u/Excellent_Thanks_3

Hey, I’m posting again because I’d like some advice on what to do in this situation. My female Boa imperator has grown quite a bit and currently weighs 280 g and is one year old.

Just to clarify, neither the temperature nor humidity in the enclosure has changed. On the upper shelves there is a clear temperature gradient of around 33–26°C (91–79°F), while down on the substrate the gradient is less pronounced, around 25–27°C (77–81°F).

Up until now, her behavior and routine in the enclosure had been pretty consistent. Sometimes she would burrow into the substrate, sometimes she would climb onto the shelves, and around feeding time she was almost always sitting on one of the branches and would strike at the prey from above. After eating, she would absolutely always spend around three days warming herself up on the shelf underneath the heat panel.

I used to take her out once or twice a week for a quick check-up. I always gave her a full 72 hours of complete peace after feeding to digest. She has never hissed at me or struck at me. The only thing I noticed was some mild stress when I initially picked her up, but once she was in my hands she was always calm and exploratory.

However, for the last three feedings, she has been spending virtually all of her time buried in the substrate. It doesn’t matter whether it’s before or after feeding — she stays buried with only the tip of her head sticking out. She did sometimes do this before, but it would only last a day or two before she came back out and moved around the enclosure.

Now this has been going on for three feedings, so roughly a month. She doesn’t come out after feeding to warm herself up on the heated shelf, and I haven’t caught her coming out at night either. I’m worried that she might not be digesting properly because her main basking spot is above her and she is staying buried underneath it.

She also shed recently, so I don’t think this is related to an upcoming shed.

At the same time, I really don’t want her to become completely unsocialized, but I also don’t want to be an asshole and constantly dig her out of the substrate just to handle her. I’d really like to understand what could be causing this change in behavior and how I should approach handling her from a behavioral standpoint.

I’ve also noticed that handling seems to be a trigger for her burrowing. For example, she could be resting somewhere on a shelf, I would take her out, and when I put her back she would return to the shelf. But usually the following day she would be buried in the substrate, almost as if she was telling me to leave her alone and stop handling her.

The problem is that this has now been going on for almost a month, so I’m really looking for as much advice as possible about what could be causing this change, whether I should be concerned about her digestion, and what I should do behaviorally in this situation.

I recently got a Kenyan sand boa, and for now I’m keeping my little female in a plastic tub with a heat mat and aspen. However, I’m trying to move away from that setup as soon as possible. I’ve already bought a 45x45x30 cm glass enclosure and plan to move her into it soon, heating it with a deep heat projector.

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My main question is about the substrate. I wanted something more natural than aspen. I found that a mix of sand and organic topsoil (without fertilizers or additives) is commonly recommended. Finding the right soil turned out to be overwhelming because I was worried about accidentally buying something that still contained harmful additives. In the end, I bought Lucky Reptile Tortoise Bedding, assuming that if it’s a digging substrate made for reptiles, it should also work well for a sand boa. I mixed it with quartz sand and set up the enclosure, but the substrate is currently very damp, so I’m waiting for it to dry out. I’ve been running the DHP and leaving the enclosure doors open to help with drying.

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My question is: does this sound like a good substrate mix for a species that requires around 30–50% humidity? Or was using the tortoise bedding a mistake?

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Another question: how do you find droppings in a dark naturalistic substrate with a burrowing species? I’ve only had her for about a month, and every time she has defecated, it has ended up at the bottom of the tub, so it’s easy to spot by looking underneath. In the enclosure, though, that won’t be possible, and everything will be much darker.

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For attention, I’m adding a photo of my little noodle, the enclosure that’s currently drying out, and the setup I’m slowly putting together. The top enclosure houses my boa, and the lower right one will eventually be for a young corn snake.

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Thanks in advance for any advice!

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Hey, I wanted to ask for some advice on how to provide the best possible conditions for my sand boa. I’ve always liked sand boas, but in my country they’re very hard to find, so the moment I saw her I bought her immediately, and now I’m trying to catch up on knowledge about their care.

I bought her about a week and a half ago and she’s still pretty small. For now I temporarily placed her in a 40x30 cm breeder box, added sand (because that’s what people at the expo told me to use), a heat mat with a thermostat covering about 1/3 of the enclosure, some branches/roots, a water bowl, and two small hides.

The same day I brought her home I started researching more and found out that what they sold me at the expo was calcium sand and that it absolutely shouldn’t be used for this species, and that it’s generally considered a poor substrate overall. I immediately replaced everything with aspen just to make sure everything was safe and sterile.

After a week of acclimation she ate her first pinky for me without any issues, but I’m worried because during that entire week she spent almost all her time in the warm side at the bottom of the enclosure directly above the heat mat (the mat is obviously under the enclosure, with the thermostat probe placed at the bottom of the substrate and set to 32°C / 89.5°F). I’ve only seen her come out twice in the evening to explore, but so far she always goes back to the warmest spot afterward.

My other snakes mostly bask after eating, but otherwise they usually prefer the cooler side. Is this something I should be worried about?

One thing is that I’d like to switch the substrate to something more natural/desert-looking as soon as possible, but if aspen is genuinely the best option then I’ll stick with it. The problem is that every time I read about substrate recommendations for this species, everyone says something completely different. I’d really appreciate hearing what substrate setups people here recommend the most. One guy who keeps this species told me he uses aquarium quartz sand, which honestly sounded crazy to me at first.

The second thing is that I’ve read a lot of conflicting opinions about heating methods for these animals. Some people say overhead heating is better, like a heat bulb or deep heat projector, while others say the substrate itself needs to stay warm and that a heat mat alone is completely enough. Personally I prefer overhead heating, so I’d like to move her into a small terrarium as soon as possible (I was looking at something like an Exo Terra 45x45x30). Even though it would be larger than her current tub and she’s still very small, I think she’d do fine if I set it up properly, and it would also give me room to use overhead heating on the screen top.The only thing I’m unsure about is whether this is actually the right solution and whether such a small terrarium with overhead heating could become too dry. I also can’t figure out what the ideal humidity really is — some people say 30% is enough, while others say they need closer to 50% for healthy digestion and bowel movements.

I’m basically looking for as much advice and information as possible, and hopefully for some help clearing up my doubts. Thanks in advance for any help.

She has 10 months and weights only 178g, I feed her rat puppy (10-15)g every week, I have 3 of them only, and I am concerned if I should buy the same pack, or should I upgrade to 20-30g rats?