I have kept Brazilian Rainbow Boas in many types of enclosures over the years. Plastic shoe boxes of various sizes, glass aquariums and custom-built wooden cages all suffice. Whatever you choose to use as a home for your BRB, it should be of appropriate size and escape-proof! Appropriate floor dimensions for baby BRBs range from roughly 12 x 6 plastic shoe boxes to 20 x 10 ten-gallon glass aquariums. It has been my experience that anything larger than this is just too big for a small snake. The temperature range becomes too wide throughout the cage for the animal to be able to thermo regulate. Once the animal is approximately 24 long, I move them to larger plastic sweater boxes. The dimensions of the sweater boxes I use are 23 1/2(L) x 16 1/4(W) x 6 1/8(H). Two-foot long BRBs can also be comfortably kept in 20 - 30 gallon aquariums. Once my animals are 4 - 6 feet long, I move them into their adult enclosures. These are custom-built wooden cages. They are lined on the inside with "Formica" brand laminate to stand up to wear and tear from the snakes, moisture and cleaning. My adult cages are a minimum of 36(L) x 24(W) x 21(H). This size is appropriate for housing one animal or a breeding pair. I also have a few larger enclosures which measure 48(L) x 24(W) x 21(H). I use these cages for breeding groups (two or more animals). 50-gallon aquariums will also work for adult BRBs.
Regardless of the size of the cage or the age of the snake, I have always set up the inside the same way. I place the water dish on the cool end of the cage, off of the heat source. In the warm end of the cage I will provide at least one hiding spot. BRBs tend to remain hidden during the day. If the cage is large or I have multiple animals in the enclosure, I will provide two or even three hiding spots. Many things will work as hide spots. In the past I have used wooden or rubbermaid boxes with holes in the side, pieces of broken pottery, cork bark or even pieces of slate propped up on bricks. I have also used cinder blocks lain on their sides. The snakes seem to love to wedge themselves into the holes of the cinder blocks. I always try to make sure that my hide spots are pleasing to the eye, easy to remove for cleaning and arranged in such a way that they cannot topple and hurt the animals using them.
I have always used “Flexwatt” to heat my BRB enclosures. “Flexwatt” is a heating element enclosed in thin plastic sheets. By connecting my flexwatt heater to a thermostat with a remote sensor (such as the Helix DBS 1000, or Microclomate DL2), I can achieve precise temperatures in the warm end of the enclosure. I have always mounted the flexwatt to the bottom of the cage using duct tape or sheets of aluminum which I purchase from a hardware store. Screwing the aluminum sheet to the bottom of the cage with the flexwatt in between keeps the entire surface of the heater flush with the bottom of the cage. The cage can then be mounted up off of the floor using rubber feet or wooden blocks or bricks. Keeping the cage elevated like this allows heat to dissipate. Warning: Never sandwich your heat source between two wooden surfaces! This will allow too much heat to build up and can lead to a fire.
BRBs depend upon environmental conditions to regulate their own internal temperatures. When setting up their enclosure it is best to provide them with a range of temperatures to choose from. A cool end of 72° and a warm end of 84° will provide an adequate gradient for your snake. It is important to note that the temperatures should be measured on the floor of the cage where the snake spends the most time. An accurate thermometer should be used. If animals are to be kept in enclosures that are too small to provide this temperature range then it is recommended to lower the temperature in the warm end to prevent overheating the small cage. In enclosures with little or no temperature gradient a constant temperature between 75° and 80° should be maintained.
The substrate in my cages changes with the size of the snake. My babies are kept on newspaper or paper towel. These are both easy for me to replace when cleaning. I have always kept my adults on pine shavings. Pine smells nice when it's clean and it's cheap to replace. I have never had a problem with it. Recently, I have switched to a western fir mulch from Earth-Gro. I really don't have any reason for switching other that I like the reddish-brown appearance of the mulch. I'll have to let you know how it works out.
