I have a nice 75 gallon tank for a baby RTB I'm going to purchase here soon.

[Phobiaz]

I have this nice 75 gallon tank with a heatlamp on top, has a screen lid, I hold it down with tie downs(industrial strength) The heat lamp is 100 watt and keeps the tank around 80 degrees. I also have a UTH underneath. Currently I have Eco-earth bedding and Cypress mulch at my disposal, I also have a humidity gauge/temp gauge. The reason I have this 75 gallon tank is because I kept a 3 foot red tail in it, however I don't have the snake anymore, I gave it to my father as a present, He's very much into snakes and he built it a very nice custom set up. However, I live over 1000 miles away from my father and I don't see him much anymore, however.

I don't want to make mistakes, I'm tired of reading the controversy of these long written threads of various methods of keeping snakes. It drives me nuts reading them, which is why I'm posting this. Bottom line, a 75 gallon tank isn't exactly EASY to clean, and it's a pain, I'm going to be moving a baby RTB into this tank and I was wondering what would be the best substrate to use? I find this Cypress mulch is messy and I would preferably do weekly wipe downs of the tank rather than having to MOVE the entire tank every week. The last boa I had LOVED to soak, and I find that eco earth is great for humidity but horrible for a snake that likes to soak, MESSY! I was wondering...if there was a way I could use newspaper in this tank and at the same time keep the humidity levels up. What saved me on the humidity was the Eco earth and the cypress mulch mix, If you're wondering why I used both, it was because I found if I put a thin layer of cypress mulch on top of the eco earth, it didn't get as messy, however that blew outta the window because the snake would occasionally burrow.

I'm also concerned about my heating, I was thinking of investing in a CHE rather than a 100 watt heat lamp. I currently have ONE. uth on the opposite side of the heatlamp, with the water dish kinda towards the heatlamp( the tank is about 2ft high, 4ft long, and 1 1/2 foot wide. I would be buying alot of vines and stuff to attach to the sides of the glass as well as hiding objects on both sides to make him feel secure. (I have a slew of old vine fixtures i can mount on the side of the tank for him to crawl around on and wrap himself up in. (I DO have a humidifier I can hook up to this tank through the screen top, HOWEVER, I've been advised against it(I was using this for my ball python but I was told it's a huge breeder of bacteria and the humidity levels should be fine if I mist him and provide him a hide box,- i only use eco earth for the BP which works great, I wanted to give him added humidity so I decided to wrap half his screen in plastic wrap and link a tube through the top that connects to the humidifier, his humidity stays at 60% but when I shut off his heat lamp it skyrockets to 70-80% I unhooked it for now, while I figure out other temporary things to sustain his humidity) The end result for both of these snakes will be boaphile plastics -btw, my BP is in great health, I can post pictures if requested, he has clean sheds, however recently I've noticed his activity increase...his heat levels are alright and the humidity is consistant.

As far as purchasing the RTB, I'm not really into morphs, The hypos look great, and it would be a dream come true to have an albino or sunglow but I'm not that into it, I think the original ttb's look gorgeous. There is a local petco not far from me that sells them, I have seen the snakes, they look like they are in great health, responsive and they don't do a bad job of keeping them. I've noticed there are alot of "former petco employees" on this site, and that being said, I was wondering if theres anyway the petco people would let me contact the breeder for there RTB's. The last I checked, they were going for $172.00 which... is ridiculous, I've called other pet shops that say they can order them in, (order only) for $129.00, another pet shop I called said he had "Gyuanas" for $300.00 each and I kinda laughed at that... sorry for the grammar, I'm really tired and my thoughts are all mixed up, I've used some odd punctuation as well LOL.

Thoughts? Advice? please don't link me to a care sheet post! I want personal experience!

	Hypomelanistic Hypomelanistic - a genetic reduction in the dark pigment Melanin.

