Substrate...........?

[BOADUDE]

What do yall recomend for substrate for a boa?

[LuvMyBoa]

Newspaper works best... it's easily changable and disposeable. You can also use terrarium carpet you can find at most pet stores. Paper towels are ok, but tend to drain humidity. If you are looking for something a little more appealing to the eye, cypress mulch (with no dye) can be used, but never feed the boa in an enclosure with loose substrate such as the cypress...too easy for them to ingest and cause problems.

[BOADUDE]

Yeah I have heard from several people not to feed in the enclosure,so what do I do?Feed the in a plastic tub them after the snake is done eating move it back into the enclosure?What do you do with you snake?If you dont mind me asking.

[LuvMyBoa]

Nope, I don't mind at all I will put one boa in a rubbermaid tub (the storage type bins) and feed in there. Once she is done eating and has a nice little bulge in her tummy, I'll let her settle for a few minutes and move her carefully right back into her enclosure. After being moved to the tub repeatedly every feeding, they come to know that when in the tub, they'll be fed, so often the feeding response may be triggered simply by putting the snake in the tub. Be very gentle when moving the snake from the tub back into their enclosure as the feeding response is often still active.

[LuvMyBoa]

also, after a feeding you'll want to let the boa rest for 24-48 hours to digest. Handling too soon may cause regurgitation and stress on the snake. Are you planning on feeding frozen/thawed prey?

[BOADUDE]

I got it!Thanks!

[LuvMyBoa]

You're very welcome! There are always plenty of people around to answer any questions you may have. This is a good place to get the help you are looking for And some of the members are friendly

[BOADUDE]

It is awesome here every question I have asked has been answered in detail!Thanks again!


P.S.The local shop that sell feeder mice and rats only sell live so it looks like I am going to have to kill the food my self.

[LuvMyBoa]

That's fine if you decide to go that way. I personally can't kill them, I buy frozen. You can certainly order frozen from an online supplier...the prey items are usually cheaper than a pet store, but you do have to pay shipping. If you know of any other herpers in your area, you can combine orders to save on shipping. I use a local supplier (reptile rescue) but many people on this site have had great luck with rodentpro.com or gotmice.com. I know there are threads in the feeding forum that will give reviews of these sites, or offer suggestions on others. But certainly prekilled would be fine

[Ed_r]

Newspaper, is probably the easiest, cleanest, and cheapest substrate you can get. With newspaper you KNOW you have the entire mess cleaned up. With Cypress or other loose substrates, you never really know how far urine has traveled in the cage. There is nothing wrong with loose substrates, but like what was said DON'T feed on it. I feeed most of my boas in the cage. With as many as i have, to put them in totes would take a week to feed them all. The ones with a stronger feeding response i feed in a tote still.

Prekilled is a good start. Frozen thawed prey is the absolute best choice. Even pre killed prey can still host parasites. Freezing kills like 90% of the parasites. A great source for frozen rodents is www.rodentpro.com there are quite a few online suppliers to make your search allot easier, AND CHEAPER than pet stores.