Boa constrictor – in the terrarium

The Boa constrictor also called king boa or king snake, is one of the giant snakes in the terrarium and originally comes from Central and South America.

It is particularly characterized by its great diversity of appearance of its numerous subspecies.

We want to show you how you can design a species-appropriate terrarium for the Boa constrictor.

Surname:Idol snake
scientific name:Boa constrictor
Subordination:Snakes (serpentes)
Size:1-3 meters depending on the subspecies
Colour:white, red, brown, almost black local forms
with dark-edged saddle spots
Occurrence:West-east coast of Mexico, all over Central America
to Argentina
Way of life:crepuscular and nocturnal

The idol snake shown here in the photos is a Boa Constrictor Constrictor.

The snake, born in 2001, “listens” to the name Sammy and with an imposing size of 210cm, it weighs around 4 kg.

This representative of the idol snake is one of the largest of its kind.

It is nice to see how variable the colouration can be. In the Boa Constrictor Constrictor case, this ranges from creamy white to light grey to grey-brown.

Characteristics and appearance of the boa constrictor

Since the boa constrictor has an extremely large variety of its appearance, it also varies in its final size and colour.

Adult specimens can be between one and three meters long.

In the basic colour, these can be white, red, brown or black, whereby again, all boa snakes have dark-edged saddle spots on their back.

It belongs to the crepuscular and nocturnal snakes, usually hides in caves and only comes out of them to sunbathe.

Like all giant snakes, the Boa constrictor feeds predatory and, for this reason, prefers rodents and birds.

Keeping the boa constrictor in the terrarium

For a pair of Boa constrictors, you need the following dimensions as the minimum size for a terrarium, according to the “Expertise on the minimum requirements for keeping reptiles”:
up to 1.5 m in length (GL): 1xGL x 0.5xGL x 0.75xGL (Length x width x height)
over 1.5 m body length (GL): 0.75xGL x 0.5xGL x 0.75xGL (length x width x height)

Every terrarium owner knows, of course, that a larger terrarium is always better.

This means that a terrarium for one or two adult idol snakes with a total length of 3 meters should have a terrarium size of 250 x 150 x 250 cm (LxWxH).

As a terrarium accessory, you need elevated levels and enough hiding places.

Since the Boa constrictor prefers to be close to water, you should also offer a water basin.

You use a very absorbent substrate as a substrate, which is always kept moist in one place.

You can also put a hide box filled with moss in the Terra.

The temperature should be around 28 ° C at the bottom and up to 35 ° C at elevated levels, with the terrarium temperature dropping back to 22 ° C at night.

You should bring the humidity to around 60-80% with suitable tools.

Be careful, however, that persistently high humidity can encourage pathogens.