r/BoaConstrictors

Some more pictures of Cappuccino, aka Face Biter

I don't know how she manage to smell the rat soup in a ziplock bag in the sink, but somehow she seems to know. She was lounging across the ledges looking ready for a snack, and the moment I got close to the glass she started slinking close. Not even a tap on the nose or pushing her away with a stick seemed to deterrent her laser focus. Coiled like a spring she struck the rat so the whole enclosure shook. Violent beast

Gulfed it down (up?) while hanging upside down from the branch, and afterwards in classic boa fashion, immediately went back to looking if there might be more

There is absolutely no reasoning with this one I'm afraid

How do they look

This idiot just bit me in my face...

Mistaking hands for food I can get, but a face? Being completely still?

I thought we had a moment going where she came out from her enclosure to check me out and I was just gonna let her go at her own pace. All slow and calm, before suddenly lunging straight for my cheek. Barely realized what even hit me at first! What an asshole!

Anyone want a free very high strung, super spicy noodle? 🤣

Just wanted to share my little buddy, and hopefully connect with other rubber boa keepers. I find them SO fascinating! 💙

EDIT DISCLAIMER: To clarify some misunderstandings in the comments: Please keep in mind that we are private individuals located in Germany, not the US. The situation here is vastly different. Our exotic pet market is extremely small, specialized reptile rescues are incredibly rare and currently massively overcrowded, and finding a specialized exotic vet is highly difficult. On top of that, surrendering an animal to a shelter in Germany isn't free—it requires paying a mandatory surrender fee per animal. The previous owners would never have paid that, which means these snakes would likely have been dumped or left to die. We stepped in because turning them over to a shelter simply wasn't a viable option here. There was literally no one else with the capacity to take them in. We are just doing our best to save their lives. Lastly, please know that absolutely no one is forced to donate. Our main goal here is to raise awareness for these animals and this kind of terrible neglect. If anyone still chooses to support us, even if it's just by leaving some kind words of encouragement, that is already more than we ever expected and deeply appreciated.

Hello everyone,

I am reaching out to you today with a heavy heart and a big request. Recently, I drove for many hours to rescue two Boa constrictors – Bonnie and Clyde – from an obvious emergency situation. The low asking price already gave me a feeling that the animals urgently needed to go. But what awaited me at the handover literally pulled the rug out from under me.

The two beautiful snakes were handed over to me in a courtyard straight out of a car trunk – crammed together in a single, tiny 14-liter plastic box. No terrarium, no proper ventilation, sitting on completely unsuitable small animal bedding. The only "accessories" provided were a pair of thick oven mitts, obviously out of pure fear of the animals. Bonnie and Clyde are between 1.50 and 1.80 meters (approx. 5 to 6 feet) long. It breaks my heart to imagine how they had to endure in that small box.

The signs of this months- or even years-long neglect are unfortunately impossible to ignore. Both animals are severely dehydrated, are struggling with shedding issues, and are emaciated down to the bone. Clyde (born in 2017) weighs a fragile 1,300 grams, and Bonnie (born in 2022) weighs a terrifying 800 grams – for Boas (not dwarf boas) of this age, this is an absolutely shocking state. Bonnie also bears wounds from rodent bites on her back, a silent testament to the fact that she was locked up with live rats, uncontrolled and defenseless.

Why we need your help:

I immediately took them in, put them in sterile quarantine enclosures, and am treating their wounds. Despite his weakness, Clyde is showing an incredible will to live.

But our biggest concern right now is Bonnie. She has a massive, unnatural lump in her abdomen. It could be a dangerous fecal impaction caused by dehydration and swallowed wood shavings, clumped unfertilized eggs blocking her from the inside, or an internal injury. This needs to be examined immediately by a specialized reptile veterinarian.

The upcoming costs for the extensive diagnostics (X-ray/ultrasound), medication, special food for a slow refeeding process, and a very likely life-saving surgery for Bonnie unfortunately exceed my reserves for such emergencies.

I regularly rescue animals and do everything in my power to give them the species-appropriate life they never had. Bonnie and Clyde fought for so incredibly long in their tiny plastic box not to give up. Please help me ensure that this fight doesn't fail now because of vet bills.

Every euro/dollar, every share of this campaign, and every good thought helps these two noodles on their long road to recovery. 100% of the collected money will go towards the veterinary care and the rehabilitation of the two.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your time and your support!

GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/a24cb6cd5

Warmly,

Till

What do you guys think of my Boa Imperator's terrarium? Is it good? Or should I change something? New keeper here, and want to make sure that she feels good in her home.

Temperatures are 30-32°C on the warm side, and 22-24°C on the cold side. Humidity averages at 72%.

Im looking to get myself a young boa constrictor imperator as my first snake. I don’t want a small snake so the BCI is perfect because i start of easy and small and eventually get my dream snake size.
Im looking to get a 150x60x80 wooden enclosure for it (the one on the picture).
It has a heat lamp pre installed and has ventilation.

My question:
- Is the size suitable for a young Boa? (size around 50cm/20inch). How could i make it more comfortable for a small boa, since i dont want to immediately have to upgrade it.
-What kind of lighting should i additionally get? Ive seen recommendations for a T5 allround daylight fluorescent tube.
-How do install a fluorescent tube, does it need a safety guard so my boa doesnt burn itself?
-Will i be able to have suitable humidity and temp? I want to get coco splitter as substrate.
-What size hide etc. will i need so my boa wont feel too exposed?
-Can my waterbowl be too large? I dont want it to accidentally drown.
-Any other recommendations or tips for my enclosure?

Thanks if you read through all of it, i appreciate all the help.

Not sure m/f will be sexing hopefully once we get settled in. Unisex name ideas would be appreciated & info on sexing because idk how to do that 😂

Indica just shed 2 days ago, and he's looking very nice and bright! 😎 ☀️ He's a sharp sunglow. I'm located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I've had him for almost a decade! He's so sweet and cute. I love him! ❤️

I have had my boa Moxxie since October of last year and I was just worried that she looked overweight and was hoping for some opinions. She was about 4 months old when we got her which would make her almost a year old at this point. She is fed a medium sized mouse every week with no issues. Since my last post I have been feeding her inside the tank and added more things for her to climb. She is as cuddly and curious as ever.

Hey so month ago I got boa constrictor she’s now 2years old and I got here from my mothers friend, previous owner was under feeding her and not paying much attention to her, when I was handling her I noticed something weird on her spine could you tell me if that’s normal? Her weight is around 500gr and she’s eating rats(35-45gr) every week. It’s my first time with boa family so I want her to be happy snake like my others. (Sorry for grammar or some not logical stuff but I’m trying to improve my English skills)

Well, the humidity in my room is 30% at most, sometimes drops below that, which I didn't even know before getting my first snake (boa imperator). I've had him for about half a year, and I swear I'm fighting one problem after another and it just won't stop.

For context I have a 120cm wooden enclosure, I use coco chips mixed with sphagnum moss for substrate and there are two live plants in the enclosure. I have a misting system installed which sprays water every hour for 40 seconds, and two light bulbs - one with light (50W), that's the day light, and for night heating I have a infrared lightbulb (50W) that doesn't produce light. The temperature has stayed around 27°C since I've sealed up the top ventilation mesh with aluminium tape.

Now the main problem, the humidity. Right now it stays around 50%, sometimes even 60%. I am aware that it should always be at least 60%, I just can't keep it that high without the substrate getting soaking wet like it is now.

I also feel like unfortunately the boa might have an RI. He doesn't act weird at all (yet), but sometimes I can hear a very faint popping sound. I was hoping that since it seemed minor, it would get fixed if I made the enclosure have higher humidity.

Unfortunately, I've picked him up today after a few days of not being home (because of school), and some parts of his belly look like this (see the photos). It's looked similar before, and always disappeared after shedding, so I assumed it was just staining from wet coco husk, but this time it looks even dirtier than before. Which theoretically could be because I've never had the misting system set this intensively. I used to mist for 30 seconds every 3 hours before but the humidity kept disappearing. So there's a chance it's not scale rot, I guess.

So, I'm feeling incredibly ashamed of myself. I've loved snakes since I was a child, I fell in love with boas and really wanted one my whole life, I read so much on various forums and watched reptile content for an actual decade before getting that boa, and yet I just can't seem to do anything right. I know what the temperature and humidity should be, I know how to achieve that IN THEORY, but in practice it just doesn't seem to work??

And now there's a chance my boa has both scale rot and a respiratory infection :(( I always thought I could give my snake a good life but why does nothing seem to work 😭

The only thing I can think of now is order a new, bigger, pvc tank, then add different heating (an overhead heat panel) and hope that it keeps humidity in better than wood. But it's going to take a few months before the pvc enclosure arrives, I live in Europe so pvc enclosures are practically impossible to find here, they have to be commissioned.

