Emerald Tree Boas?

[Jrgh17]

I might be getting a combined X-mas and birthday present from my parents of any snake I want. :crazy01: :dancer: As Dad put it: "It's easier than trying to figure out what the [heck] you listen to, and I can't stand getting 'girl stuff'".

Two of my more realistic "dream snakes" have been an albino BP or an Emerald Tree Boa. I've got the royal in the bag, so to speak... but I REALLY love the look of the ETB's. I've been reading up on them to see about care requirements and such. I know that someone on here probably has one, and I was looking for a little bit of first-hand opinions on their care requirements, because everything I've read said they can be very fussy.

Also appreciated would be pictures, both snakes and setups, and any extra little tidbits which helped you out with them which I may not have found on a care sheet.

 

[Tula_Montage]

Whatever you do make sure your buying a CB animal. WC imports tend to be cheap, for a reason. Most of them are extremely agressive, emaciated, deyhdrated and about to fall of their sticks.

CB emeralds are quite hardy snakes, and do very well if given the right environment. If theres something wrong with the husbandry, theres going to be something wrong with the snake. Do you also know that emeralds get quite huge? Especially the basins... 7ft aint unusual. And they are looky no touchy species for at least their first year due to having extremely delicate spines.

I would recommend The Complete Chondro by Greg Maxwell - I know its about chondros but their care is quite similar. And its a fantastic book. If you can't afford that then go for The Living Boa. I can't remember who it's by but its fabulous too.

 

[Jrgh17]

Is "The More Complete Chrondo" an updated edition? That's the one I found at the bean farm. I checked out the price, but I figure if I wasn't willing to shell it out for the book, I have NO BUSINESS going near that snake.

Based on what I've read so far, my biggest concern is humidity.

 

[Tula_Montage]

The more complete is an updated version, but either book is a wealth of information. Your right though - spending $70 is a wise choice. They are just so well written and the pictures are fabulous. My favourite from The Complete series is the Boa book by Vin Russo.

I know a lot of people just use water as the substrate as emeralds never ground themselves anyways. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that though - seems like bacteria heaven.

I would just use a moss or eco earch substrate. Something that was relatvley inexpensive and easy to replace yet asthetically pleasing.

 

[Mrs InsaneOne]

I don't own any ETB's personally, but I've always loved their looks. I also know that Meg F. just had one of her females drop a litter a month or two ago. She'd most likely be able to answer some of your questions and offer more input. Of course, Elle knows her stuff, too, as she's known to like boas... (Err... is that an understatement Elle?)

Jenn

 

[The Nothing]

I have to second pretty much everything that Tula had to say. DEFINATELY start with a Captive Bred animal. One of the most frustrating (and possibly most expensive) things to do is try to acclimate a WC Emerald to captivity.

Emeralds are GREAT animals. I love them dearly to say the least and have found most of the negative hype they have is undeserved.

Their care is, initially, more difficult than a corn, but in the end is not all that difficult. There are a variety of ways to care for them, just as there is for corns. Some people have strict guidelines, others are more lax. Reading how people suggest caring for them can get your head spinning in a heartbeat. I suggest people do the same for Emerald care just as I do for all animals - read everything you can, everyone is right, take what will work best for you.

I got my Emerald from Rico at SignalHerp.com. I highly suggest him and his animals. They're always healthy, and he breeds some BEAUTIFUL Emeralds (in fact, Ms Willie had another cluch this year - her babies are AWESOME).

I started G'mork in a standard 20g... maybe it was a 29. I started with cypress mulch as a substrate, but switched shortly to a water substrate. The water substrate helps keep humidity high, especially with an undertank heater. After G'mork was a year old, I moved him into a large terrarium I put together using a large ExoTerra cage (now that I've seen the ZooMed terrariums, I'd rather have one of those). This cage is large enough to last G'mork the rest of his life.

Use lil plastic closet rod holders for the perches. They're cheap and silicon well to the side of the glass. This will allow you to easily suspend and remove the perches. I'm a fan of PVC perches, especially when they're scorched. This gives them a bit of a naturalistic look, and, more importantly, a rough texture to help the boa grip and shed.

Hope this helps... now i'll start throwing up some pics...

G'mork within a month after I got him. I originally used curly willow branches for perches. I'm not sure why, but I did get rid of them a short time after this pic and used some thin grey PVC pipe. This is also a great time to say get a young, still orange ETB. Take A LOT OF PICS. The ontogentic color change is amazing. You can see it in my avatar, and I know I posted a thread here about it over a year ago.

Here you can see the water substrate and a different perch setup using plexi glass. The plexi pieces are siliconed to the glass and set at an angle to each other to hold the grey PVC pieces

G'mork in his terrarium. Here you can see the standard closet rod holders at work, as well as the scorched PVC perches. There should also be a tutorial on CS here that I wrote about PVC perches. It was for an Amazon Tree Boa, but its all the same...

 

[kathylove]

I had a few c.b. ETBS years ago. They were nice and very pretty. BUT - you really have to be right on with their husbandry. Unlike corns, they are not so forgiving of mistakes. If you are very exacting in your care, and don't take many trips or vacations, once you get them established, they aren't so bad.

But one of the reasons I really like ATBs (Amazon tree boas) better than ETBs (besides the fact that I like yellow, orange, and red!) is that, although they require pretty much the same care, ATBs are much more forgiving of temperature and humidity swings, and don't need the constant attention to detail that ETBs need. I keep my ATBs outside in Reptariums most of the year - ETBs could never take the chill that my Amazons do fine with.

As said, definitely go with c.b. babies. And if you have any doubts about your setup or ability to control temps and humidity, consider starting with ATBs, and move on to ETBs later.

Ball pythons are nice, and easy to set up. But they have some weird feeding habits once they become adults. You just have to get used to their "feast or famine" way of eating and chalk it up to being normal for them. And be sure to get the Kevin McCurley book or the Barker book if you decide to go for one of those.