Bad News / Good news

[Lore333]

Well yesterday I bought a new 29g aquarium for my Central American Boa and when i was getting ready to feed him I found him dead . I kinda thought something was wrong, since he fed regularly for the month I had him/her. But he seemed to just get skinnier, well I purchased a surname female local breeder from a very reliable retile store in my area. More reliable than where I got my CAB (petco ).
But my first question is I'm using a 75watt Zoo Med infrared lamp, is this enough or too much heat for her?

The encloser has a granite water dish large enough for soaking, Humidifier tube, frehs air tube, corner half log hide, 2 plastic vines over near water dish for hiding, silk plant with rock base near half log, and plastic "twig and rock for climbing, also using a ESU T8 uv florecent bulb during the day.

[natas]

be sure to get a themometer and check the temps.

I personally hate using lights to heat a cage. First they tend to get to hot, and if you have plastic tops on the cage they can melt em. But Sometimes a light is required and when it is (for my bearded dragon) I make sure to have a themometer in the cage and check placement of the light.

I can make a suggestion. Grab yourself a simple heating pad from walmart put it in a test setting with a thermometer in there and get it to the desired temps and then go live with it. Boa's are very happy from ambient light that comes in naturally through your windows or even leaving the lights on in your cage. Thats how I do it.

And the last suggestion I have is this. Once the snakes get big enough get rid of the glass cages and either build one or grab one from Jeff Ronne www.boaphileplastics.com are very nice cages. You can get heat installed with them!

[eddie]

Mmm.. central american boa from petco...
Odds are that it was a wild caught, loaded with parasites.
As fast as it went down hill, even with treatment, it may not have made it. And it would not shock me if one of the culprits is reptilian cryptosporidiosis, a rather nasty parasite that a certain big chain has been plagued with for quite some time.

Be sure to clean its tank with a very stout bleach solution, possibly full strength and rinse it well, with plain water before using it with any other critters.

And sorry for the loss..

[LdyDrgn]

Speaking to Lore in chat, we also found out that he was feeding mice pinkies/fuzzies. We talked about the possibility of him starving the boa to death. He had stated that the fuzzies were about the same size as the boa. I pointed out the possibility that the poor thing may have always been underfed, therefore never looked to be the size it should have been.

This bit is now a dead horse. Let's not continue to beat it, ok?