	Morph A morph is a color or pattern variation that is proven to be genetic. Common morphs include albino, anerythristic, gentically striped, Hypomelanistic, and many others. Morphs also include combinations of simple traits such as "Sunglow" which is Albino and Hypomelanistic. These traits may be recessive traits, co-dominant traits, dominant traits, or created through selective breeding (ie Pastel).

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	Ceramic Heat Emitter Ceramic Heat Emitter: A porcelain heating device that screws into a standard porcelain incandescent socket

[spix14]

Well I doubt Petco would let you contact their breeder, as that would cut into their profits, but I would advise against it anyway. The breeder they get their RTBs from is crappy and the boas at my store frequently came in with IBD or feeding issues or mites and a host of other things. There are MANY breeders that sell perfectly healthy boas for reasonable prices, I'd advise going to one of them rather than Petco's.

	Inclusion Body Disease IBD

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[Hairless]

For not wanting to read a long care sheet, you sure posted a long thread. lol
Spix is right....get the snake from a good breeder.

As far as housing: years ago I used fish tanks with lights for heat and will not do it again. Buy an enclosure from a good builder and use under cage heat. A proper enclosure will make it much easier to keep the humidity and temps in the proper range. I use aspen bedding and only run a humidifier in the room with the snakes during winter.

I have kept boas many different ways over the years. You said not to post links but I will anyway....There are many ways to keep boas, but if you want to do it right I suggest you do it the way described here:Welcome Rio Bravo Reptiles

[_Sam_]

Hey Dudeeeee. Nice to see you posting here. Welcome to the site

You know my stance on Eco Earth as per the chat last night, haha, but I'll say it again- I'm not a fan. I prefer cypress, myself, but I know people on here do use eco earth. I think that you could do newspaper or paper towel, and put a water dish under the heat source, so it evaporates, It'll help keep the humidity up. You'll want to cover as much of the screen top as possible, so you can keep the humidity in. Like Hairless said, aquariums are not ideal, an enclosure made for a snake would do you much better. but that's not what you're asking about, i suppose, so aaaaanyway.. lol

There are a LOT of very credible breeders here on RTB, many of the members have dealt with them and can offer you sound advice based on personal experience. No matter what you're looking for, you can find a reputable breeder (probably on here) that will not rip you off, and that you can work with and stay sane (working with pet stores can be a hassle!). I suggest you check around here, and on the classifieds, and also remember the BOI is your friend. dont be afraid to do resarch and ask around to determine if you're comfortable ordering from a certain breeder.

Umm. that's all i can think of right now, LOL. it's late and my head hurts.

good luck dude.

[Phobiaz]

How long do you think the boaphile 421D would last me?

Boaphile Plastics!!! 421D Cage

It's something I could easily do right now but not if I'm gonna replace it in the next few months...it seems small. I'm also still trying to figure out if the heating system comes with it, I litterally just looked at ...

[Hairless]

IMO the enclosure your looking at could house a male for his life, but is a little on the small size. The 421d (48x24) would be the minimum I would use. I have my adult males in 48x30 inch enclosures and this is working well. My adult females are in 96x30 inchers. 72X30 would probably work just fine...but it sure is nice to see the big girls have a enough room to stretch out. When the snakes are small, I just divide a large enclosurer and limit them to half. The Boaphile also sells enclosures that are expandable.....buy the enclosure to fit you and your snakes needs for a couple of years and add on later.

[Predaking]

Hey What"s up...When I got My Girl (bcc)Which was the beginig of this year I started her in a 75 gallon tank already therefor that i don't have to keep on buying tanks as she grows she was 2ft when I got her now she is almost 4ft. I use aspen for her bedding I have on heat lamp on one end and a uth on the other side with a dimmer switch. For Humidity I use TropicAire Humidity Exchange system with air pumps connecting to the tank to provide humid air .You can get this At petland and It will cost about 20$ not including the air pump oh yea she has a water dish to drink from in the middle of the tank. Well I hope this helps you..later

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