kevs reptile house

  before i talk about how i keep my snakes i would like to give a little infomation on the rainbow boa itself

as the name surgests the brazilian rainbow boa comes from south america, but not just entirely brazil as they also live in guyana, surinam and much of the northern half of south america. the rainbow part of their name comes from the irridecent colouring on the snakes body when in the sun light which is caused by the shape of the snakes ridged scales.

an example of the rainbow effect which gives this snake its name

the latin name is EPICRATES CENCHRIA CENCHRIA there are several other sub species of rainbow boa including, the Colombian(Epicrates Cenchria Maurus), the Argentinian, (Epicrates Cenchria Alvarezi), the Peruvian (Epicrates Cenchria Gaigei) and the Isla marajo(Epicrates Cenchria Barbouri). The brazilian is the most commonly kept in the pet trade.

guyanan rainbow boa

brazilian rainbow boas range in size from about 5ft to around 8ft in length with the females being the lager of the sexes. rainbows give birth to live young about 12 to 30 in a litter each measuring 15 to 20 inches long. yearlings can be up to 48inches(4ft) long.

HOW I KEEP MY SNAKES HAPPY

I keep my hatchling snakes in plastic boxes measuring 20in long by 12in wide for the first couple of months moving them to progressively larger boxes as and when required. i've always found if you try keeping them in a large enclosure while too young they tend to be reluctant to feed and feel uncomfortable.(remember snakes dont do much moving around, prefering to stay coiled up and conserving energy, in fact they only really move while hunting or finding a mate) though you should still get your snake out and handle it to give it exercise and keep it tame, snakes will get too fat or obese if fed too much and not given enough exercise!!

an ideal enclosure for a young/hatchling rainbow boa

rack systems such as these will need to be used if you breed on a bigger scale

an ideal vivarium for an adult measuring 4'x3'x3'

As hatchlings i give them a temperature of around 80 degrees and high humidity of around 70 percent. As the snakes mature they require less humidity. I use a 75 watt heat lamp protected with a wire mesh guard to prevent the snakes burning themselves, this creates an ambient temperature of around 78 - 80 degrees and a basking spot of around 84 degrees, over 85 degrees can cause death to rainbow boas. I create the humidity by spraying 2 - 3 times a day. With young snakes i cover the bottom of thier boxes with news paper and put a small pot of water in with them which i check each day for cleanliness. With older snakes i cover the bottom of their enclosure with bark chippings, a couple of branches, a hide box and a big bowl of water for them to drink from and bath in, this water must be changed regularly as the snakes often defercate in it. It is important that the water container is large enough for the snake to get it's whole or most of it's body in as they enjoy to bathe and this helps when the snake is shedding. the enclosure for my larger rainbows is 4ft x 4ft x 4ft . It is best to keep all snakes as solitary individuals. this makes them easier to care for as in the wild they are solitary animals. even if you have a proven pair they should be kept alone and introduced for breeding. keeping them apart will usually produce better results at breeding anyway! 

remember to keep all sources of heating covered so your snakes cant burn them selves

a simple way to protect  any heat source

Brazilian rainbow boas are generally good eaters. new borns are big enough to accept mice fuzzies or mice hoppers straight away, (pinkies are too small to offer, you would have to feed them twice as many). All my snakes are fed on defrosted mice or rats, it is dangerous to feed living prey to any snake as the snake can get injured by the prey item!. Always bring the food item up to room tempreture before you offer it to your snake this will encourage the snake to take the food. With young or new born rainbows you may need to wriggle the food items in front of the snake "with a pair of long tongs" to encourage it to eat but after a few feedings the snake should just take the food from the floor of the enclosure. Make sure you take any uneaten food out of the enclosure after a couple of hours as it will soon start to smell and the snake will not eat it. Dont worry if your snake does not eat the offered food, wait a couple of days and try offering it food again and just keep on doing this until the snake takes the food, it will eat when it gets hungry enough it's just a matter of patience. if your snake does not eat after a very long period and is loosing alot of weight take it to the vets! you may find the conditions you are keeping the snake in are not right eg. heating, humidity or possibly the food item may be too big. Healthy snakes can go long periods without eating and some snakes will do this depending on the seasons. also if you have trouble with a snake not eating try offering different food types such as rat pups instead of mice hoppers also try different coloured food items some snakes can be fussy! if you obtain a larger snake you should have no trouble getting it to eat once it has got used to it's new surroundings, unless it is a wild caught snake "but you should always make sure you purchase a captive bred snake" they are much easier to care for and handle, and brazilian rainbow boas are bred in large numbers in captivity so you should have no trouble sourcing one. there really is no need for these snakes to be wild caught for the pet trade or indeed any other snake species!!