Got My First Boa!

[Haggardphunk]

New to owning a Boa and new to the forum as well. I had a Ball Python while I was in college and I am excited to try something else.

Hello to all, my name is Jake and I got a Central American Boa yesterday.

I have browsed this forum and seems like a place full of good knowledge.

After looking at many of your pics I have noticed that I am using a diferent substrate than most. I am using aspen snake bedding.

Should i make a change?

Also, what should the humidity be for this type of snake? The guy I got it from didnt have a clue

[lovesnuffles]

Hi Jake! Welcome to the forum! We're glad to have you Congrats on the new scaley baby

Aspen bedding is good for snakes, you can keep it if you like it. It's really just a personal preference as far as bedding goes. I used to keep mine on aspen, but had to quit when a bag I bought was infested with mites. I'm now still battling the mites, but now I'm FINALLY on the winning side!! > MWAHAHA!! ..... But yeah, you run a risk of parasites and bugs being in your bedding anytime you get it from a pet store. If you want to eliminate that risk, paper towels or news paper are very easy to use, clean and get a hold of.

Boas are south american snakes, so they like a pretty high humidity. I'd say around 70%ish or so is good. 60% at the very least. I live in Louisiana though, and the humidity is so high here that I really just don't even worry about my snakes humidity lol. Unless they're desert dwellers, then I'll dry it up a bit for them.

[Haggardphunk]

i think i will keep it

It (don't know the gender) seems to like burrowing itself under the bedding

Which was pretty funny because I was freaking out yesterday after i walked in my room to find that i couldnt find my snake that I had brought home 1 hour earlier.

[WiccanWolf88]

Haggard-
That is something I had to get used to when I first got Lucy. She was in the Aspen bedding and she would burrow in it all the time! I would freak out and have to go gently looking for her. When I did find her, she was mighty annoyed and would swish her tail at me. "Leave me alone!" LOL. I have had her in this bark stuff for a bit, but I don't really care for is that much; it has a lot of dust and is rough on my hands. And she is NEVER burrowed in it. I think I will switch back to the Aspen soon. But, I have had issues with mites once before, so when I put new substrate in her cage, I am spraying it down with the Lice treatment before it's an issue.

[lovesnuffles]

Lol Haggard, just be careful. Snakes are infamous escape artists :P When I got my first snake, the first night I brought him home, he disappeared. I found him a week later ((After I replaced him with another, so I ended up with two! Yay! Lol)), but it was still a stressful time for me

[WiccanWolf88]

Snuffles-
I have yet to have Lucy escape on me (crosses fingers). LOL! I always make sure that the top of her enclosure is completely locked in place and when I'm holding her, I try to make sure I know where her head is in relation to me...I sit on a recliner chair and will put a blanket on my lap so she doesn't get into the crack...she tried this before, but I got her. MMWWWAAA!

BTW, that bump that I was concerned about a few months back has never disappeared, but it's not any bigger (it seems more faded now). And that dry spot she had is still there a little, but after she shed it is better and I did like Denny said and was using triple antibiotic on it...it is much better, though. Weird.

[lovesnuffles]

It'll take a while for it to disappear. It'll go away a little bit more each time she sheds, you just have to be patient.

[WiccanWolf88]

I will be snuffles. As long as I have noticed it going away, I am not too worried about it now.
I am covered with moles myself, and I told Ian, "Now Lucy has one! Just like her momma!" LOL. To which he replied, "Man, if she gets as many as you have, then we won't be able to see her hide anymore!" The ass****. LOL

[Sandy3154]

So I happened to come home from work early about two weeks ago and I greeted my (very good hunter) cat who was looking at something on my neighbor's front walkway. Thank god he didn't eat what he was watching because it was my 3 yr old male corn snake. He not only got out of his cage, he got out of a window on the second floor and must have gone down the drainpipe! I almost had a heart attack! I have no idea how he got out because there wasn't any visable evidence. I have since put those crank ties that people use in pick up trucks around his cage. One on each end (it's a 6ft cage w/openings on both sides of the top). He's not getting out now unless I take him out!

All I keep thinking is thank god I came home early that day......

[lovesnuffles]

Oh wow!! Yeah, that was a lucky break for sure!! That could have turned out so bad lol. Good thing you got him though.