Picking a Sand Boa

Series Summary

Though many people cannot stand snakes, there are others who love the cold blooded, slithering creatures and actually keep them as pets. In fact, snakes enjoy being held due to the warmth they gain from human skin. This attribute accompanied with snakes' innate curiosity make snakes great pets to carry around the home or even in public. However, when you are not carrying around your pet snake it must be kept in a snake cage to protect it from other animals, the elements, and to keep it out of trouble.


In this free video series, our snake care expert will teach you how to care for sand boa constrictors. This unique and beautiful snake makes a great pet if you have the knowledge and time to care for it. Learn how to pick out a sand boa, how to set up a cage and pick the best substrate. Get tips on heating your sand boa's cage and what to feed a sand boa. You will also learn the proper way to feed a sand boa and how to handle a sand boa. If you are interested in owning an exotic pet or snake, let our expert show you everything you need to know.

Video Transcript

"The first thing we're going to talk about is how to pick out the right sand boa for you. There are a couple different species of sand boa. Canyon sand boas, Indian sand boas, anerythristic sand boas which is a color phase, not a species. Most often, more often than not, the one you're going to find in your local pet store is going to be the canyon sand boa. Which is what we got in our hands here today. Now, there's very little difference between all the different sand boas, of course the anerythristic, which are a black and white snake, as opposed to these guys, it's just a color phase. They?re going to cost considerably more. But between the canyons, and Indians, and Tanzanians, all these different various other species, they're all relatively the same with very small cosmetic differences. When you're picking out a sand boa, the thing you want to watch out for is you want to make sure that it's and active snake. It seems healthy; it's got a good weight to it. You want to make sure that it's vent is clean and clear of any mucus, or discolorations or not looking like it's built up at all. You also want to make sure that it's eyes are clear and attentive, you don't want any cloudiness, also of course, it's whole body is getting cloudy which case could indicate it's starting to shed, but also do a check on the mouth, make sure the mouth doesn't have any discoloration, it's not hanging open, nothing out of place or strange about it. And then of course, find the sand boa that looks attractive to you."