Red Tailed Boa Burrowing Question

[halima]

Hi!

I have a 6 month old Male Columbian Red Tailed Boa Constrictor. He's been doing something differently lately and I'm wondering if it's something I should worry about. He's burrowing and hiding beneath his bedding almost all the time. He stays burried with just his snout up or sometimes i just see his tail. He's been doing this for about a week. He's also not seeming hungry at all and he's less active, only coming out for soaks and a little light. I've had him for about 3 weeks. He's had two successful feedings and was due another but wasn't hungry. He's friendly when I take him out of his cage. He wraps around my fingers strongly, holds himself up and seems active and lively, but he hangs out under his substrate more often than not. I'm wondering if I've done something wrong in his environment that has made him unhappy.

He's housed in a 20 gallon long aquarium with a wire mesh top. On the warm side, there's a heating pad underneath and a heating lamp clipped to shine into the cage making the temperature on the warm side between 85-89 degrees. At night, I use a ceramic element so he can have some darkness. On the cool side, the temperature is between 75 and 79 degrees. He's bedded on repti-bark. He has a water dish on both his cool side and his warm side, and fake plants and branches and such to lounge on that go across the back of the cage to both the warm and cool side.. lower on the warm side so it's not close to the light. The ambient humidity is between 50 and 60% from water and one daily mist. The substrate stays relatively dry.

I live in georgia and the nights are getting a bit colder but his temps stay constant. I'm wondering if snakes have a "dormant" time a year when they're less active. Or maybe if he's getting ready to move into a shed or something like that. He just stays beneath his substrate about 70% of the time and I've never had a redtailed boa so I don't know their behaviors.

Could someone tell me if this is somewhat normal. Are Red Tails sometimes burrowers? or if it's not, what I should do for Kitara to make his home more comfy (if it's not comfy) so he stays above ground?

Thanks so much in advance.

Halima

[haroldo359]

yeah, boa constrictors sometimes burrow.

just keep the cage temps right. and give it a day and night period. more than likely it'll be active in the dark and burrow in the day.

where in GA you at?

and welcome to RTB.

[halima]

where in GA you at?

I live in Athens, Ga.. about an hour and a half outside of Atlanta.

yeah, boa constrictors sometimes burrow.

As long as the burrowing is somewhat normal, I feel a lot better about it. Since he's my first, I don't really know more than what's in the books and what the breeder and my friends have told me. The breeder's out of town this week so I decided to ask here.

H

[toker]

Welcome to the site!

boas will burrow every now and again. Mine is soo cute when she tries to hide

They will also do it to try to cool off if the temps are not correct, if your temps are good, then I would say its nothing to worry about.

This is my now 5+ft redtail hiding in her cage. she is too cute!

[halima]

That's Kitara on the day that I got him. He's a tiny thing but so sweet and friendly. HIs head's the size of a nickel, so he's still a teeny boy.. eating large f/t fuzzies. Thanks for helping to put my mind at ease.. You'd think "They Burrow Sometimes" would be in the books or something!

[haroldo359]

feel free to ask anything you need to know. there are plenty of ppl that are glad to help.

btw... CRB is the abbr. for colombian rainbow boa.

[haroldo359]

nice snake, too.

and toker... that is a cute pic.

[ginevive]

Wow, I never knew that they burrowed. Imagine that, a snake that is not only sometimes arboreal, but one that also buries itself! Boas: the snake that does it all.

	Arboreal Arboreal is a word meaning "related to or resembling trees". Its meaning comes from the Latin arbor, meaning tree.<br> In biology, an arboreal animal is one which inhabits or spends large amounts of time in trees or bushes.