The General Care of the Red- Tail Boa Constrictor
(Boa Constrictor )

Natural History- Boa Constrictors come from South America, and it's neighboring islands.

Acquisition- When chosing your boa, make sure that it is captive bred, (that goes for ALL herps) and that it has no viruses or parasites (captive breds usually don't). The snake should have bright skin with crisp, clean saddles, and a bright red tail. Ask to handle the snake, it should move around inquisitevly, flicking it's tounge in and out. Make sure of no scaring of any kind that may have been caused by heating burns or fighting. Checking for a round body and a clean vent are also recomennded.

General Description- With all the different sub-species of the Boa Constrictor family, it is hard to describe them all. Their basic pattern consists of many saddles running down the snakes back, untill they reach the tail of the snake, where that saddles turn darker and eventually red. When born they are have a lighter coloration than adults. Columbians are a light grey with a bright tail when born, but as they get older, they turn darker to a brown to chocolate brown color. For a more complete list of the different sub-species, and their description, go here. Size varies greatly as well. Columbians usually reach about 8 feet, while some (like the surinam and guyana) get bigger, attaining a length of almost 18 feet; however, this is very rare.

Housing- Boa constrictors are fairly large snakes, their length can range from 8- 12 feet, this makes for fairly large enclosures. Hatchlings can live happily in a twenty-gallon aquirium, but that won't be for a long time. When adults reach their maximum length, it is hard to find glass aquariums big enough, and even if one is found, it is usually very expensive. The solution, custom cages. Reptile suppliers around the world build them, so finding one should not be a problem, if you can't find one, just build it yourself. The cage should have the demensions of approximately 8 feet long, by 2 feet deep, and about 4 feet tall; it should be tall because they are partly aboreal and spend some of their time in trees. But some people tell me that the older their boas get, the less time they spend in the branches they add. Now that we have the size factor out of the way, lets get to the important stuff. Heating is a big factor in the care and health of any reptile. Heating boas can be properly accomplished in two ways. Heating pads or blocks, or heat lamps. Heat lamps are recomended because they will spend time in the top of the cage, and there they can still bask. Heating pads or blocks, might work, but they do not raise the air temperature in the branches that will need to be added. There is a product out there however, mainly for iguanas, that are basically heat branches. Which is a plastic branch which something aboreal can rest on and get the suffecient heat from the branch itself. The bottom of the cage is a different matter. A large enough bowl that the snake and bathe in will need to be placed, this will also help raise the humidity to the 60%- 70% that they need. A rock or two to help in shedding, and a hide- box. The most important part of cage will be the substrate. Newspaper can be used, but it is hard to keep the humidity up. Items like tree bark and oak shavings are sometimes used, but, they often irritate the skin, and if any gets stuck to the prey that it is fed, it to will be in the snakes stomac, and casue problems like impactions. If any substrate like this is used, please feed the snake in a different enclosure.

Feeding- Boa constrictors do not require special diets. When they are young, they can be fed a fuzzy mouse about every week. For medium sized boas (between 4-6 feet) they can be feed two adult mice a week or a good sized medium rat every one to two weeks. And as an adult, (7-9 feet) they will need to be fed 3 rats or a rabbit every 3 weeks or so. If your not sure what and how much to feed your boa, the basic rule of thumb is to feed it nothing bigger than the thickest part of the body.

On last thing...- There is a new virus going around boas and pythons called Inclusion Body Disease. It kills with out warning and is almost impossible to detect, there is no cure or vacine at this time. For an imformation sheet on this, go Here for more information.

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