General disclaimer
The info given here is a combination of info learned from books, articles, and other keepers. This is not the only way to care for a boa by any means. We encourage you to talk to other people, and do as much research as you can if you are interested in keeping this animal.
This should give you some basic knowledge of what is needed to keep this species however.
General Info
It’s worth repeating, before buying a Boa Constrictor, (or any animal for that matter) make sure you know how to care for the animal. Luckily they are a relatively easy snake to care for.
Boa constrictors can be what some people consider a larger snake, so make sure you are prepared to house and take care of a snake that can get between 6, or possibly 8 feet in length, and rather heavy boddied.
Housing
There are many different options when it comes to housing boa constrictors.
One popular option is a plastic storage container (also known as a tub). These come in brands like Sterilite and rubbermaid, for instance. These are popular because they are cost efficient and they are known for keeping proper humidity. The best way to adjust the humidity in a tub setup is by creating small holes around the edges of the tub. Please see the humidities section for more info. Using tubs allows you to easily upgrade the size of the tub as your snake grows.
PVC enclosures are another popular choice. These are larger, and are more aesthetically pleasing than a plastic tub setup, and also hold heat and humidity very well. They can be found by several manufacturers, and are similarly cost efficient.
The last option is the glass aquarium style tanks. While it is possible to keep Boa Constrictors in this type of enclosure, it can be more problematic compared to other available options. Glass is not capable of holding tempatures well, and the open screen lid holds almost no humidity. Most people especially when dealing with there first snake will run in to problems with this type of enclosure. By the time you spend your time buying heat lamps, misters, and all the constant up-keep, the plastic and PVC options are much more cost efficient, and will give you the best chance at being happy with your snake.
It is important to have the easiest setup. If you find keeping the snake easy, your more likely to take proper care of it.
Tempatures
Remember, Boa Constrictors rely on there environment to stay healthy, and keeping proper tempatures to allow the snake to regulate its tempature is essential.
There is no set perfect temperature for boa constrictors, rather it is more of ranges of acceptable temperatures. A hot side of your setup should usually range from 87 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit and the cold, or unheated side, of your enclosure should not reach below 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Thermostats!
A thermostat is a must when talking about heating your Boa Constrictors enclosure!
Thermostats work by monitoring the heating devices tempature, and regulating the electricity to the heating device, to keep it at a target tempature you have set.
This will make sure that your snakes hot spot does not reach an unsafe tempature, which could cause burns, and even death if not caught quickly.
Checking tempatures
One of the best ways to keep an eye on your snake’s tempatures is with an Infrared tempature gun. These are affordable, and allow you to simply point, and take a surface’s tempature. This can allow you to take multiple tempatures on the hot, and cool sides of the enclosure, not to mention checking more than one snake cage if you have them.
Humidities
Boas are from a tropical environment, so high humidities are a necessity.
A target to aim for is around the 60% to 80% range. The higher you can get in that range the better for the animal since humidity aids in shedding and keeping them hydrated.
It is important for the snake to shed properly every time because any old skin left behind can cause serious harm, especially in more sensitive areas, such as their eyes.
If you notice that you need to mist the enclosure a lot to keep the humidity at a proper level, it might be a good time to find different ways of boosting the humidity for your enclosure. Remember, we are talking relative humidity in the air. If you keep the substrate too wet, it could cause health problems.
Some ways to increase the humidity level include changing your substrate to one that promotes humidity or increasing the size of the waterbowl, for example.
substrate
You can use several types of substrate (bedding), newspaper is a popular choice because it is easy to obtain, cheap, and holds tempatures and humidities. Cypruss multch and Aspen are other top choices that most keepers use.
Water
Boas should have access to fresh clean water regularly. As long as your humidity levels are good, you do not need to have a water bowl large enough to let your boa soak if you do not want.
Boas love to go to the bathroom in there water bowls when they are smaller, so make sure to check their water as often as possible.
Food
One good thing about Boa Constrictors are their willingness to eat frozen thawed food items.
This means that you can buy food in bulk, and not have to worry about caring for food items. Just pull one out of the freezer, and let it thaw.
Boas in captivity primarily feed on Mice and Rats. As babies they will eat mice, and switch over to rats once the mice are no longer properly sized.
How often you feed your boa depends on it’s age. Generally a boa that is 1 year should eat every 7 to 10 days. From 1 to 3 years, every 14 days,
then once every 3 weeks, and so on.
When feeding, feed only 1 food item that is appropriately sized. This means that the food item should be about the same size as the thickest part of your Boa. Boa Constrictors do not need a lot of food, and in fact, over feeding your snakes has been shown to greatly shorten its life.
With Boas, less is more.
Live feeding is usually not necessary, but if you do need to offer a live food item, never leave the rodent alone with the snake. Rodents not only can attack your snake and harm it, but they can easily kill your snake. The web is full of pictures of people who fed a live rodent to their snake, and the snake did not come out untouched. So, only feed your snake a live food item as a last resort
When feeding your Boa, feeding it inside the enclosure is the only way to feed.
you still see some people feeding outside the snakes enclosure, but this is a great way for an accident to happen one day.
When the smell of food is in the air, the last thing you want to do is interact with your snake.
Just simply drop the food item in the snakes cage, and check on them later.
Conclusion
So, this should give you the basics on careing for most species of Boa Constrictor Imporater.
If you have any questions that were not covered in this article, please feel free to contact us using our Contact page
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