Help: Brazilian Rainbow Boa Set-Up?

Gabe--

I place my probe between the heat mat (Flexwatt in my case) and bottom of the viv. I adjust the thermostat, however, based on readings from the viv floor on the warm end.

1. Take your readings at the surface of the viv floor (below the substrate). The baby may well tunnel there if he wants heat, and a reading from the substrate top might thus prove too warm below.

2. I move mine according to the season: on the warm side during winter, and on the cool side during summer. That said, there are no wrong answers, so long as it somewhere he can find and will use it.

3. For most animals, I mist twice per week. For animals in shed, I mist once per day.

4. I spot clean daily, change the water and go through the moss/paper weekly, and change the moss quarterly (more often if it stinks).

There is no suchy thing as too many questions!

Originally Posted by Snakesitter

Gabe--

I place my probe between the heat mat (Flexwatt in my case) and bottom of the viv. I adjust the thermostat, however, based on readings from the viv floor on the warm end.

1. Take your readings at the surface of the viv floor (below the substrate). The baby may well tunnel there if he wants heat, and a reading from the substrate top might thus prove too warm below.

2. I move mine according to the season: on the warm side during winter, and on the cool side during summer. That said, there are no wrong answers, so long as it somewhere he can find and will use it.

3. For most animals, I mist twice per week. For animals in shed, I mist once per day.

4. I spot clean daily, change the water and go through the moss/paper weekly, and change the moss quarterly (more often if it stinks).

There is no suchy thing as too many questions!

Thanks for all the help!

So far My set up has been great. Just fed my boy his 2nd pinky since I've had him. Been handeling him pretty much everyday this past week.

Another question I have is when can I feed my snake a fuzzy? He's currently 28g. Eats pinkies fine just want to know at what weight should I move him up to fuzzier.

Thanks!

-Gabe

Any time. :-)

Rat or mouse pinkies? If he's on mice, move up to hoppers right away, as mouse pinkies are too small. If he's on rats, wait until he is as big around at his largest part as a fuzzy. Usually, that seems to have around 75 grams...so you have a while to go.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Snakesitter

Any time. :-)

Rat or mouse pinkies? If he's on mice, move up to hoppers right away, as mouse pinkies are too small. If he's on rats, wait until he is as big around at his largest part as a fuzzy. Usually, that seems to have around 75 grams...so you have a while to go.

Good luck!

Dang, I feel kinda bad that I've been under feeding him. I've been giving him one mouse pinky.

I usually feed him every Monday one pinky, should I feed him again tomorrow? But a hopper? Or wait it out til next Monday?

Haven't had a snake since I was a kid so I'm pretty much learning the ropes again haha.

-Gabe

Hoppers seem kind of big, should I start with a fuzzy?

I read somewhere that a 30g brb should be fed a 5g pinky, assumed my brb would be fine on pinkies since he's under 30g.

Just curious to know my options.

Thanks!

Baby BRB's that size can take down mouse hoppers. I prefer to go a little small like barely a hopper or a nice fat crawler.

He'll be fine on a small hopper / larger fuzzy. If you're concernsed, give him a fuzzy on Thursday, and then another the week after, before moving to small hoppers.

Originally Posted by rainbows-r-us

Baby BRB's that size can take down mouse hoppers. I prefer to go a little small like barely a hopper or a nice fat crawler.

Originally Posted by Snakesitter

He'll be fine on a small hopper / larger fuzzy. If you're concernsed, give him a fuzzy on Thursday, and then another the week after, before moving to small hoppers.

Thanks for all the help, fed my boy a small hopper and he did just fine. I went on a vacation for 3 days, but haven't seen him since last Thursday and he's gotten a lot bigger

I'll feed him on Thursday another hopper.

-

When would you start seeing your brb start to color up? I know in tree boas they have different stages of colors so I wanted to know if brb's are the same. Not sure on the age of my boa, but he's about 30g.

Gabe, it varies...but in general is a slow process. The first shed shows the biggest difference, with lesser changes thereafter. He will not reach his adult/final look until between 18 and 30 months.

Originally Posted by Snakesitter

Gabe, it varies...but in general is a slow process. The first shed shows the biggest difference, with lesser changes thereafter. He will not reach his adult/final look until between 18 and 30 months.

Nice, I like to play the waiting game anyways haha. It was the same with my panther chameleons. They'd always go threw tons on color stages.

So, I have yet another question haha. Everything is going good with my set up, humidity is always above 80% and i'm misting about once a week-2 times a week.

I noticed a few days ago my snake was a pale bluish color. I know this is a major sign of shedding, but with my past snakes their eyes turn bluish aswell pretty early on. Do brb's wait till the last minute to have their eyes change? His belly is still a pinkish color with a slight blue tint, i heard that the belly turn bluish too when shedding.

Another thing is my snake never defecates! I can only find urates & not a sign of a stool (stool looks like he's well hydrated, pure white). Does this mean i'm not feeding him enough? Or does he just save up for a big load? I've been feeding him small hoppers w/ eyes still closed, thinking about bumping him up to a hopper about 2" body length (Is this too big?).

Again, thanks for all the help!

_Gabe