Dumeril Boa

[DaveDragon]

Today we traded our 1 year old B&W Arg. for ALPHA's 4.5 ft female Dumeril Boa. http://www.tegutalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1280

Does anyone have any experience with them?? I've read many conflicting care sheets. Many say treat them like a common RTB. Many say they like to burrow. The only ones that agree with each other are the ones that were regurged from another site.

Any suggestions???

When we finally got home my wife took the snake out (unnamed so far) and wore her for the next 3 hours while I cleaned out & disinfected the 75G tank, sifted half a huge bag of cypress (taking out all of the sticks and med/large pieces), made the dog bowl hide (maybe she'll use it?! - I'm add another if she does.) and semi set it up. I still need to cover most of the top with aluminum foil and back duct tape to hold in the humidity. The snake seemed very content. The temp of the warm end was 75 when I took the pic 2 hours ago, I think it's over 78 now and slowly rising as the mulch heats up. I'm going to leave the 75W halogen bulb on overnight (normally on timer) along with the 75W night time bulb over the water bowl (to add humidity). When I put the snake in he just stretched out a little and hasn't moved since. Sleeping?? In his old enclosure (36" x 18") he couldn't burrow (not even an inch of substrate) and the hide was broken and not big enough to hide under so maybe he spent most of his time out in the open.

She's about 4.5 ft long and much stronger than my 3.5 ft BP. But she seems to have the same mellow personality.

 

[shiftylarry]

Looks good. Don't worry about him sitting around. They're pretty sedentary in nature. Care is a lot like a RTB, but I would up the humidity to about 70%. To achieve that in the tank you have, it would be a good idea to throw some leaf litter (which they'll happily burrow under) or some moss. Then, cover the top with some plexi-glass or tight fitting tin foil. At that size, they're usually pretty hardy. It's the babies that sometimes croak on people due to stress or cage conditions that are too dry.

 

[rebeccaej]

Dumeril's are pretty easy, and make great pets! Yours is very pretty, too... a lot of them muddy up with age and turn out looking not so great. Definitely give her space to bury herself, Dumeril's are ambush predators and will sit with only their face out of the substrate and eat whatever walks over their face. Just a hint... don't put your hand over its face at that point, they will bite and it hurts a lot! Just pull up their tail or midsection and bring them out that way.

I find that Dumeril's do best with no lights, but an undertank heat pad only. While care sheets will tell you that they have the same temperatures as a BCI, they actually enjoy it a bit cooler. Warm side of the tank should be about 88 and the cool side should be about 78 or so.

 

[DaveDragon]

We're going to get a couple of UTH's, (1) for a 60G (for the warm side) and a small one for under the water bowl (to evaporate the water). The top will be covered with aluminum foil and duct tape today to up the humidity. Then maybe I can just use the night time bulb for additional ambient heat.

 

[shiftylarry]

DaveDragon: I think you have the right idea with the night time bulb. I've never been a fan of UTH's. They just seem unnatural to me. And, they heat surfaces, not the surrounding air, which can be problematic if your house gets cold.

 

[DaveDragon]

DaveDragon: I think you have the right idea with the night time bulb. I've never been a fan of UTH's. They just seem unnatural to me. And, they heat surfaces, not the surrounding air, which can be problematic if your house gets cold.

The problem is heating the interior of a 75G tank! A 75W bulb doesn't cut it. I might use the UTH's with a glass temp of 95 to 100 (limited with a rheostat to reduce the possibility of burns if he burrows down to it) and use a couple of 75W night time bulbs for ambient heat. The only problem with that is the ambient heat won't be controlled. I can maintain a 40G ambient in the upper 70's but the 75G is gonna be tough.

 

[shiftylarry]

Covering the top with tin foil will help. Everyone always talks about buying more heating elements when they want to raise the temps, but something that is often overlooked is insulation. A screen top enclosure has no insulation at all. If you really wanted to do it right, you could build a wooden enclosure, which would have much better insulation than a glass one. It's up to you.

 

[DaveDragon]

Covering the top with tin foil will help. Everyone always talks about buying more heating elements when they want to raise the temps, but something that is often overlooked is insulation. A screen top enclosure has no insulation at all. If you really wanted to do it right, you could build a wooden enclosure, which would have much better insulation than a glass one. It's up to you.

The next step will be a wooden enclosure. I built (3) 7ft x 3ft x 3ft enclosures for our Tegu's. The snake will end up in a similar design.

