Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have four cb Rubber Boas and would like to tap into the experience of others. They appear to extremely slow growing, is this common? They tend to skip quite a few meals but never enough to cause concern. I have them on a feeding schedule of a f/t lg pink every 6 or 7 days. Mine all seem to want their pinks brained. Is humidity critical? High or low? I keep them in small plastic bins. Great little snakes though.

Randy
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Firehouse Herps

Randy, scroll thru the field notes & observation forum lots of good info from R.F. Hoyer who has studied them for decades. Sincerely, jd

>>Randy, scroll thru the field notes & observation forum lots of good info from R.F. Hoyer who has studied them for decades. Sincerely, jd

I,ve had my rubber boa for four years now, all care guided by the information provided in the webpage mentioned...check it out for sure.

They appear to extremely slow growing, is this common?

Most boids seem to have lower metabolism than colubrids and so they grow correspondingly slower.

And since males don't grow that much to begin with, they don't appear to grow very fast.

They tend to skip quite a few meals but never enough to cause concern.

Actually my cb rubbers generally feed whenever food is offered, but most erycine snakes can be "particular" about feeding at times.

Mine all seem to want their pinks brained.

Every cb rubber boa I have had has gotten over this within a few meals. I have found cb babies feed better if they are fed in a small hidebox, rather than in the open.

Is humidity critical? High or low?

I tend to keep mine with fairly low humidity (50-60%), but they don't seem to be that particular. They do require fresh water all the time, but mine shed without a problem regardless of the humidity.

Great little snakes though.

Have to agree with you there. I think captive born rubber boas are a greatly underappreciated snake - mostly because the wc snakes have given the species a bad reputation.
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Chris Harrison

Have to agree with you there. I think captive born rubber boas are a greatly underappreciated snake - mostly because the wc snakes have given the species a bad reputation.

I know what you're saying but I think it depends on the individual specimen.
I have cb and wc rubbers and they are equally finnicky eaters. Actually, they are usually equally ravenous eaters. The most recent one is from the Sierras and he'll eat anything you set in front of him. Of the 4 cb '04 neonates, 3 eat every 5 days and the 4th just took his first and it was a f/t pinky!

The rubber neonates are actually better eaters than the rosy neonates since the rosys only take live pinks.

..and that is www.rubberboas.com
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Mark G

Assorted rosy boas, some annulata. That's it.