Emerald Tree Boas
The purpose of this article is not to instruct you or tell you how to keep your emerald tree boas (Corallus caninus).
It is simply a guide; a guide based on my experiences with these
wonderful animals. Through my experiences, I have been through all of
the ups and downs of emerald keeping. I have brought animals back from
the dead and have accidentally killed perfectly healthy
specimens. I'm not proud of the latter but my interests in
keeping emeralds began at a time in herpetoculture when relatively
little was known about keeping these animals and information was
guarded. I had to learn things on my own and its on this page
that I look forward to sharing this info with you. This is a
constantly evolving page and I welcome all comments.Although I work with snakes as a profession, in no way do I consider myself an expert, just an enthusiast. There’s something about this particular species and all of its variants which is just mystifying. Although my animals will sit for hours, sometimes days, on end without so much as moving an inch, I often find myself staring blankly into their cages for large portions of time, watching and adoring these incredible emerald beauties
Caging
Caging for emeralds has but
four major requirements; proper temperature control, proper humidity
control, ventilation, and perching space. Beyond this, it is completely
up to you how it is that you would like to house your emerald tree boa.
My personal opinion, which I cannot stress enough is SIMPLICITY,
SIMPLICITY, SIMPLICITY. I have found that the simpler a cage is, the
better it works for me. Although I favor a very sterile environment, I
have to admit that there is no better display animal for an
aesthetically pleasing setup than an emerald tree boa. I've seen
(and created) some breathtaking vivaria for keeping Emeralds however my
personal taste with regards to my collection is somewhat bland.
When housing several animals, it is just not convenient to have
naturalistic vivaria all over the place which warrant double the effort
to keep clean when compared to a sterile-type cage. 
Caging is completely relative to your taste however,
make sure you meet the basic requirements as well as common sense
safety requirements for you and your snake. When choosing a heat
source, avoid a bulb or other heat source that is exposed to your
snake. Emeralds are great at burning themselves on exposed light bulbs
and ceramic heat-emitters. Another reason to avoid exposed bulbs is
because emeralds are attracted to heat and will often zero in on the
bulb as a threat or possible food item when provoked. I have seen
emerald tree boas strike at and break light bulbs, sometime resulting
in injuries such as cuts and burns. If you do opt to have a bulb in the
cage, make sure it is shielded from the snake. This can simply be
accomplished by making a small cage around the bulb which prevents any
type of contact. Just be extra careful when disturbing your emerald
tree boa as it could still probably injure itself even with the wire
caging. For substrates, I like to use paper towels (simplicity, get it). This proves to be the easiest to maintain both humidity and a clean environment, the only drawback being that it is not all that aesthetically pleasing. Besides easy maintenance, I feel that it is much healthier for the animals and allows you to spot any potential health problems easily. Although many people successfully use mulch or commercial bedding for their cages with no problems, I have seen severe cases of mouthrot resulting from small pieces of substrate lodging itself in the snake’s mouth. There's alot of surface area inside of that mouth in order to house those large canine-like teeth and the tiniest piece of bedding could be enough to cause infection. It's extremely difficult for emeralds to work pieces of substrate out of their mouths.
Another aspect of caging not to be overlooked is perching which is vital for properly keeping this arboreal species. Remember in that inside of a cage, the perches you provide are the only "habitat" it really comes in contact with. In the wild, emeralds live on limbs in trees of varying size
and shape. I prefer to use branches taken from my local patches of
woods (or backyard trees) which are changed several times throughout
the year. If using wood from outside, be absolutely positive that
it's collected from an area which is not sprayed for pests. It is
important that you provide your emerald tree boa with the right
diameter or it will feel uncomfortable and may refuse to perch. Ideally, I try to use a branch
that is at least as thick as the thickest portion of the snake,
hopefully with some natural variation. A branch with additional sections that branch out
is ideal since it will provide several different diameters for the
emerald to rest on. I have noticed that they will often take advantage
of forks or crotches in branches, or sometimes little thin areas will
be utilized. No matter what variation there is always make sure that
there is some portion about as thick as the snake itself. This is very
important when you snake eats. It is vital for your emerald tree boa to
be able to evenly distribute its weight along the branch. If it is
unable to do this it will sit uncomfortably and sooner or later
regurgitate any significant meal. The purpose of changing the branches
is primarily to provide the snake with some stimuli but I also like
to keep the wood fresh. Since I usually like to use pieces that have
fallen naturally, they are often dry. When kept in a high humid
environment they are very likely to develop some sort of fungal growth if your cage is not well enough ventilated.
This may or may not be harmful to your snake but it is certainly an indication that your ventilation needs to be adjusted accordingly. Some forms of fungus can
develop into a form of scale rot which is obviously not good for your
pet. You can usually scrape it off and disinfect the branch again, I
prefer to get a new piece. No matter what, it is very important to
properly disinfect the branches you use. This is vital in order to
remove any insects living in the wood as well as any pesticides or
other impurities that may be found on the surface. I like to thoroughly
clean branches under very hot water with a wire brush or scouring pad
and use the tiniest bit of bleach to help disinfect it. Some people
like to cook the wood in an oven before using it.
