Boa Care Sheet

The Boa Constrictor makes a great pet as they are one of the largest snakes that are kept in captivity, reaching up to 13ft in length and are quite heavyset. These snakes tend to live anywhere between 20 and 30 years when looked after. They are quite low maintenance pets as they require feeding every week, to every few weeks to every month during their lifecycle.

Common boa constrictors do best with a larger terrestrial vivarium for their enclosure. This is because wood is an excellent insulator of heat and so a wooden vivarium will make it easier to control the crucial temperatures required inside the habitat. The wooden vivarium should have good ventilation to allow air to flow in and out of the enclosure.

As a juvenile the boa will thrive in enclosure around 3ft in length and 2ft in depth and height. As the boa grows this enclosure will need to be upgraded to a 4-foot wooden enclosure. Large females may require a 5 or 6ft enclosure when fully grown.

Common boas require a daytime temperature of 86°F with a basking spot of around 88°F. The best way to achieve this is to use a ceramic heat emitter on one side of the enclosure, being controlled by either a pulse proportional thermostat. This will keep temperatures steady throughout the day and night, whilst also creating a slight temperature gradient in the enclosure. A basking light can also be used but is not necessary, if one is introduced the temperature should not exceed 90F and the basking light should only be on for 10-12 consecutive hours per day. All basking lights and ceramic heat bulbs must be guarded to ensure the snake cannot come into contact with the bulb.

If a ceramic is being used as the sole heat source, it is advisable to use LED lights to light the enclosure for 10-12 consecutive hours per day. This provides the boa with a good day/night cycle.

Temperatures should be monitored daily using a thermometer.

Boa Constrictors do not require UVB to use the calcium in their diet like other reptiles but it is still a beneficial addition to the enclosure. The snake would naturally be exposed to UV from sunlight in the wild, and as we are trying to emulate nature in our enclosures, we recommend providing some UVB.

A 2-5% T5 UVB tube or a more powerful but smaller unit should be sufficient. The UV tube should be mounted to the ceiling at the back of the enclosure to provide a light gradient running parallel to the temperature gradient. There will be times when the snake will want less or no UVB, so partial and full hiding spots should be placed all along the width of the enclosure.

Whilst any loose substrate has the small potential to be accidentally swallowed, we have found this to not be a problem with coarse beech woodchips or coarse bark chips and that is what we keep our common boa constrictors on. They are also very easy to clean.

When decorating the enclosures it is adviseable to include a number or large decorations ensuring there is at least on good hiding spot at the warm and cold ends. This will help the boa feel more secure and also allow it to use the entirety of it's enclosure confidently. The vivarium should be decorated with various pieces of wood and artificial plants to achieve this.

A juvenile common boa constrictor's enclosure can also include some vertical structure as they will climb if given the oppertunity. These vertical structures are best created using natural wood decorations and vines.

A boa constrictor's diet consists of frozen thawed rats, mice and rabbits. When young the boa will be eating frozen mice roughly once a week. The size of the prey increases as the snake gets bigger moving from small mice up through XL mice to rats and eventually a small rabbit. When fully grown the snake only needs to be fed a large meal once every 2-3 weeks.

Water should aways be available for both drinking and bathing. We advise providing a bowl large enough for the snake to submerge itself inside on the cool end of the vivarium. Water should be changed daily to ensure it remains fresh.

If you keep a male and female together, they may breed. You do not need to do anything to encourage this, providing they are healthy and the conditions are good, it will happen naturally. You need to consider whether you want this to happen. What will you do with the babies?

A gravid female does not require any additional nesting material. In some cases, if the male is extremely active or is stressing the female, it may be worth temporarily removing him from the enclosure. Common Boa constrictors are a livebearing species so they will not lay eggs. Roughly 24 weeks after mating she will give birth, the babies should be removed immediately and placed in a smaller enclosure with a moist substrate.

Boa Constrictors, as with most pets, require a clean environment to thrive. We recommend a spot clean as often as possible (every day) and a full clean every 4 weeks or so. If you are keeping the snake in a bioactive enclosure, you can spot clean and monitor the enclosure. It may still be a good item to change out the bedding a few times per year.

When cleaning the enclosure, you should remove your animal, all decorations and all of the bedding. Once the enclosure is clear you can spray it all over with a reptile-friendly disinfectant. These usually work very quickly and only need to be left for around 30 seconds. Instructions can normally be found on the disinfectant packaging. Once the disinfectant has done its work it can be wiped away from the surfaces with a paper towel. In some cases you might want to repeat this process a second time to ensure that the enclosure is thoroughly cleaned.

Your decorations can be cleaned in a similar method, simply spray them down with the disinfectant and rinse thoroughly with water before drying them off and putting them back into the enclosure. We recommend this process be done during the daytime to make sure that the snake will be going back to a warm vivarium for at least an hour before the basking lamps are turned off for the night.