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I Just brought my new rainbow boa home a little over a week ago. I did handle her the day I brought her home but after that day I gave her 6 days without being handled to get used to the new enclosure. On day 6 I attempted a feeding which was successful. I waited another day for her to digest before handling her again. I noticed right from the first day I brought her home that she ALWAYS stays on the cold side of the tank. Every time I pick her up she feels ice cold but if I move her to the warm side she goes right back to the cold side. My cold side is about 75°-77°, my hot side is about 80°, and right over the UTH the tank is 92°. The humidity in the tank is 80%-83%. The day I brought her home she was wonderful. The first day I handled her after feeding her she was wonderful. On the second day she was agitated and stuck at me. I thought it was because I startled her by digging her out of the substrate (5 inches deep) so after that any time I picked her up I'd dig her out then wait till she relaxed in the tank before picking her up. She didn't strike at me again but I could tell she was agitated. I THOUGHT this was due to acclimating to the new home and to me. Trying to ease that I handled her every night for between 5-15 minutes. 4 days after I fed her she regurgitated. I thought that only happened the day or maybe 2 days after they ate, not 4 days later. Why is she staying on the cold side of the tank? Why is she so agitated? What am I doing wrong? If I move her to the warm side she just goes right back to the cold. She hasn't explored she cage since the day after I got her, she just stays totally hidden all the time. What am I doing wrong? This is my first rainbow boa and I've read a lot about them trying to make sure I knew how to care for her. Prior to this I had only housed ball pythons and they are so different. I never had these issues with my ball pythons and don't know what to do or what's wrong. Please help.

Thank you sooooooo much, that is the clearest response by far I have received. I'm sorry to bother you again but I have one further question and am desperate for information from someone who really knows what they are taking about. Since she regurgitate Saturday I have left her alone but now she never moves. It's been 4 days and she still isn't moving. I don't want to stress her out but the situation is stressing me out pretty bad now. Twice I checked just to make sure she was still alive and hadn't escaped. The first 2 days I had her she was phenomenal, her behavior was perfect. When can I expect her to start moving again and be the friendly snake I brought home. I'm trying to leave her alone and educate myself in the mean time but the total lack of response, or anything really, have me wondering if I didn't ruin a wonderful snake with my ignorant mistakes.

Thanks again for your help, I feel as stressed out over the situation as she is acting.

Angela

I've gotten the temps and lighting fixed. Red basking bulb at night, white uvb bulb during the day. The bulbs are hooked up to a day/night timer and both the bulbs and UTH are hooked up to a thermometer that turns the heating elements on or off as the temperature drops and rises. The cool side is 75° while the hot side stays between 79°-82°. Today makes 2 weeks since she regurgitated and 12 days since I got the heating and lighting fixed and she still hasn't come out from hiding. I'm up all night every night due to a night job and still haven't seem her come out of the hide. everyday she's in exactly the same place though I can't tell if she's in exactly the same position. Today I added plants to the enclosure in hopes that the added hiding spaces would alleviate some of her anxiety. When I placed her back in the enclosure after adding the plants she didn't go immediately back to hiding but instead spent about 10 minutes looking around a very little bit. She appeared to be at least a little curious (the first time since the day I bought her home) . Since then she has gone back to hiding. My question is since I've changed the enclosure even though it was a positive change should I wait another week or two weeks before attempting to feed her again? (Since today would have been the feeding day 2 weeks from when she regurgitated) Is the anything else that I need to know or should change/fix? I can't figure out how to post pictures on here but would be more than happy to share some if you can tell me how to post them and would like to the the enclosure and/or snake (Krishna).