A ~ C ~ S~N~A~K~E~S
Snake Breeders Based in Leicestershire, England, UK
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A ~ C ~ S~N~A~K~E~S Snake Breeders Based in Leicestershire, England, UK | |
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Corallus Hortulanus
Amazon Tree Boas are one of the most variable
snakes in terms of naturally occurring colour and pattern. They are
a slender, live bearing member of the Boidae family of snakes. Being
nocturnal (active at night) and an arboreal (living in trees)
species makes them a fabulous display snake. Also known as garden
tree boa, common tree boa, dog headed boa. Whilst ATBs are known for being defensive and
somewhat aggressive we have found that in general this is largely a
consequence of how you handle them. An ATB will quite happily glide through your
fingers without showing any signs of aggression, however as soon as
you try to restrict their movement they will become nervous and many
will attempt to bite! In general they are a little nervous and may
bite if they feel threatened, however, if you treat them with
respect and offer gentle handling without restricting their movement
they will normally become reasonably tame. It should however be noted that they are not a
snake to carry around your neck or walk around whilst holding as
they will strike at you. If other people or animals move around near
you during handling, the snake will more than likely strike at them.
The trick with ATB handling is treating them with a lot of respect
using confident but slow and gentle movements without restraining.
If they are the snake for you and you treat them in this manner they
will give you a lot of enjoyment.
ATBs display immense variation in colour and
pattern and many specimens are difficult to categorise into a single
colour or pattern phase and for this reason we would prefer to just
appreciate each individual specimen for it's own unique
qualities!
100 to 180cm, their tail is approximately 15-20% of
their total length. Vivarium or
plastic tubs
We use vivs for adults as we find them much
easier to get the balance between humidity and ventilation just
right. For neonates and juveniles we use tubs. Other requirements: -Large water bowl mainly to assist with keeping
the humidity up but also they may use it to drink and bathe (we put
greenery in the water bowl so they can bathe if they wish whilst
still feeling secure). -Climbing branches (not straight poles) with
twists, turns, joins and knots complete with some form of hiding
areas such as large leaves overhanging. -Substrate that can accomodate their high
humidity requirements. -We always offer them a hide on the floor, some
will use it more than others. If they are using it for the majority
of the time then it is an indication that they do not feel safe and
secure with the "branches" you have offered and it is therefore a
good idea to rethink your cage furniture, maybe adding extra
greenery to the branches would help.
Many
keepers house ATBs in breeding groups however it should be noted
that even though ours are normally housed individually, we have
housed 2 males together temporarily. They were observed for quite a
while and appeared fine together however on the 2nd morning we
entered the room to find them hanging from one of their branches
wrapped tightly together and covered in blood. The largest male (who
was housed with another male before we acquired him) had the other
males head in his mouth and neither of them could break free! We got
them apart and treated both of them as necessary and they were both
fine but it has taught us a very important lesson to not house males
together especially when in the vicinity of females.
When establishing neonates, we house
them in a well ventilated plastic tub with enough plastic greenery
to loosely fill the tub so that they can easily move through it
whilst remaining secure. The tub has around an inch (2-3cm) of water
in the bottom to ensure they have the correct humidity without the
need to disturb them by
constantly misting.
As you can see, we heat the tubs with
a heat mat (controlled by a thermostat) which is vertically mounted
on the wall.
Viv - Guarded Ceramic heater, spotlight or heat
mat (mounted vertically).
Tub - Heat mat or cable.
In our Boa room we use ceramic heaters to
maintain the background temperature in the entire room with a red
basking spotlight in one corner of each vivarium.
Whichever method of heating is used, the
temperature should be controlled by a suitable thermostat and
monitored using a digital thermometer
Important Note: If you are housing an adult
female ATB who could give birth it is imperative that you check that
the heater guard is suitable. Think about how small a new born snake
is and remember that ATBs climb and in all likelihood will head for
the heat. We have found that the only guards that work effectively
are those that are custom fitted. ATBs live in tropical rainforests
and spend almost their entire lives in trees, this includes hunting,
eating, sleeping and also giving birth! Amazon's require a fairly high humidity
therefore a substrate that can accommodate this is essential. Orchid
bark, Peat, Coconut bark are among the best natural
substrates. Rodents. We prefer to feed our snakes mice
rather than rats as have found rats to be a little too
fatty. Most ATBs prefer their food warm. Many will feed
better at night often taking warm food from a perch close to them
once it gets dark. A great number of ATBs will only strike
feed. The recommended feeding schedule for neonates is
a single pinkie/fuzzie mouse approximately every 5 to 10
days. Yearlings and young/small adults should normally
be fed every 1 to 2 weeks. In our opinion, adult ATBs do best by being fed
every 2 to 4 weeks depending on their condition on 1-2 adult
mice. As with any species of snake we tend to feed
females more often than males. Gravid females should be offered
smaller food items more frequently and although they will normally
feed much more at this time, not all specimens will continue to do
so throughout the entire pregnancy. Whilst we have had a few wild caught specimens,
the majority of our collection of ATBs is captive bred and we have
therefore based this care guide purely on captive bred
specimens.
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