Amazon Tree Boa Care Sheet:

Amazons are excellent first time arboreal snakes, being colorful and hardy. They seem to tolerate husbandry errors much better than many of the arboreal species out there. Averaging 4-6 ft. this slender snake is quick, aware and like no other species out there. Temperaments can vary from pretty mellow to diabolical, with mostly a bitey snake as the average. These are more display snakes than the type you'll handle, but sometimes you get lucky and have a mellow one.

Housing:
I house my adult Amazons in arboreal cages that are 36” X 24” X 24”. They are designed to hold heat and humidity well. I use heat panels on the sidewall to provide heat for these snakes which like to perch on branches as well as on the floor of the cage.
Babies are housed in Rubbermaid tubs with heat pads used to provide heat. This makes it easier to keep the humidity at the constant higher levels that babies require. I recommend keeping around 80% humidity all the time with neonates up to almost a year old. After that, they can be allowed to dry out more to around 65% each day. Housing in tubs also makes the baby feel more secure and it's also easier to monitor their eating habits and defecation/shedding cycles.

Internal Caging needs:
You can house as simply as a tub with paper towel, a hide, a water bowl and a wide perch made out of anything that will allow the animal to drape themselves comfortably. I prefer naturalistic settings so I use real wood branches and sphagnum moss as my substrate. Shredded cypress is also a good choice. Perches should provide at least 3 points of contact for the snake. I use Bald cypress roots but you can use wide forked branches, or driftwood as well. I've even used plastic coated wire mesh baskets with moss in it. I usually provide a live plant in my cages. Pothos is hardy, able to withstand a large snake crawling on it and takes low light. My cages have only a 15-watt light, so pothos is ideal. I also will decorate with silk vines and plants to provide my snakes extra cover.

Food:
Most amazons, imports or captive born and bred, will readily take frozen/thawed mice or small rats. I feed every week or so for young babies and then after they are off pinkies, they go to every 10 days. Yearlings are fed every 10-14 and adults are fed every 2-3 weeks. Growth will not be as quick on this feeding schedule, but I feel we as hobbyists tend to overfeed our snakes and I find my snakes are much more active with less frequent feeding. I feed everything from mice to soft furred African rats. All are taken with equal enthusiasm if offered very hot on tongs. I simply place the mouse or rat in hot water and wait until the animal is completely thawed. I change out the water once more with fresh very hot water, pull the animal out, dry slightly with a paper towel and then offer on tongs. I feed after dark, as these animals are primarily nocturnal.

Simply put.... if you want a colorful, arboreal snake that won't die on you at the first sign of a husbandry mistake, then the Amazon is for you. Be prepared to get more though...like chips...you can't have just one!

Thanks for choosing
Francly Corns and Chondros
www.Franclycac.com