Halamahera Ground Boas

I just received a pair of these mini-boas, and was hoping someone with previous experience keeping and/or breeding them could offer some advice. They're currently set up in sterilite tubs with cypress mulch for substrate. Humidity is very high with condensation all over the inside of the tubs, ultratherm heat mats, upper 80's on the warm end with a suitable size 3 tier shelf to provide a vertical heat gradient as well as escape from the damp mulch if preferred.
No clue on their age/s, both are between 2-3' long, the female is of course bulkier than the male. Main concerns at the moment are whether the humidity should be so high long-term, and what size mice and how often they should be fed.

I have a just two year old Halmahera ground boa, Sidney, and he's a pretty easy snake to keep, and super handle able and laid back.

I have his cage running on a herpstat, so his ambient goes to 82.5 during the day and drops to about 78 at night. He always has a hot spot available, he has a little shelf under his heat panel, but I've seen him use it as a basking site only twice in two years. For a boa, he really doesn't like it hot. If the cage temp gets over 83 he will bury himself in the substrate to avoid the heat. Other than that he is pretty good about chilling out in the open...I used to have hides for him, but he never used them, so now I just put plants in the corners and he usually goes behind there if he's feeling shy.

As far as humidity goes, that's a tough one. Sid does NOT like to be on even damp substrate, but if I don't keep a moderately high humidity when he's digesting a meal(60-80%),he will get constipated and then have to soak for several nights in his water bowl before he can go. I have him in a pvc cage, so keeping the humidity in that range is pretty easy in the summer. In the winter when I want to raise his humidity, I spray the cage walls and his climbing tree, and the substrate right below the heat panel, and he's a happy guy. In fact if I want to show him off and get him moving during the day, I spray as above and he starts roaming about and drinks off the leaves and cage walls. i do let the humidity drop to 50% for about a week after he poops, just to let the cage dry out some, to no ill effects.

Lighting is 12 on/12 off all year long. Even though he just turns 2 this week, he refused food and roamed his cage constantly during last breeding season (about 2 months), so something to keep in mind.

With feeding I just let him tell me when he wants to eat. He is not a very active snake, so when he starts roaming and tearing up his cage I get the message. He goes about 2 weeks at present, but he's two now so I'm going to start extending it to 3. Because he is such a sedentary snake, I make sure to take him out regularly, but he's still getting a little chubby for a boa lol. He's 24", which is on the long side for a male Candoia carinata, and 124g as of last week.

he has a large water bowl, not too deep but wide, because he does like to soak and poop in there...makes cage cleaning pretty easy. I don't have to change his bedding for up to 3 months, and he's never had a problem with scale or mouth rot. He's a really clean snake...as long as you change the water regularly.

Hope that helps. Good luck with them. I really enjoy my little guy.

So far the female has stayed in her water bowl all the time. The male ate 1 pinky mouse the first feeding, (a week ago last Sunday) while the female took a good-size young adult mouse. The person I got them from said that the female was taking live hopper or weaned mice and the male was taking 3 pinks each week.
The female did poop in her water bowl last week, and continued soaking regardless. I pulled it out and hosed her off a bit in the sink, put her on top of the shelf since the clean water in the bowl was cooler, and she returned (and has stayed) in the water bowl since. SHe didn't eat this past Sunday, though I did fish her out of the bowl to make sure she was aware of the mouse in the tub. The male ate 3 pinky mice SUnday, then 2 more last night. One of the rats escaped her tub and got into a mouse tub, ate a litter of pinkys except for 2 and killed the breeding male and 2 females. The 2 remaining pinks were doomed anyway, so I offered them to the male. He has taken up residence inside a ceramic cichlid stone, which I've found to be much more useful for snakes than cichlids, lol. There's always condensation on the sides of the tubs, even though the mulch over the heated ends is dry, so I figure the ambient humidity is high enough. I checked them both for mites, haven't found any, so I don't understand the female staying in the water bowl. I did find some mulch in the male's, so clearly he had been in the water bowl at some point. Every time I've looked in on them they're in the same places. As far as handling they're essentially dwarf ball pythons. Pick up either one and he/she just sits there like a rock.

Thanks for the reply, BTW. I currently have 23 snakes, and expecting 2 litters of baby Dominican red mountain boas in about another month or so. The Halamahera's are the most recent addition, and the hardest to find care info for.

I would bump the male up to a larger prey item if he's taking three pinks...a fuzzy should work. My guy is about 124g now and his last meal was 16g (small mouse)

When my guy sits in his water bowl its because a) he is constipated, or b) the ambient temp is too high. So if she pooped, I would lower the ambient temp to about 82-83 at the highest...these guys don't like it very hot.

The female's water bowl was on the cool end for the first week, then I moved it to the warmer end after she ate the mouse. Both have identical ceramic caves on both ends of their tubs. The male has been in the warm end cave ever since he moved from his position on top of the shelf over the warm end. Since the female can't still be digesting and has pooped I'll move her water bowl back to the cooler end and see if that makes any difference.