Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought my first red tail boa yesterday. He/she is very young, and I've always heard that you should not use cedar or pine for boa substrates. The substrate that was sold to me with the snake is from Zilla, called 'bark blend'. Upon further looking today, the back of the package says "100% douglas fir bark." Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't douglas fir a type of pine? Or is it ok to use the bark and not the actual shavings?

Having raised constrictors all my life and using all the various substrates, I have settled on using newspaper for many years. Easy on both you and the snake. They are very clean animals and it is very easy to keep them and the cage clean with newspaper. The bark you mention is ok but one thing to keep in mind is these commercial loose substrates can harbor snake mites. When I used loose substrates, such as bark and aspen shavings, I constantly had mite infestations. Last but not least, I highly recommend feeding constrictors inside their cages. Again, better for you and the snake. With loose substrate you stand the chance of ingestion especially with a young snake. In the wild snakes do not live and eat off of piles of bark and wood chips. Best of luck and enjoy your new boa. Bill
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...three years ago it was just another snake cult...
The Retic is King.
Anacondas-the other Dark Side.
Afrocks-the dark side of the Dark Side.

Fir bark is kiln dried, and bark is not very oily, so you would not have a problem anyway. It is the aromatic oils that are bad. Fir has alot less compared to pines and cedars.

Still, I would stay away from bark for other reasons. I think aspen is better for baby boas if you want to use a particulate substrate. Otherwise use paper. Uline sells dimpled packing paper that works really well, and it has texture for the snake to crawl on. Newspaper is good. Even the gray packing paper from Home Depot is good (it is essentially unprinted newspaper) if you use a few sheets. Then put in a piece of cork bark.

Boas are not really spot-cleaned. Most of the time the cage stays clean. Then when they go, they go big. So you end up cleaning alot of the cage at that time. Between those events, there is no cleaning - could be weeks.

Don't overfeed. Once every 10 days seems about right depending on factors. Consider a radiant heat panel once the boa gets bigger. Best heaters out there for heavy-bodied snakes.