It's going to be an on-going learning experience but I have already picked up some of their behavioural traits. The most obvious is they are terrestrial by day and arboreal by night. Going to wait on the Spanish moss to grow a bit then put in more branches. Lots of plants, lot of airplants, lots of places to hide, lots of humidity. Just the way they like it.
@@ReptilesandResearch It's either ignorance or denial as some keepers refuse to put the time or money into a proper setup for them. Commercial breeders (aka UVB denialists) would go out of business if they had to provide the space and equipment for a good living environment for the animal. I got back into the hobby after a little over a decade or so and it's all ball pythons kept in shoe boxes below people's beds. I just have the BRB right now. I had planned on getting another 2-3 species but I am sticking with the BRB for the time being - giving him the best care (a large, planted, climbable tank) is the best thing for me and the snake. I have a little piece of amazonia in my bedroom and it's awesome.
@@ReptilesandResearch Given that I have a large climbing area relative to the size of the BRB pretty much unseen in the hobby, can you think of any observations you might be interested in. The thing about him is that is absolutely will not come out from his hide at all until about 4 days after feeding, when he starts looking for food again. The first month I had him, he wouldn't eat (turns out he only likes very warm prey) and I noticed as he got hungrier and hungrier he would start to come out during the day. I am thinking about weighing him and his prey item and then seeing how long it takes from him to start coming out at night in terms of prey weight vs his weight, then how long removed from eating before he is willing to come out at during the day to look for food. I don't mind him going a bit hungry for a while - Dav Kaufman noted BRBs in the wild active during the day that were very slender. This might be the natural form of the snake in the wild but I think it might also be that he didn't see well-fed boas during the day as they are not as desperate to feed. ruclips.net/video/HB5wIiXVSDY/видео.html
Overhead - ProRep Infrared Heat Projector (80w). Floor level - heat mats primarily for heating his large water dish. The IR heat projector keeps the top branches around 25c (77f) and the floor is about 21c (70f). I also have an Arcadia Pro T5 D3 UVB Kit 6% Forest and some plant lights.
@@u4ea70 Very good that you not overheating you BRB as many keepers do and they tend to forget that they are semi-arboal, so they like to climb, especially when they are young! I am thinking into getting a bigger container for my youngling, but I want to keep temps more between 23-29 celcius, as I have now in plastic box, but glass terrarium tend to not keep it's heat easily. That's great to hear that heating pads are still useful for glass arboal enclosure.
@@KK-ev1hs Regarding heat retention in the glass viv, I had issues for some time before overhauling. BTW, I should mention I am in Scotland and even the ambient room temp during winter (like, now) can be hard to keep up and that obviously makes it harder. Since that video was made, I have added insulation to the sides of the viv. Specifically, I have added 5cm thick polystyrene insulation board to the back/sides, with some on the top as well (not easy with the lights, IR lamp etc). That makes a big difference. If you wish to do the same, I would recommend using double-sided carpet tape to fix it in place, it forms a very strong bond so I don't have to worry about it falling off. Regarding temps - yes, some people do overheat their BRBs. Many care guides suggest things such as a temp gradient of 27-30c. Some recommended basking spots of 30c+. This is completely wrong IMO. They clearly seek out cooler spots. It's unclear as to what the microclimate in the amazon would be but, while the ambient temp in the amazon is around 27-29c, they are very possibly spending a lot of time buried in microclimates. I've never been able to get data on the temp on amazon microclimates. However, from my own experience from keeping my BRB (Joseph), he will typically go down to around 21c in a hide when there are warmer hides available and all other things are equal. He comes out once the light is low (he is in my bedroom) to hunt at night. When he does that, he will choose to bask under the IR around about 24-25c when there are actually slightly warmer spots if he really wanted them (he doesn't). And 27-30c is a day time temp for the amazon, it drops a few ticks at night so a preferred temp of 24-25c makes sense to me. I had a good discussion here about BRB temps and water ruclips.net/user/shortsm18vvFoheCQ As for them being arboreal, I don't think there is any such thing as "semi-arboreal". I think that is like saying human beings as "semi like to go outside for a walk". We might not spend all our of time outside but it is a requirement, so branches/climbing area for just about all snakes I think is a requirement. Even BRB's close cousin the green anaconda will hunt in trees and bask in the amazon canopy. Some time last year, Joseph decided to excavate a hiding spot in a plant pot on his top branch. Once he did that, he didn't come down to floor level hardly ever and would spend the daylight hours buried in that plant pot. I eventually had to pack in the plant compost and put stones on top of the soil to stop him doing it as it was killing the plant. Another thing worth noting is that they LOVE birds - I regularly feed him quail chicks. Their stomach contents in the wild have been examined and it was mostly rodents and bats, with few birds. There are ground nesting bats in the amazon and I suspect the specimens they tested were ones found at ground level and there are possibly BRBs living high up in the trees that have not been examined which are taking a lot of birds. Here is a BRB smashing a quail chick after refusing rodents for a period of time ruclips.net/user/shortsrEgSK-iUGuk
Very jungle like, great enrichment and possibilities for the snake
It's going to be an on-going learning experience but I have already picked up some of their behavioural traits. The most obvious is they are terrestrial by day and arboreal by night. Going to wait on the Spanish moss to grow a bit then put in more branches. Lots of plants, lot of airplants, lots of places to hide, lots of humidity. Just the way they like it.