Until then I could theoretically keep him in a big plastic tub (he's about a meter long now), and use paper towels as substrate, in case it's not just coco husk staining, but I'm not sure how to set up a plastic tub enclosure to be honest.

I don't know, I feel terrible, any advice would be appreciated :(

(the humidity is near 80% in the pic since his night lamp hasn't turned on yet)

I HAVE ALREADY TAKEN HIM TO THE VET, HE WILL BE GOING BACK TO THE VET THIS COMING MONTH!

SO THIS IS WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR:

- About a month and a half ago I took him to the vet cuz I noticed I could feel his backbone vertebrae while handling him. I checked my other two boas and they did not feel this way, but this little guy has some muscle tone and his behaviors are exactly the same as my other two boas, completely normal activity levels, curious at times climbing around no stargazing no wobbling no strange behaviors, no pacing back and forth, no aggression, no hissing, no squirming when held, not constantly hiding, but also not constantly out either, amazing appetite, passes urates fine so i know his butt works, caught him drinking water, hiding on the warm AND cold side of his tub, etc.

-Literally nothing about this boa seems off except the fact that he's skinny. And also the fact that he's leaving these mysterious objects on his paper towels which I think and want confirmation on, that they are stools and not regurgitations.

- SO I took him to the veterinarian and she did a stool sample test and sent it off to a laboratory that had way better equipment than they did on site, and they could not find any evidence of parasites whatsoever. Which confused both of us because we both thought it was parasites right off the bat.

She wants to do blood work and an X-ray next to try and get some more clues but unfortunately those two together would cost me two and a half paychecks worth of money since I'm on a fixed income at a way smaller wage than I'm used to.

I had to get a crown and dental work done to avoid a root canal so now I am back to saving money for this next vet appointment.

- I did some Googling on my own with people who had similar cases and it seems to me that he might have a bacterial imbalance in his gut, so I bought some NutriBac DF for reptiles and amphibians to experiment with and see if it improves his stool and causes weight gain

- right now he has been eating a weaned rat every two weeks along with his brother who is a couple months younger and yet almost double his size.

- His last feeding was a week ago, and I put the probiotics in a syringe and shoved it down the throat of the Rat so that he would eat the probiotics without spitting it back up or noticing, and he ate it.

He scarfed down his food like usual.

- The mystery item in this picture had to have happened last night because right before bed I looked in his tub and checked everywhere for stool and did not find any, But when I just came home at 3 P.M today he had shed his skin And left the mystery object in the photo, with some urates next to it.

- his urates look like any typical snakes, there's nothing wrong with that part of it. That's why I feel like this is stool and not regurgitation.

- I smelled it since I've seen him regurgitate once a year ago and the smell knocked me off my feet, so I know what regurgitation smells like, and this does not smell like it.

It also doesn't smell like the classic musky scent that my other two Boas have when they poop, instead I could describe the smell of this mystery object as that of an old rotting piece of wood in your grandmother's attic.

It's a musty smell but also earthy smell. I don't know if that could be the smell of the probiotics having gone through his body or what, but it definitely doesn't smell like decomposing disgusting flesh.

I have a funny feeling I'm on the right track with the probiotics and he's only had one dose so far So I don't think I have enough data to know whether or not it's going to help him, But his stool has not changed consistency since that one dose.

- I would say his last four bowel movements have looked exactly like this every time. Weirdly slimy but dry by the time I get to it in the morning, and when I open them up it's just fur inside, NO bones whatsoever or any discernible body parts that would tell me that it's an undigested rat.

It's always just fur and weird brown stuff and it has this strange strong musty smell.

- Now for his habitat, right now he's isolated in a tupperware bin with a hotspot of 91.5° F and the thermostat is set to trigger on within one degree Fahrenheit temperature drop, so I know he's got a steady accurate temperature on his hot side,

my grandmother keeps the house at 78 degrees Fahrenheit so that should be his ambient temperature on the cool side, and the cool side temperature reading is roughly the same.

- he's on paper towels right now with just his plastic hides and water bowl and that's it. No bedding whatsoever just paper towels so that I can see clearly what goes on when something comes out of him LOL

- His shed from last night or today was complete, but because of the paper towels I suspect there was lower humidity cuz I had to help him shed a little bit that was left on his butt. He has had perfect shed since I got him about 3 years ago, no issues with that and no issues with any respiratory or neurological happenings either.