Next comes the water bowl, I have seen countless pieces of literature
that say emeralds won’t drink out of water bowls... this is not the
case. Almost all emeralds will drink from a bowl whenever they come in
contact with it, this is the key. Contact with the water bowl can be
achieved by either providing a very large bowl on the floor of the cage
or an elevated bird-type bowl adjacent to the emerald tree boa’s branch
(or both). I like to use a disposable Rubbermaid shoe box on the floor
of the cage directly underneath the perch. The snake can easily reach
this from its perch and will often drink from this bowl with no
problems. A large water dish can also be very helpful when trying to
provide humidity in the cage. A higher humidity level can be reached by
simply placing the water dish over (or under) the heat source or by
placing an air stone in it. The latter keeps the water a bit fresher,
longer, which will aid in getting you snake to drink from a dish. I’ve
noticed that emeralds will sometimes not drink from water that has been
sitting too long. Sometimes, as soon as I change their water dish they
will immediately come down for a long drink so if at all possible try to refresh their water bowls regardless of how clean it looks at least once every 48 hrs or so. No matter what type of
water dish you put in the cage, never keep from spraying you snakes,
this is very important in my opinion. Spraying snakes is vital because not only do
they drink from their coils but you can see a considerable difference
in skin tone and scale iridescence when they are sprayed often. They
best type sprayers are the small hand-held pump-type sprays that are
usually readily available at Home Depot. These sprays work best because
they emit a nice steady mist versus the disturbing pump action of the
typical spray bottle which will only disturb and agitate your emerald.
The pump mister spray bottle has a nice even spray that is more
naturalistic, I often see my snakes drinking as I gently spray them
down with this type of bottle. I also use the larger versions that
consist of a larger (about 5 gal.) container, a hose and long nosed
sprayer with an adjustable nozzle, similar to what exterminators use.
When spraying an emerald, it is best to try to come from above in order
to prevent spraying into the thermo-sensitive pits located on the
snake’s labials. When you spray into these pits, you will often annoy
the snake and disturb it from its typical resting position. This must
be a horrible sensory overload, avoid doing it. Obviously, your
ultimate goal with all of this is to achieve the proper hydration and
humidity levels, but there is such a thing as too much humidity. Always
try to have some sort of drying out period for your snakes. At least a
few hours in every 24 hour cycle. This is important in order to prevent
any fungal infections that usually occur on the ventral surface of the
animal. (Note: I have employed the use of an automatic mysting system since the writing of this article).Lighting
As with all Neotropical snakes, it is best to provide a 12/12 photoperiod for your emerald tree boa. In the Neotropics, there really isn’t a significant change in photoperiod that coincides with the seasons, so you can pretty much keep this schedule all year round. Any type of bright lighting causes noticeable stress in my experience. Emeralds do not tolerate bright lights very well, often opting to stay as far away from the light as possible or spending the daylight hours with their heads tucked tightly in their coils. In a well established emerald, lighting may be more tolerated but it is my belief that this can be detrimental when trying to establish a fairly recent import or an animal that just isn’t well established in your collection yet. The best thing to do is to reach a comfortable balance between the two, if using a bright light be sure to provide cover in the way of real or artificial foliage.
Temperatures
Now, there will probably be people who will argue with my temperature regimen, but no one will ever be happy and that’s just something we’ll all have to live with.
For the most part, I like to
keep my temperature steady for my babies, juvies, and non-breeding
adults. For these animals I like to keep a nice stable 80-82F all day
long, sometimes with a slight drop at night and a slight raise during
the day that happens naturally without any intentional manipulation. It
usually never swings more than two or three degrees in any given
direction. At these temps the animals remain nice and metabolically stable and have
no problems whether digesting or shedding. Adults, especially breeders
go through a much more complicated scheduling which I don’t want to get
into in much detail because of the fact that it is very variable. As a
rule, I try to keep adults at 80-85F during the day and dropping down into the mid-seventies at night during the off season when they are
just putting on weight. Towards the end of September, I begin nightly
drops into the lower 70's. The temperature sometimes dips as low as 68F but rarely does it go lower than 70F. The day time highs
reach about 82-86F in order to offset the NTL’s (night time lows). This
continues throughout the majority of the breeding season, when actual
breeding is observed I often employ the use of rain chambers to
increase humidity drastically which seems to put the icing on the cake.
