Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Let me say I've kept and bred cornsnakes for the past 12 years so I'm not totally an idiot when ti comes to snakes. I've always like the rainbow boas and am interested in possibly owning one. Can people shoot some more info my way. I've read up on them but want to hear from people who have them or have had experience with them. Temperment? Difficulty in keeping? Good breeders? Etc, etc, etc? Thanks!
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1.2 Normal Cornsnakes het Anery
1.0 Snow Cornsnake

Plus 38 eggs

By good breeders I mean a good source to purchase a boa or two. Not do they make good breeders, sorry for any confusion.
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1.2 Normal Cornsnakes het Anery
1.0 Snow Cornsnake

Plus 38 eggs

I love mine, they are so colorful. I have been breeding for 5 years and have 7 gravid females right now. Should be due end of July / early August. Mine are all puppy dog tame except for one female who can be nippy if overhandled. If I take her out and handle her - np, if she gets handed around a little - np, if she gets handled or pulled out of her cage multiple times like at a show, she can get irritated and bite, not always but because of that I don't take her to any shows They do need the humidity, I accomplish this with fairly tight cages, little vents. And keep a moist hide box with peat moss and green moss dampened. Also keep a large water bowl. I do not need to and don't mist. I know others do mist and some quite often. They are voracious eaters and rarely refuse food, except for breeding season for all and females only while gravid. With proper environment, breeding for me has been fairly easy, only have to cycle the temp and 5 - 6 months later, babies. The adults are about 5 - 6 feet.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I had one for a while and sold him.

He was very tame, gorgeous looking and ate like a pig with no
problems to speak of. The reason I ended up selling him was
because I hate to use newspaper, I prefer something more natural
looking. I was using cypress mulch which looks good and holds
humidity perfectly. The problem was, that he would always be
hiding underneath mulch, all the time. He'd only come out at night to feed.

My dumerils would hide occasionally when he was little, but not
all the time. Also taking the dumerils out and handling him was
always easy. My brb wouldn't mind being handled but he was
always on the move. He felt more like a captive to me than a
pet. I don't want to dissuade you, that's just my experience.

...and I certainly do like them. I haven't had problems with their requirements or temperments. It is all about how you choose to enclosure one and what your expectations are. Most of the babies are nippy until they become accustomed to your handling. With regular handling they settle down quite quickly. They do require high humidity and temperatures lower than some other boas. I keep mine at a constant high humidity and temps no hotter than 80 degrees. They have grown and bred under these conditions. They are not picky eaters if their requirements are met. I would say that the only drawbacks are that they are not usually visible during the daylight hours and that they don't sit still for extended periods of time.

My advice is to set them up correctly intitially so you won't have to be worried about their humidity. If you don't dry them or fry them, they will do well.

Check out the Rainbow Forums here on Kingsnake.

If you have more specific questions, just ask.

Linda

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