New Boa, a few questions

[Dimidiata]

Well my father picked up the new Sand boa while i was at school today. To sum it up, the snake belonged to my hairdresser and she desperatly wanted to get rid of it, he was going to take it to petsmart..yeah. So i said i could do better then petsmart. The guy said it was 12" long, came with a heat lamp and a 10gal tank, some sand and a water bowl. Welllll.
1. 12" long seemingly healthy sand boa "checked for shed,mites,injury"
2. 20gal tank (gee kinda bigger then my 10gal space i made for it)
3. big ol water bowl, I belive its too big so i will be replacing it with a smaller ceramic and putting it in the 29 with the king who needs a bigger one anyway.(after i cllean and sterilize both)
4. Play sand. It looks like regular white sand but i will use the school microscope to check its grain size and shape. It was FILTHY. Litered with shed and poo and a few cockroaches. i took out 1/4 of it and cleaned all the poo and such. theres 3.5" of sand.
5. Oh and a 8" heat lamp with a blue bulb that doesnt work.(the lamp is 60w)

For now i cleaned the sand and am in th proccess of swithcing bowls. I gave her the 5" intense basking lamp and so on.(had to find my other lamp and back up bulb)

The snakes been reciving 1 pinkie every 3 weeks. I think thats a bit slim.
The snake doesnt seem slim and is well rounded, no spine showing or such.
Is there a visual way to sex? I can try for a vent pic but right now it just looks like 2 slits in the side of the snake.

In the mean time, i will be switching to aspen in a week or two. BUT she is due for a feed now(meaning she hasnt eaten for 3 weeks). And if i feed her/it outside the tank in a box will she still run the risk of impaction?

 

[robin]

i have never kept sand boas so i know nothing of their husbandry however i do know that they can not be visually sexed and that she/he should be eating around 1 time a week.

sorry thats all i can help you with.

good luck!

 

[Dimidiata]

I figured as much, feedings being bumped slowly. I will take it to 1 pinkie every 2 weeks and then onward. Unless you think it could take hoppers in wich case i could do that too. Still im thinking i want to atleast try a hopper tomarrow or this week.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Hoppers are fine for a 12" sand boa. We put them in another container to feed so the mouse doesn't bury itself and hide. They can be sexed visually but unless you have something to compare it to, it's futile. It goes by tail length from vent but, since the snake was underfed, it's small for its' age, so that method wouldn't be accurate.

 

[Dimidiata]

i figured, ill be doing 2 hopper a month to start and then up to what 1 per week? Thanks, i LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this snake beyond reason. If it turns out to be a 2-3ft female will i be needed to upgrade, its in a standar 20gal about 5-6" longer then a 10 and such. Is the color normal?

 

[Palor]

Male sand boas are much smaller than females. If your boas is over a foot, it is most likely female.

 

[Dimidiata]

Do you think rio would be terrible mad if i took one of her drift wood pieces and put it in there? I love it and all but my friend just pointed out the obvious "why do you have a tank of sand in your room?" lol. I know he/she wont climb it but it would fit the scene and it would be something to shed against.

 

[Dimidiata]

First feeding tomarrow. I think im going to start with a pinkie every week and work our way up. They will be large pinkie or small hoppers.