@@u4ea70 I managed to find a wild Rainbow Boa in the rain forest in Ecuador many years ago on a night time walk, it was climbing up a tree
Wow now that's ample climbing opportunity
It's a treat to watch him use the space and branches. He looks so much like an amazon or cook's tree boa when he is hanging, watching to ambush.
@@u4ea70 to think some people keep in racks because they think that's what's best for them
@@ReptilesandResearch It's either ignorance or denial as some keepers refuse to put the time or money into a proper setup for them. Commercial breeders (aka UVB denialists) would go out of business if they had to provide the space and equipment for a good living environment for the animal. I got back into the hobby after a little over a decade or so and it's all ball pythons kept in shoe boxes below people's beds. I just have the BRB right now. I had planned on getting another 2-3 species but I am sticking with the BRB for the time being - giving him the best care (a large, planted, climbable tank) is the best thing for me and the snake. I have a little piece of amazonia in my bedroom and it's awesome.
@@ReptilesandResearch Given that I have a large climbing area relative to the size of the BRB pretty much unseen in the hobby, can you think of any observations you might be interested in. The thing about him is that is absolutely will not come out from his hide at all until about 4 days after feeding, when he starts looking for food again. The first month I had him, he wouldn't eat (turns out he only likes very warm prey) and I noticed as he got hungrier and hungrier he would start to come out during the day. I am thinking about weighing him and his prey item and then seeing how long it takes from him to start coming out at night in terms of prey weight vs his weight, then how long removed from eating before he is willing to come out at during the day to look for food. I don't mind him going a bit hungry for a while - Dav Kaufman noted BRBs in the wild active during the day that were very slender. This might be the natural form of the snake in the wild but I think it might also be that he didn't see well-fed boas during the day as they are not as desperate to feed. ruclips.net/video/HB5wIiXVSDY/видео.html
@@u4ea70 I think a 24 hour time-lapse would be brilliant
What kind of lamps and heating do you use?
Overhead - ProRep Infrared Heat Projector (80w). Floor level - heat mats primarily for heating his large water dish. The IR heat projector keeps the top branches around 25c (77f) and the floor is about 21c (70f). I also have an Arcadia Pro T5 D3 UVB Kit 6% Forest and some plant lights.
@@u4ea70 Very good that you not overheating you BRB as many keepers do and they tend to forget that they are semi-arboal, so they like to climb, especially when they are young! I am thinking into getting a bigger container for my youngling, but I want to keep temps more between 23-29 celcius, as I have now in plastic box, but glass terrarium tend to not keep it's heat easily. That's great to hear that heating pads are still useful for glass arboal enclosure.
@@KK-ev1hs Regarding heat retention in the glass viv, I had issues for some time before overhauling. BTW, I should mention I am in Scotland and even the ambient room temp during winter (like, now) can be hard to keep up and that obviously makes it harder.
Since that video was made, I have added insulation to the sides of the viv. Specifically, I have added 5cm thick polystyrene insulation board to the back/sides, with some on the top as well (not easy with the lights, IR lamp etc). That makes a big difference. If you wish to do the same, I would recommend using double-sided carpet tape to fix it in place, it forms a very strong bond so I don't have to worry about it falling off.
Regarding temps - yes, some people do overheat their BRBs. Many care guides suggest things such as a temp gradient of 27-30c. Some recommended basking spots of 30c+. This is completely wrong IMO. They clearly seek out cooler spots. It's unclear as to what the microclimate in the amazon would be but, while the ambient temp in the amazon is around 27-29c, they are very possibly spending a lot of time buried in microclimates. I've never been able to get data on the temp on amazon microclimates. However, from my own experience from keeping my BRB (Joseph), he will typically go down to around 21c in a hide when there are warmer hides available and all other things are equal. He comes out once the light is low (he is in my bedroom) to hunt at night. When he does that, he will choose to bask under the IR around about 24-25c when there are actually slightly warmer spots if he really wanted them (he doesn't). And 27-30c is a day time temp for the amazon, it drops a few ticks at night so a preferred temp of 24-25c makes sense to me. I had a good discussion here about BRB temps and water ruclips.net/user/shortsm18vvFoheCQ
As for them being arboreal, I don't think there is any such thing as "semi-arboreal". I think that is like saying human beings as "semi like to go outside for a walk". We might not spend all our of time outside but it is a requirement, so branches/climbing area for just about all snakes I think is a requirement. Even BRB's close cousin the green anaconda will hunt in trees and bask in the amazon canopy. Some time last year, Joseph decided to excavate a hiding spot in a plant pot on his top branch. Once he did that, he didn't come down to floor level hardly ever and would spend the daylight hours buried in that plant pot. I eventually had to pack in the plant compost and put stones on top of the soil to stop him doing it as it was killing the plant. Another thing worth noting is that they LOVE birds - I regularly feed him quail chicks. Their stomach contents in the wild have been examined and it was mostly rodents and bats, with few birds. There are ground nesting bats in the amazon and I suspect the specimens they tested were ones found at ground level and there are possibly BRBs living high up in the trees that have not been examined which are taking a lot of birds. Here is a BRB smashing a quail chick after refusing rodents for a period of time ruclips.net/user/shortsrEgSK-iUGuk