Animals should always have access to fresh water. I try to change the water in my animals’ enclosures weekly. I recommend using water dishes that are large enough for the animal to get into. I often observe my BRBs soaking in their water dishes. There is much discussion among herpetoculturists about filtered and purified water. I have always used untreated water from the tap. I have read that hard water containing calcium and magnesium salts is safe for reptiles. Softened water may be detrimental to “patients” on sodium-restricted diets and demineralized and distilled water is not necessarily beneficial to reptiles (Mader, 1996).
Over the years I have gone back and forth over small, frequent meals vs larger, infrequent ones. It seems to me that opportunistic predators such as snakes would lean more towards large, infrequent meals. I guess this really depends on the particular snake and the environment which it is from. Currently, I am leaning more towards smaller meals more frequently. My general rule of thumb is to feed my BRBs a rat or a mouse of the same girth as the snake’s widest point. I offer these meals once per week. I offer food items to my snakes that are live, freshly killed or frozen and thawed. Currently, I am moving away from live food because rat bites can occur. If live food is offered, it should never be left in a cage over night. I have seen snakes with very serious injuries as a result of this practice. Frozen prey should be thoroughly thawed using hot tap water before it is offered to your animal. I feel that this thawing has two benefits. It avoids the risk of “shocking” your animal’s system due to ingesting frozen food and it also enforces the illusion of a live, warm-blooded prey item. At any rate, thawed or freshly killed food items should be offered to your snake on tongs. Wiggle the food item in front of the snake’s face or gently tap the snake on the nose with the food to illicit a strike. Then, release the food item. The snake will know what to do with it.
I do not recommend feeding more than one animal per enclosure. If you have to keep two animals together, move one of them to a temporary container during feeding time. If two snakes end up going for the same food item, one can end up swallowing the other by mistake. I have actually pulled the head of one animal from the mouth of another! This is a mistake I will never make again. During the breeding season, when I commonly have multiple animals per enclosure, I will separate animals to plastic sweater boxes about 24 hours before offering them a meal. This gives them a chance to relax and acclimate before being fed. Aggressive feeders may not need this time. You may be able to get away with separating the animals and feeding them right away.
As I have already stated, I like to do water changes frequently. As soon as the babies deposit feces or urates on their paper towels I replace them. Adults are another story. I spot clean their cages as necessary. I try to remove any sheds, feces or urates as they are generated. I will do a complete replacement of the substrate of my adult cages roughly once every three to four months. Sometimes longer.
I honestly dont pay too much attention to the humidity in my BRB enclosures. I have never measured it and I dont think an exact number is important. I have lost an animal due to a humidity problem. It was a small BRB in a large glass aquarium with a screen top. The enclosure held absolutely no humidity and this caused the animal to suffer a few bad sheds. Stuck eye caps led to eye infections. Eventually, the animal died from what I believe was just bad husbandry on my part. I now spray my babies once a day or more if they are in shed. Their cages are ventilated so that any moisture evaporates over the course of a 24-hour period. I spray my adult cages but not on a regular basis. Every few days Ill give them a spritz. I spray adults down once per day when they are in shed.
It may be worth noting here that several times in the past I have noticed what I would call denting or pitting in the eye cap of my animals. I have always associated this with dry conditions. I have seen discussions on internet forums where other keepers have corroborated this. The condition usually clears up if more access to water is provided or humidity is increased. I have found the condition slow to correct itself. Sometimes it persists for a year or more. I have not noticed it to be detrimental to the animal.
Baby BRBs are defensive and need to be handled regularly to tame down. Once your snake has acclimated to its new home and appears to be eating regularly, feel free to handle them frequently. Depending on the size of the meal they have recently eaten, I will usually give them 24 - 72 hours to digest before handling. Really, the longer the better. Imagine being picked up and moved around soon after you had eaten a large meal. This can lead to regurgitation.
