Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi so i am new to having one of these guys but very experienced in the reptile world minus the snake part, this is my first snake and i know alot about them.

so someone was needing to get rid of this 2 year old sand boa and so i said i would take him, he is eating well, pretty plump, they had him in a 10 gal with sand, so when i brought him home (in that tank) i stoped by and got a 25qt bin for him and im planning on having him on the substrate desert snow. when i tried to transfer him in his new place he is kinda faulty, flinching when i reach for him i picked him up lower down on his body and he flipped out and i tried to pick him up higher up and same result.

basically they have been feeding him in the tank, i dont think he has been handled much and my questions are....

1. is the 25 qt tub ok with a heating pad?
2. how bout the desert snow?
3. i want to be able to handle him and provide a good life for him how should i start out introducing him to being handled?

Thanks for working with me guys, any comments are greatly appreciated

Can you handle him at all? Does he try to bite? Most snakes will flinch when you go to pick them up if they are not used to being handled.

First of on the choice of substrate. Kenyans like to burrow and spend most of their time under their substrate either in ambush with their head peeking out (a sign that they may accept food) or completely submerged in it. Make sure that you have plenty of it in there as they like to have weight on their back. I use aspen but I have a friend that uses burrowing clay if he wants to display his snakes. It works fine as long as you allow it to dry well and have plenty of places for him to hide and plants. I'm not familiar with desert snow, but i looked it up and it seems like it would be fine as well. Perhaps someone else has tried it.

Make sure he has a warm side and a colder side. Right now the hot side on my tanks is 105 degrees but Someware between 100-110 seems to be the best. I have housed them at 95 degrees and had them do just fine. You realley need to invest in a thermostat to make sure the heating pad does not get to hot.

Personally If you still have the ten gallon tank I would put him back in it. I'm not sure how big a container you have as I do not think in quarts... but they like smaller spaces. If the tank is to big they can refuse to eat.

Make sure they have some sort of a hide spot on either side of the tank and plants of some sort are great as well.

He looks like a really good looking Kenyan. I hope you have a great experience with him. I love my Kenyans they are super easy to care for.
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1.0 Albino Kenyan Sand Boa
0.1 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa
0.1 Stripe Kenyan Sand Boa

1.0 normal Ball Python (rescued)
1.0 Albino Ball python
0.1 pastel Ball python

Yeah i tried to hold him a few times today and same results, he did just eat a few hours befor i gt him so im just gonna let him b cool the rest of the night, i also tried with gloves and i was able to not fret when he would make fast movements, he never bit them by the way so i think he is just really scared, poor guy.

The 10 gallon tank may be large enough for him depending on whether it's a tall or a long tank. However I would advise moving him into the 25 qt bin. You want enough room for him to be able to move and burrow freely and still have room for a water dish. Also a 10 gallon tank may not have enough room for a sufficient temperature gradient, for a snake of his size.

From what I know of the snow material, it should work but as was said before, aspen tends to be the most recommended substrate for ksb's.

As for handling him, I would let him acclimate to his new place for 3-7 days. It really just depends on how patient you want to be. Then start bringing him out to be handled once a day after that. In my experience they always calm down within a few days. I've never had a ksb bite, the most skittish just seem to whip around to try and get away.

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1.1 Anery KSB
1.2 Snow KSB
1.2 Normal KSB
0.1 P. Albino KSB
1.0 Albino KSB
1.0 Rufescen KSB
1.1 Snow Albino King
1.0 Cali Banded King
0.1 Jungle Hypo Boa
0.1 Golden Retriever

yeah thanks alot i just really wanna work with him, he is hella cute, today i moved hom into the bin and changed his bedding and once i just said screw it and grabbed him he was skiddish for the first few mins and now he seems to be enjoying it!

I keep all my sandboas in/on about 3" of aspen sani chips as they like the weight substrait. I have tried the dessert snow with my sand boas and noticed they didn't do as well with it(probably has to do with the lack of weight to the substrait when they are burrowed).

A ten gallon tank is fine for space requirments, but the 27qt will provide a more secure feeling(opaque plastic). I keep my sand boas when breeding in 32qt tubs up to they lay thier litters. then they all go back into my 4X2X2 long colony rack the rest of the year.

so let me ask you this i have on hand a 10 gal undermat heater.
would that do ok for a 25qt bin? and where do you like to place the mats so it doesn't hurt them but provides efficient amount of heat?

I would put the heating pad all the way on one side with a tempcontroler to keep it at the temp you want it. For the plastic container I would put/melt air vent holes on the far side from the heating pad to allow for a temprature gradient.