 

[DZLife]

Covering the top with tin foil will help. Everyone always talks about buying more heating elements when they want to raise the temps, but something that is often overlooked is insulation. A screen top enclosure has no insulation at all. If you really wanted to do it right, you could build a wooden enclosure, which would have much better insulation than a glass one. It's up to you.

The next step will be a wooden enclosure. I built (3) 7ft x 3ft x 3ft enclosures for our Tegu's. The snake will end up in a similar design.

I insulate the lid of my current tegu enclosure with plywood boards. I got rid of my high-wattage bulbs and got a single ceramic heat emitter and put a heating pad underneath the tank on my ball python tank (there is a little under an inch of bedding.) Also, I have a hide box made out of a shoe box, and the air temps in there average around 90-95 with a 40-45 percent average humidity. I also have her tank partially insulated with foil on the lid. I am considering going all-out and getting a thermostat, but don't think that it is worth it, as the temps never get too high or too low, unless the power gets out. I keep her tank on the inside wall of my bedroom with the door closed at night, and the temps are fine. During the day, I open the windows and usually turn the heat emitter off, and the temps are almost identical.

Why I went throuh all that detail, I'm not sure, other than to make these points about cheap insulation:

>Foil is a pretty good (not to mention inexpensive) insulator

>Wood cages provide awesome insulation

>If you can't afford a wooden tank, you can put a plank of plywood on the lid...it works pretty well

>Heating pads are a good option, but most of the heat is wasted if you don't have the enclosure properly insulated.

 

[shiftylarry]

Obviously tin foil is not the best solution, but the reason I always suggest it, is because wooden tops or plexi-glass tops are something that people can make excuses about not putting on. However, most people have tin foil lying around in the house. Over the years, I've just gotten used to recommending it. And it works good enough.

Not suggesting that DaveDragon is cheap at all, I just recommended it, because it's a quick, easy fix to the problem.

 

[ColdThirst]

I love those boas, I wanted one real bad there for a while.

 

[Magik]

Great snake had one of these for a while mine was a bit problamatic with feeing hows your??I put in 3 - 4 inches of cypress mulch and he just loved to burrow couldnt see him one day as he blended in perfect with the bark put my hand in to find him an *whack* latched on to my hand!!Id love to get another one!

 

[DaveDragon]

Great snake had one of these for a while mine was a bit problamatic with feeing hows your??I put in 3 - 4 inches of cypress mulch and he just loved to burrow couldnt see him one day as he blended in perfect with the bark put my hand in to find him an *whack* latched on to my hand!!Id love to get another one!

We started out with a couple inches of cypress mulch but I was told the mulch will act as an insulator and the heat will build up from the UTH. This becomes a burn risk and possibly a fire risk. I have a 100W CHE also for basking and ambient temps. I changed to 3/4" of CareFresh bedding but that gets pushed around too easily. Right now we're using paper towels because our new Suriname Boa brought us mites. I like the paper towels so far.

I've only fed her 3 times so far. She's eaten every time, the first 2 times I had to leave the rat with her in a tub in a dark quiet room, the last time she took it from me (dangled) then I closed the tub for a half hour. They are ambush predators so there's always a chance of getting tagged if you disturb the mulch. They sure are strong for their size!! I'm sure a bite must be very painful.

 

[Magik]

Well the bite I got off my guy wasnt the worst I ever gotten(this is me being Macho) but I wouldnt like to get another one!!! :shock:

 

[DaveDragon]

The scares thing about mine is when she's within a foot or so of my head I can feel her breath, probably because she's straining when I'm redirecting her. I don't notice that with my BP.

 

[Magik]

Hahaha sound like a cool snake I hate these forums they always make me want to get more stuff!!I would love to get another Dumerils just trying to convince the other half!!!! :bang :lol:

 

[DaveDragon]

Are they available over there?? They aren't very common here.

 

[Magik]

They can pop up every now and then there is also a guy who has bred them here also a few guys in the U.K. who have them so if you want them bad enough you can get them after seeing your one I have been asking around and there is a pair of them for sale not a bad price either thinking about getting them but its either them or a Green tree python and thats a very tough decision for me!!I want both!!

 

[DaveDragon]

Get the Dumeril's. I'd much rather have pets that I can handle. A GTP is a hands off snake.

 

[Magik]

Not really I have heard they can be handled fine once you follow a few rules like never force them off their perch only handle them in the daylight hours(unless you want to get attacked!) and take things slow you should be fine. I held one once in a reptile shop near where I live they just came in a shipment and the owner who I know ask me to hold them while he set up their vivs(there was 2 of them)one was a bit snappy the other not so much they were only juvies so you have to be gentle with them I heard they are very delicate when they are young...might even get both!!! :-D