read different care sheets and my bf is, like, an expert on everything, so I know the gist of it, but I want a wide variety of advice and stories. I want to be very informed.

Check my post in the thread below, I describe and have a pic of a good aquarium tank setup for a BRB.
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- John

1.0 Baird's Rat (Milton)
1.0 Okeetee Corn (Edgar)
0.1 Ball Python (Agatha)
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Rudyard)

Gypsy,
....The decision to get a Rainbow Boa as a first snake is a tough one. It really depends upon what kind of person you are. If you think you can get all the information to keep one here on this forum in a couple of posts then a Rainbow Boa is definitely the wrong first snake for you. Read down through the last couple of months of threads here and you will begin to get an idea of the problems people have with Rainbow Boas and how some of us have figured out how to keep these snakes healthy. If you are the kind of person who likes to read and learn everything about a subject and you are so detail oriented that people accuse you of being retentive then you probably are the right person to get a Rainbow Boa as a first snake. Have you decided which subspecies of Rainbow Boa you want to get? Brazilian Rainbow Boas, Epicrates cenchria cenchria are the most commonly available subspecies. They are also one of the prettier subspecies. Rainbow Boas and especially Brazilian Rainbow Boas require extremely high humidity. If you use a tank with screen top as a cage you will have to cover most or all of the screen top to keep the humidity high enough. Brazilian Rainbow Boas require moderately warm temperatures and the biggest mistake people make with Rainbow Boas is that they set them up with uncontrolled high heat. This type setup works fine for some of the other Boas and Pythons but is much too hot for and will quickly kill a Rainbow Boa. We will be happy to answer your questions here on the forum but please read through the recent posts and then ask specific questions.
Good luck,
Jeff

I agree with Jeff, make sure you read everything you possibly can before bringing home a rainbow. Do you have the cage set up yet? If not, have it up and running at proper humidity and temps for at least a week before you bring home your snake. I also use a 29 gallon aquarium (with a glass lid) for my BRB juvenile, and getting the temps and humidity to balance took a lot of tweaking. It was more difficult than I expected.

I started with a BRB as my first snake, so it can be done, but like Jeff said, you have to be the kind of person who loves to research and learn all you can. I read through all the posts in the forum here several times, as well as all the yearly archives before I decided on my BRB, and I still have trouble knowing what to do/how to react to situations most of the time. It's a constant learning process.

BRB's require very close monitoring of their temps and humidity. If you're a busy person and don't have much time to check on your snake often, I'd go with a less demanding species. But if you have the time to research thoroughly and keep a watchful eye on your new snake, a BRB could be right for you.

Personally, I was positive that I would be ready for my BRB as a first snake, since I researched so much for over a year. But still, after getting her, I do wish that I had started with something a little easier. She is beautiful, gentle, and a joy to keep, but I think that easing myself slowly into the hobby would have been less stressful.
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::i believe in joy > http://www.winds.org/nekomi/hope.html

::my homepage > http://www.winds.org/nekomi

My Growing Zoo:

1.0 Husband (Byron) ^_^
0.1 black cat (Shade)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Zia)
1.2 Cockatoo cichlids (A. cacatuoides yellow-gold)
1.1 WC Cockatoo cichlids (A. cacatuoides blue Peru)
3.3 Pygmy corydoras (C. pygmaeus)
2.0 Endlers' Livebearers (P. sp. Endlers)

Rainbows are great snakes and if you provide them what they need they are happy and healthy.

The biggest problem I've seen that people new to rainbows or any other animal have is that when they ask for help and advice they get such differing opinions that they really don't know what to do. When someone ask for the right temps for a BRB someone will say 80 for a high and someone else will say 90, the 90 degree crowd usually is regular Boa or Python owners who think we freeze Rainbows lol.

Now on this forum we are lucky to have Jeff Clark and others who really know what these guys need. Jeff has a web site the link is at the top of this page, check it out. There is tons of info on this Forum and on many other web sites out there you just have to do a search. Read through the threads here and you will find all you need to set up your tank and keep your little one when you get it happy and healthy.

One thing I've learned is that when it comes to any animal how it is kept isn't written in stone. Every animal likes things just a bit different than the next. As I used to tell my clients read all you can but understand that they are not talking about your individual animal. Use what you hear and read for what it is Advice and watch and learn from your animal who will tell you what it needs if you pay attention.

Now having said all that think about what we have said here and decide if your ready for a Rainbow, it wont be you who suffers if your not ready.

Randy
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I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty !
I just want the full glass I paid for !

Hey,
Rainbow Boas are fantastic snakes. Good advice given here already but I'll weigh in alittle.
Keep the setup simple at first. If you scroll down a little you'll see descriptions of simple setups that will keep a young BRB healthy and happy. Do not use the 29 gal. initially. Get your snake acclimated, eating regularly and shedding perfectly before moving it up to a larger enclosure. Again, keep it simple; small rubbermaid, newspaper substrate, two hides on warm and cool side, water bowl, floor temps 78-80 warm side, 70-72 cool side. Snakes from temperate climates like ours can handle more abuse because they've evolved with widely varying conditions. Tropical snakes have a much narrower range of conditions and need more specific husbandry (do a weather search on google and check out the yearly temperature fluctations in the areas these snakes occur). Also, in my opinion, a 55 gal is too small for a BRB's final home.
Hope this helps,
Paul

>>I plan on getting a rainbow boa within the next month. I have a 29g tank I plan to put him or her in for now, 'cause I am getting a baby, but I know I'll need to upgrade to a 55g eventually. I have lots of different kinds of pets, but I am new to snakes, and I am told this species has some special care needs.
>>
>>So, tell me everything I need to know to prepare for his or her arrival. What do I need to set up my tank, and what sort of environment will it need, how do I accomodate it, etc.
>>
>>Give me any advice you think will be helpful. I have read different care sheets and my bf is, like, an expert on everything, so I know the gist of it, but I want a wide variety of advice and stories. I want to be very informed.

>>So, tell me everything I need to know to prepare for his or her arrival. What do I need to set up my tank, and what sort of environment will it need, how do I accomodate it, etc.

First, welcome to the forum!

Specific concerns and questions would be easier for our resident experts to address!
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~ Noel ~
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