Reptile & Amphibian Forums

There is a lot of research I have to do yet but I was wondering if the amazon tree boa would be a good first breeder(have kept snake not a whole lot but enough yes one arboreal a vine snake do they have similar requirements to a ATB does anyone know? Well the other current 4 are terrestrial) and I have read in these forums so many answers and so many not answers to this question I'm confused. What size cage does a adult single need or a pair. I also would like any good suggested care sheets or your own imfo.
Thanks Josh
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1vine snake
2 turtles
1 greek tortoise
1ball python
1 corn snake
1 childrens python
1 het for albino san diego gopher snake
1 tarantula
some mice
and what ever lizards my vine snake hasn't eaten yet

I was glad with the answers i get on my question so let me try to answer yours as a ''''donation'''' to this forum Besides that i'm curious what other people think of my opinion....

First of all... i'm not a proffesional! So don't think that what i write is true... it's just my opinion....

Okay here we go:

Breeding is the result of well kept animals. That's the way i see it. It should never have the highest priotity and i even see it as a reward for the care you take and nothing more. So the question should be is a ATB an easy to maintain animal? I think not. It seems that other species are more difficult but that does'nt mean that a ATB is easy to maintain IMHO. Another question is the size of the cage. They can grow up to 6 feet. I've read somewhere that big cages could stress the animals because they do not feel secure. That's not my opinion! They should have many branches and plants so that they do feel secure. In other words this has nothing to do with the size of the cage but with the stuff you put in it IMHO I also find it hard to believe that a animal with a lenght of 6 feet having the time of his life in a 2 feet cage (longest side). And altough they are quitte passive during the day you should watch them at night! I keep 3 female adult ATB's in a 2m x 1.2m x 0.6m (meters) cage and there are all over the place during the night! Using all the branches i put in So back to your question, i think an adult ATB should at least be able te stretch itself more or less even now and then In other words, for an adult a 40" x 23" x 20" cage (minium!) will do.

Also very important are the humidity, temperature and the fresh air flow. IMHO. These three goes together. More fresh air and a higher temperature will give a lower humidity. To warm isn't good but to much fresh air isn't good either. So you have to play (carefull) with it to get it right (BEFORE you buy the animals!). There are many good caresheets on the net where you can find the right temperature and humidity. But they don't often mention the air flow. IMHO i think this is as much important as the right temperature and humidity. I use computer fans with a dimmer in the larger cages and ventilation 'strips' in the smaller ones. I use halogeen spots (built in) with a dimmer and in the winter during the nights i use a infrared heat lamp. I'm also using a 'Sunriser'. With it the lights goes on and off in a period of 45 minutes. I don't think this is necessary, althoug they don't shoot the sun out of the sky every night in south america so it's more natural, but it gives a nice effect and you can see your animals become active I'm also using automatic misting systems for the humidity. As a matter of fact almost everything is automated Why? Well i'm (almost) human and it's possible that i forget to spray or to put the lights on on a sunday morning.

ATB's are often drinking water from leaves but that does'nt mean that they don't need a water barge! I use a very large one in my big cage and they like it a lot! Remeber that you have to clean it often! This is the mistake i make when building my cage because it's no fun to clean a big water barge with 3 angry ATB's above your head...... although it brings a special meaning to the word 'jungle' LOL

About caresheets and info, i found www.corallus.com very usefull!!! But the best way to start is www.boakingdom.com/treeboa.html Again, that's my personal opinion. This site has a lot of pratical tips which i found very very usefull. But it's just a matter of what kind of writing you like i guess.

Well i hope this will help you I can't say it enough, i'm no professional and all this is just my personal opinion!

Some pictures i took recently:

Cage for 3 adult females:

Secure or what?

Some equipment:

Ezteok

you got plans for that cage that is awsome?
if not tell me everything you used and how you did it.

great cage

Plans to sell it you mean? NO WAY So now comes how i did it Well that's very very a long story... Let's try a short describtion:

The cage itself is made out of wood (MDF). On top of that, on the outside of the cage, i used oak wood which i varnish with a very dark brown color to make a mach with the rest of my furniture (cage is in the livingroom). Inside the cage (left, right and back) i used polystyrene which i give some structure with a hobby gas burner. And on top of that (still there? ) i put cement (roughly). Then i painted the inside, i.e. the cement, with serveral colors (black, brown, white and dark green) of paint. And finally i paint the inside with transparent varnish.

The bottom of the cage was easier. Just paint it couple of times and make sure there are no openings whatsoever left. On top of that i used pond plastic. I use cocos garden ground as substrate for the bottom.

Because of the high humidity it's very important to make sure that there are NO openings/seams inside the cage and that you paint and/or varnish everything a couple of times. You have to make sure that it's absolute impossible that the water comes in contact with the wood. It's almost impossible to build a cage of this size whitout using wood. And is no problem as long as you take good care of the openings/seams/etc.

I made a reduced ceiling (10cm) so that i could build in the spots, fans, cables, etc. This is important because A) you don't want your animals to burn/hurt them self and B) i hate to look into a spotlight, cables, etc. I have 3 35 watt builtin spotlights (with a dimmer), 1 25 red spotlight and 1 60 watt infrared heat lamp. The 3 'normal' daytime lights are connected to a sunriser which turn these spotlights on and of in a 45 minutes period. The other two are connected to a simple timer and are only in use during the winter. I bought the misting system in a shop specialized in rainforrest frogs. It's a high pressure pump, a watercontainer and two nozzels which are also built in in that reduced ceiling. Also i built in a simple computerfan connected to a adjustable adapter. With this adjustable adapter i can manage the speed of the fan (air flow).

Well that's about it i think. The front is of course made of 6mm glas. Because of the size of the cage, and so the weight of the glass, i had to split them horizontal. The locks you see on the picture are to keep children out and not to keep the snakes in

That's one of my setups Running for over a year now. It's not difficult to do but don't think it's cheap! I spend a lot of money building this thing. The best thing to do is to talk with those tropical frogs guys They know the secrects
Although this is a big cage i still dreaming of a bigger one... twice the size of this one... But you know women... This one IN the living was a victory on it's own LOL!

Ezteok

thanks alot for that, any more pics?

I think so I will post some later!

Ezteok

.
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1vine snake
2 turtles
1 greek tortoise
1ball python
1 corn snake
1 childrens python
1 het for albino san diego gopher snake
1 tarantula
some mice
and what ever lizards my vine snake hasn't eaten yet

www.corallus.com

http://host72.hrwebservices.net/~urbanju/breedingcorallus.html

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Zoodude

"Just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't after me."