Later on, about mid to late March the males and non-gravid females are
returned to the regular 80F ambient temperatures. Possibly gravid females are
also maintained at an even 80F but are offered a basking site in excess of 100F with enough sapce to thermo-regulate on their own. It's vital to provide a cooler area dipping down to the upper 70's in order for the female to choose a comfortable gradient. After parturition they are
returned to normal steady temps until the next season. Now many people
will recommend the use of lower temperatures, even going so far as to
say that lower temps will correct regurgitation problems. This is true
to an extent but care must be taken that an animal with chronic
regurgitation is not exposed to sub-optimal temperatures that will
further debilitate digestion. You want to keep that metabolism going at a decent rate. It is my personal belief that an emerald tree
boa should not be dropped below 65F, ever. Feeding
The emerald requires the most specialized feeding regimen of all the
snakes I have ever kept. It’s kinda like having a pet gremlin, there
are certain rules you MUST follow or you will end up with a big mess on
your hands, often compromising the health of your emerald tree boa.
First and foremost is size of prey. Whether your feeding a neonate or
an eight foot Basin, always feed slightly smaller than the girth of
your snake. It is much better to feed smaller prey items a bit more
often versus a larger one once in a while. Smaller food items get
digested and assimilated much quicker adding weight and size a bit
faster, and most importantly will reduce the risk of regurgitation. As
a rule, even my largest adults get nothing larger than a 3-week-old
small rat, something within the weight range of 40 grams is ideal, even
for an adult. A small rat every 14 or so days will keep your emerald
tree boa in perfect conditions. Babies should be fed a small fuzzy or
crawler (according to the size of the baby snake) every 5-7 days. A
juvie will do well with a crawler to weanling mouse every 10 days or
so. Although your emerald tree boa, especially the youngsters will
often tempt you to feed them by sitting in their characteristical
hunting pose, DON’T! You’ll regret it later on, trust me. Try to feed prekilled
whenever possible in order to prevent injury to your emerald tree boa,
live rodents usually react violently when snatched by those huge
canine-like teeth. Your snake can easily lose an eye or earn a
permanent scar, something you definitely don’t want. I feed thawed
frozen rodents by warming them up with a space heater for a few seconds
before offering them to the snake. Emerald tree boa’s are so
thermo-sensitive that once accustomed, they will often snatch their
meal before you can get it in the cage, it really makes you think
sometimes. If an emerald won’t take a warmed rodent at first, you can
usually entice a really weird feeding response by putting the warm
rodent up to the snake’s face (being sure not to touch its face or it
will hide) and then gently, but firmly pinching or tickling the snake
underneath. I say that it’s a weird feeding response because often the
snake will respond by simply opening it’s mouth and almost gently
taking the rodent. Sometimes, you’ll get a violent grab but for the
most part they just grasp the rodent and begin swallowing. Some people
like to feed chicks to their emerald tree boa’s, I don’t recommend it
because I’ve seen cases in other snakes where beaks can perforate
certain sections of the G.I. tract and also because defecation from a
chick meal smells absolutely horrible. In addition, there are
salmonella possibilities if you really wanna get that anal, but let’s
move on. Recent imports may often prove a bit harder to get to feed. One of the most common reason for annorexia in imports is dehydration. If an emerald is dehydrated it may not want to eat. I’ve seen many cases where C.B. animals will not eat for a while
when transplanted to a new cage or shipped out, this also happens often
in acclimated wild-caught animals. If a recent import will not feed
then you must begin the waiting game. It’s just a simple matter of
offering a weaned rodent (live) every two weeks until one day you hear
a shrill from the rodent as it is grabbed. Unless the animal is
severely thin (which often denotes other underlying problems) you
should never resort to force feeding. It is often very detrimental and
can greatly lessen the chance of the snake ever feeding on its own. Be sure to warm up the rodent very well if you are feeding frozen thawed. The secret
here is to make sure the rodent is VERY warm, almost hot.
In general, emerald tree boa’s are amazing animals, although difficult
to keep in the sense that they require total dedication, but they are well worth the extra effort. It’s amazingly gratifying
to look into a cage and see this massive head staring out at you
trailed by huge emerald coils and topped with bright white triangles
that play on the light. They are truly magnificent animals that deserve
nothing but the best as our guests. If you are not ready to spend a
significant amount of time and money on the proper husbandry techniques
and necessary equipment then an emerald is not for you. Why would you
buy a brand new Lamborghini and park it out on the street? The same
goes for this snake. Don’t buy an emerald if you expect to place an
adult in a 10 or 15 gallon tank with a screen lid and a spotlight. If
you’re looking for something cool to hang around your arm and show of
to your friends, get a corn snake, or a Burmese python, not an emerald.
In other words, this snake is a display animal, it is not in the nature
of this snake to be handled and prodded. In the wild, an emerald is
only seized seconds before its skull is pierced by a hawk, falcon, cat,
or even monkey. All of my enclosures are fitted with removable perches so that if I have to remove the animals for any reason it does not involve directly handling the snakes. As a good general rule, these are not handleable animals. I know that
tons of you out there are getting ready to write me and tell me that
I’m wrong, you’re right. The point I’m trying to make is that although
there are tons of exceptions, this is an animal that best benefits from
being left alone. Treat them like the gems that they are and I
guarantee that you won’t be disappointed.
