Tips: Building a Boa cage

SW hit my question right off. You really need to find out what kind of snake it is before you build the cage. You will definately want to seal the bottom wth something. A good 2 part epoxy is nice but expensive, otherwise use a marine grade paint but watch the cure times. The urine from boas is pretty strong so if it gets into the wood it may create amonia quickly. You will also want to create an access area for a thermistat as mentioned for temp control. Find out what he wants to use for heat. What we use to do for the smaller snake cages was to create an opening on the top peice of plywood which was the right size for a flo light to set in. You can route the inside of this opening to inset a wire mesh that the fixture will actually sit on that will prevent the snake from being able to touch the light.

We had several snakes over the 10' mark and our largest was our 17' retic.
 
Thanks for the pic swreefer, and the info guys. Great stuff.

How about regular old fiberglass resin? Cheap and easy enough.

I honestly don't know what kind of boa he's got. It's a little runt right now, about a foot or two long, in some kind of aquarium. I haven't seen it.


I will be using a plexiglass front. I wouldn't use regular glass on a reptile cage, unless it was tempered ($$$). Too afraid any heat-creating device like a lamp or rock will potentially crack it if it gets too close. Nothing like a snake on the loose to freak out the other folks in the house.
 
Fiberglass resin would work perfiect I think, or another piece of plexiglass, cut to fit the bottom would work, and be way easy to clean.

Make sure the plexiglass for the front is thick enough so it does not become "flexiglass" (ha! I kill me!). For real though, the stuff at the hardware store can torque a lot if not well mounted to an inflexible frame. Glass would work. I have kept herps in all glass tanks with the heating elements below the glass, and never had them break.
 
Personally, I would not use plexi with a large snake (anything over 6 feet). They will constantly push on it since it flexes (especially if you keep retics :) ). Tempered glass is best. No give and it is strong.
You could do what Dale pointed out and mount the heat on the outside with a screen barrier (never let the snake come into direct contact with a heat source).
You really need to find out what type of snake he has in order to decide what the dimensions needed will be.
A 4 foot long by 2 foot deep cage will be large enough for any of the more commonly kept boas.
However, without an ID on the snake, it's hard to say what size it will need when it is an adult.
I have unfortunately seen people posting pics of their boas or ball pythons only to tell them that they really have a burm and it will reach roughly 15 feet and not only 4-5 feet.
Post a pic of the snake or describe it. That will help a lot.
 
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