first time owner! tips, advice, etc?
hi!! i'm a new owner to snakes, this is my first snake, Tobias! this will be VERY LONG but i will insert a tldr at the bottom, most of this is background info :)
he's a male(?) Rosy Boa, so i came here to ask if there's anything i should know that i already don't, or anything less known about Rosy care :)!!
since learning i would become his owner, ive been doing as much research on snake / rosy boa care, as well as behavior and other things i should expect.
i'm a tattoo apprentice, and a few of the artists have a their snakes at the shop instead of at home. my shops owner had this snake before me, but he had bitten her daughter (teen) in the face, which she said was likely a feeding bit, but the teen didn't want him anymore and so shop owner brought in the guy to live at the shop instead. he has the reputation of being mean, so nobody particularly wants him, but i stepped up and started handling him with no issues, so he's gone to me!
i'm keeping him at the shop since my family owns big dogs that could stress or injure a snake.
so far he feeds every 2-3 weeks according to my shop owner, small mice (unsure species), frozen but thawed and warmed before feeding. the mice at biggest are about the size of the largest point of his body, and he doesn't have a history of picky eating.
my shop owner previously got him from a rescue, and never was told his age. she approximates he's about 5 years though. we haven't weighed him yet.
his current tank is a little too small unfortunately, but i am getting a new table and tank for him asap, i read that about a 40 gallon is needed for him, or at least be long enough for him to stretch out. his enclosure also currently doesn't have any much besides his water dish and a grass patch (and substrate of course) since this was meant to be temporary. i already ordered a bunch of stuff (especially a hide) and it comes in in the next 2 days :) it consists of branches for climbing as well as fake (plastic) plants so he'll have more in his temporary set up very soon. his current tank is about 30? gallons but it's more tall than wide :(
his lamp also just broke, she he's had to share a lamp with one of the other snakes. i'm on it asap, any suggestions / good picks help!! i also plan to get a temp / humidity gauge for his enclosure
i've fed him, i wear gloves as well as use tongs to protect my fingers and prevent my scent from mixing with his food. i have been sitting with him a lot and doing choice handling so he can begin to get used to me and start trusting me. he has been very calm while i handle him, and i just let him do what he feels like (within reason).
i understand the basics of defensive behavior, the tight s that many snakes do, hissing, being tense and coiled, etc, and i haven't seen him do any of this besides tense up when i try to pet or touch him, though that was when we first were getting used to each other so that was understandable 😓 when he sees me he studies me for a moment and either goes back to what he was doing or will come up to the tank doors to get a closer look, no obvious defensiveness
the shop uses a swamp cooler and we live in the desert, so temperature is relatively covered from my understanding, but please correct me (still need the lamp for a hot side / sun mimicking). the other people at the shop manually mist their snakes enclosures and the other snakes have minimal problems shedding, though they're all ball pythons. is this okay to do? or should i have a system set up to mist for me?
anything genuinely helps so much and please tell me if im doing anything that i could do better, anything that might hurt him, or anything that is mistreatment (besides the tank, which i am working on)
tldr ; first time snake owner, rosy boa assumed boy approx. 5 years unweighed, currently getting new stuff for enclosure and getting new tank, but unsure about other stuff regarding care and worried doing something that can hurt or stress him. wants to know if he has misinformation or anything wrong. anything and everything helps!!