# Red tail boa problems. help!



## dtb93 (Mar 23, 2015)

So i got my first red tail boa the other day. She's maybe a little bit over a year old. Shes been burrowing herself completely underneath the substrate and doesnt seem to come out. My setup for now until she gets bigger is the zilla critter cage 40g you can get at petco. Two bags of the forest floor cypress mulch. A 100w ceramic heat emitter with 8.5" flukers lamp and dimmer. A 40g uth. Water dish. Fake vine plants. The jungle gym wood. A halflog hide away burried in the back and halfway buried in The front. I also seem to have a problem with getting a good basking spot and keeping overall temp up. Any helpers?


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## Herpster (Oct 24, 2006)

burrowing is quite natural, providing its not doing it to get away from its environment (i.e too hot) what are temps and how are you measuring them?


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## RoninUK (Aug 30, 2007)

Assuming temps etc are OK then this is normal ambush behaviour - just as she would hide in leaf litter in the wild to wait for prey or to stay concealed.

I have one adult female BCI who is totally placid as long as she is on hard substrate or if it is too shallow to hide in but if I give her a deep layer to bury herself in she will immediately sink below it with only her head showing and will strike anything that goes into the viv.


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## dtb93 (Mar 23, 2015)

Mid 80's in the cooler side and mid 90s in the warmer side. The warmer side also has the heating pad on the bottom. Even though there are little hides on both sides she burrows under the cypress. I could have sworn red tail boas were arboreal snakes.


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## Herpster (Oct 24, 2006)

Most snakes will have a go at climbing, but I would not class a red tail as arboreal, they are too heavy set not like the amazon tree boas etc. As long as the temps are OK and its feeding then it should be alright.


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