Rainbow Boa a.k.a Epicrates sp.
Intro to Rainbow Boas
Rainbow Boas are a highly sought after due to their famous iridesence. These will glow in rainbow-like coloration when under the right lighting. You may find these boas in South American countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina. They do get roughly 6 feet and can live 20+ years if kept correctly. Combine that with ease of care and you have a snake that is rapidly growing in popularity.
Rainbow Boas are primarily ground-dwellers. Though breeders keep some animals in rack systems, we always recommend beautiful bio-active enclosures for these. Babies can start in a 20 gallon tank and will grow into 4x2 enclosures (minimum) as adults. These boas mainly need a solid hiding spot and water dish. They do not like heat like most boas. The max temperature you want in your enclosure is 85 degrees F with an ambient temperature of roughly 72-75 degrees F and ~75-90% humidity. You may decorate their enclosure as you please, decorations like foliage help with enrichment. For Rainbow Boas we recommend Coco Mulch, Eco-Earth, or Repti-Soil as a substrate.
Baby Rainbows start to feed on fuzzy mice for their first couple meals and move to hopper mice after that. You may change the size of their meal as they age from hopper to large mice, then moving into rats. We recommend feeding these every 7-14 days. Boas feed well on either live or frozen thawed prey!
Rainbow Boas For Sale in the Pet Trade
These days, Rainbow Boas are bred readily in captivity, though they are not as prolific as Ball Pythons. You can find Rainbows at almost any reptile show or reptile shop for sale. Not only do they look different depending on what country they are from, there are also Leucisitc, Albinos, and other morphs! Rainbow Boas are viviparous, which means they give LIVE birth as opposed to laying eggs.
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