Lets talk housing.

[Bowgod34]

Well technology has advanced since last time I set up a snake room, and I'm curious what direction boa keepers have gone in their housing arrangements. What cages are you using, heat sources & set ups, humidity, ect....

My last snake room consisted of custom built melamine cages, with heat lamps and appropriate sized bulbs to achieve desired temps based on time of year. I monitored great with 2 thermometers (one in either side of the cage.) And had cheap humidity meters to monitor the humidity levels which were achieved by periodic misting from a spray bottle. Looking back it was a pain, but effective. But I imagine there have been quite a few advancements in recent history that have made this a much easier task. So i'd line to hear what is working for all of you, and what you like & dislike about your set up.

 

[crotalusadamanteus]

I use all Herpstat Pro units from Spyder Robotics. Deon did a great job designing these specifically for reptiles, and built in night drop is cool They are literally 4 thermostats in one. He has since come out with the Herpstat 4 that seems to be the Pro, but slimmed down.

I use Boaphile cages, Vision cages, Animal Plastics cages, Reptile Basics cages (not sure they still make actual cages anymore, focusing mainly on racks) and I have a couple home made wood cages.

Heat lights are inappropriate for Boids in general IMO. They rob humidity, and force the snake to be in the open to get warm, where they prefer to hide. I'd advise belly heat on one side of the cage, using a thermostat to regulate it. I use Flex Watt found at numerous places online, including some of the links above. And I use UltraTherm heat mats as well, which you can get from Reptile Basics above.

As a second measure, I use these found at wal-mart placed on the cool end of the cage to read ambient temp and humidity, with the probe over at the hotspot. Humidity is usually 40-60% up to 80% during sheds.

That should get you started.

 

[mysticdiva]

My setup is very similar. Right now I have a mixture of plastic cages including Boaphile, BoaMaster, Repti-Racks, and ProLine. These are all 4' cages for the adults. For babies and juvies, I have racks from the Boaphile. Eventually, I'm going to upgrade to all one kind of cage. I prefer the ProLine cages (http://constrictorsnw.com/cagessupply.html) out of the ones I have now. MUCH easier to clean IMO. I also have both white and black cages and I'm definitely going with all white eventually. You can see into the cages way better and they let more light in. For the racks, I'm going to stick with Boaphile and black works well since you can't easily see in anyway.

Here's my cage stack for comparison:

From the top: BoaMaster, Repti-Racks, ProLine, Boaphile.
Oh and I forgot to ad that I prefer the hinged doors over the sliding ones. You can access the whole cage at once as opposed to just one side.

To heat the cages, I use Flexwatt (which goes under the cage on the outside) from the Bean Farm (http://beanfarm.com/index.php?cPath=1204_1205). I believe I have the 17" so that it covers about 1/3 of the bottom of the cage. To control the temperature, I use a Ranco thermostat which you can find on multiple sites including the Boaphile (http://www.boaphileplastics.com/thermostat.html). And to keep the humidity right, I just put their water bowls on or partly on top of the heat. I hardly ever have to mist them. I might do it occasionally when they're in shed but it's really not necessary with my setup.

For bedding, I use aspen shavings. I used to use newspaper, but I think the boas prefer the aspen. Plus it's easier to spot clean. Rio Bravo Reptiles has a good care sheet which has a section about bedding and why he prefers aspen (http://www.riobravoreptiles.com/care_raisingboas.htm). Oh, and make sure you don't use pine or cedar as they are poisonous to boas.

I believe that is everything, hope that helps. Let me know if I missed anything or if you would like me to elaborate on anything.

 

[Bowgod34]

What are you guys using to regulate humidity? Or are we still misting manually with a water botttle?

 

[mysticdiva]

I just put my water bowls on top of the heat source and it takes care of itself, no need to mist

 

[crotalusadamanteus]

I use one of these...

 

[Metachrosis]

Neodesha and AP T-10's cages,HerpStat,UltraTherm heat mats
Things be comfy with the critters here

 

[AbsoluteApril]

Setups vary, also depends on how many snakes you need to keep in an area.

Mine is: Babies/Juvis are in simple home made tub racks and one 3stack neodesha slant fronts (but I want to get rid of that). Adults are in 4' plastic cage stacks, currently I have boaphile and proline stacks. I keep the snake room heated and all boa racks/stacks have 11" flex going up the back for additional heat. I'd like to get some 6' cages for my older bigger girls but have to wait until I move and have enough space.

I use a PE2 (pro exotics) temp gun, also have a commercial type mister like what Rick posted but I only use that for my amazon tree boas, no extra misting needed on my boas. Substrate is newspaper or single face corrugated sheets.

old photo setting up juvi tub rack which is next to the boaphile stack:

proline stacks, new style next to old style:

good luck and now you'll have to share photos when you get your room set up