YOUTUBE – Building a Bioactive Rosy Boa Enclosure with The Bio Dude

Rosy boas are small North American snakes that like rocky desert areas with hot, dry weather. Learn how to design a bioactive rosy boa enclosure here!

M

Mariah Healey

Founder, ReptiFiles

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YOUTUBE – Building a Bioactive Rosy Boa Enclosure with The Bio Dude

Rosy boas (Charina trivirgata) are small snakes native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. They like areas with hot, dry weather and lots of rock crevices and opportunities for burrowing. They make great pets due to their manageable size, docile temperament, ready feeding response, and relatively high handling tolerance.

In this video, I had the opportunity to collaborate with The Bio Dude on creating a bioactive rosy boa enclosure with a Exo Terra 24″x18″x18″ terrarium. Creating an enclosure with everything I could possibly want at my fingertips was so much fun — and let me tell you, The Bio Dude’s store in Houston is *very* well stocked.

Here’s what we used to create this enclosure:

  • The Bio Dude Terra Sahara substrate, 36 qt
  • The Bio Dude Bio Shot, 36 qt
  • The Bio Dude AAA New Zealand Spag Moss
  • The Bio Dude Large Oak Leaf Little Mix
  • powder orange isopods
  • temperate springtails
  • large cork flat
  • 6″ Tiger Tooth aloe, x1
  • 3.5″ elephant feed plant, x1
  • 3″ misc. aloe, x1
  • 18″ ghostwood branch
  • dragon stone, x5
  • Fluker’s Natural Rock Water Dish, medium

All of the above is available for purchase at The Bio Dude’s store.

Aside from what was shown in the video, you will also need heat, UVB, and plant lights. Here’s what I recommend using for a bioactive rosy boa enclosure of this size:

Although rosy boas are a desert species, they do benefit from occasional misting when the enclosure is adequately ventilated. This raises humidity a bit for shedding and provides some water droplets for drinking. It also re-hydrates the soil to keep the plants and clean-up crew alive. I recommend using the Exo Terra 2 quart Pressure Sprayer Mister.

For more information about caring for rosy boas, see the ReptiFiles Rosy Boa Care Sheet!

(The above product recommendations contain some affiliate links.)