That's why I'm asking for opinions and advice, because this boa for all intents and purposes looks and acts and eats exactly like any other normal boa. The only thing wrong with him is that he's getting skinny and his poop or whatever this is looks weird and smells weird.

Apparently he doesn't have parasites, so the only thing I can think it would be is bacterial imbalance in his gut.

If it matters which it probably will:

- when I thaw out his food I set it out at room temperature until it is very lightly cool to the touch, and then feed it to him. He literally does not care if his rat is a little bit cooler and not warmed up.

-None of the boas that I have ever care if their food is warm. They are very different from ball pythons that's for sure. In the past I had eight ball pythons and all of them had to have warmed up food. These guys just don't care as long as they can smell that it's a rat they'll take it.

- Now when I thaw it I just set it on a plate in front of their tanks to thaw for a few hours in his case for his small little rat it only takes me an hour and a half or so to thaw, and I DON'T wait until the rat is fully at room temperature, I wait until it's very lightly cool to the touch so that I know that it hasn't been sitting for too long but also isn't frozen or truly cold, either.

- Perhaps that is what may have started all of this that I am thawing this rat incorrectly, but I have done this for many different reptiles that I've had throughout my life including all eight ball pythons previously and also these other two boa constrictors and nobody else has ever had an issue with it or develop anything from it.

- That's why I'm confused about this little guy and what the hell could be happening to him.

- The current plan is to take him to the vet in June preferably in the beginning of June to get that blood work and x-rays done and hopefully find out something, and to continue dosing him with these probiotics to see if it will help in the meantime. I asked the vet if the probiotics were a good idea and she said it wouldn't hurt to try since we don't have any leads on what might be wrong.

- I want to make his feedings more frequent and instead of feeding him a slightly smaller rat once every two weeks, feed him the same slightly smaller rat once a week or once every one and a half weeks, to try and get some meat back on his bones or perhaps give him something to work with nutritionally to reset his gut and hopefully see more proper looking stool.

HOWEVER i wanted to ask the masses to see what you all thought before jumping to more frequent feedings in case that might be a bad move to make.

Him being this skinny and me being able to feel his vertebrae and see them when he is climbing over something or coiled around something is making me extremely nervous and I don't want to lose him. So that's why I'm seeking advice and hopefully someone has had a similar experience or knows what to do better than I do or even perhaps better than the veterinarian.

I've had roughly 20 reptiles my entire life and I've never had a problem like this before, this is the first time I am facing weight loss despite a good appetite and no clear evidence of what's wrong. Right now I'm completely baffled on what is going on but hopefully I can get him fixed up and back to a good weight so he doesn't deteriorate quickly and die on me which would suck immensely. He's my golden child and my favorite boa, don't tell the others.

Anyways if someone has a prior experience they can Relate To this or any advice on what may have helped them or what I should be doing or should not be doing, let me know. I just want to see everyone else's opinion on what the hell this is and what's going on and why and how to stop it as soon as possible.

Remember that I am going back to the Exotic vet to help him regardless of any advice that you guys give me I just wanted that advice anyways, and if I'm lucky I'll find out what's wrong and be able to fix it on my own so that I don't go broke running back to the vet 15 more times for them to do every little test possible and shrug their shoulders at me.

Всем привет.

Моей Агате почти 4 года. Размер нормальный для своего возраста, кушает нормально. Может быть активной.
Слизи или типо того во рту нет. Никаких «пузырей» в носу тоже.
К человеку также полностью дружелюбна как раньше.

Один раз в детстве (ей был 1 годик или меньше) у неё случился такой же приступ как и на видео. Она тогда всё ещё была в маленьком специальном боксе для адаптации. Я подумал, что ей стало слишком тесно и пересадил её уже в террариум. Лампа 500W, есть холодный и тёплый угол.

Такое потом никогда не повторялось и вот уже на протяжении двух месяцев мы с женой снова наблюдаем эти приступы минимум один раз в неделю. После этого она,как не в чем не бывало, ведет себя нормально.

Возможности обратиться к ветеринару, к сожалению, нет.

Живую крысу слопала с удовольствием. Но проблему это не решило

I just took this 7 year old male in as a rescue, does he have stuck eye caps? I have a few other boas but I’ve never dealt with shed issues before.