Dumeril Boa

drezenx · 07-08-09, 07:18 PM

I bought a dumeril boa a few weeks ago, i was told she was about 1 yr old. She's about 2.5-3 feet long. I was wondering what the temperature should be at in the tank? I have her in a big 80 gallon tank and can't seem to get it past 80 in there. I have a two 100 watt light bulbs sitting on the top of the tank. I also can't get the humidity past 55% and was told it should be between 60% and 80%. I was wondering what the best way was to increase that. I have covered the tank with cardboard to try to keep some of the heat and stuff but its a pain. I was also wondering if the low temp is why she is a fussy eater. I was told the week before i got her she took a live mouse with no problems but I have to leave the mouse in the tank for awhile for her to eat. And is it ok if I turn the lights off at night? the tank usually goes down to around 75 degrees I believe if I do that. Sorry for all the questions but thanks in advance for any answers and help.

Will0W783 · 07-09-09, 08:58 AM

That's way too big a cage for a snake that size. My 4-foot Dumeril's is in a 50-gallon breeder tank and he is fine in there. While it is nice to give snakes extra room, it is much much harder to regulate climate in large tanks. If you have a smaller tank you could put the boa in for now, I would suggest that. If not, covering half the tank lid with tin foil can help to hold in heat and humidity. Place several water dishes in the tank, one directly under the light so it will evaporate and humidify the air, get 150-watt heat bulbs, or a ceramic heat-emitter bulb. I had my ball python in a 55-gallon for a while and it was a nightmare. He had horrible sheds and no matter what I did I couldn't keep the humidity up. Make sure you have at least one water dish big enough for the snake to curl up and soak in comfortably. You should keep your hot spot 95 degrees or so and the cool side in the 80s. I don't think Dumeril's need very high humidity- you might actually be all right at 55%. Obviously increase it when the snake is going into shed. My Dumeril's has about 50-60% humidity in his cage, and he sheds fine. Probably the best indicator of your care is how the snake sheds. If it's in one piece and comes off easily you're doing everything well. If the skin flakes off or the snake has difficulty shedding, up the humidity. Hope this helps.

citysnakes · 07-13-09, 04:37 PM

i would definitely move it to a smaller sized enclosure. i keep full grown, over 5 foot dumerils in custom enclosures that are 4x2x2 and thats even more than enough room for them. humidity for dumerils is not really important in my opinion. my dumerils always shed perfectly even in the driest winter months with no attempt on my end to maintain or even monitor it. temps are good if kept at 80 ambient and 90 basking although i feel that they can also do well with slightly cooler temps. at one point i had a basking spot of 95 and never saw them on the hot side. also i noticed with these guys that if all your conditions are correct and their feeding response weakens then raise your temps a bit and they'll eat like animals again.

so thats my quick 0.2 before i rush out. good luck.

drezenx · 07-25-09, 02:03 PM

sweet thanks for the answers....unfortunately i just found some mites i believe on her yesterday...any idea what causes mites and the best way to get rid of them? i soaked her in water for 20 min to drown some of them but thats only gunna do so much and she spent most of her time tryin to get out of the water so i dont no how much of her actually remained under water to drown them.

Krista · 07-26-09, 12:35 PM

Hello fellow Canadian! Where are you from?

On the topic of mites, you will need to treat your snake and it's enclosure, along with any other snakes you have and their enclosures. There is much debate as to what is acceptable to use for your animal as far as mite treatment goes. The most widely accepted method would be Provent A Mite (PAM), which kills both the mites and their eggs, and is proven safe for reptiles (I believe so anyways..). There are also other brands of mite treatment out there, but they never get the glowing reviews that PAM does...
Others swear by the Nix solutuion, or the Ivory soap method...it's really a personal choice, and I am by no means going to debate their effectiveness, lol.

I recently got a BCI who had mites. I know what a pain it can be. Good luck.

Will0W783 · 07-26-09, 05:57 PM

Mites are awful. I had to treat my entire collection of 30 snakes. I chose the Nix method and was very happy with it. It's a lot less toxic to the snakes than many of the other methods, can be sprayed directly on the animals and all over their cages, and it smells nice. There is a thread on here about the Nix method. Search "nix" on here and you will find it.