Housing

The cage for an Amazon must be able to handle humidity. Cages that have too much ventilation will allow the humidity to dry up too quickly. Cages without enough ventilation may develop fungal and bacterial growth and the snake may become ill. It is also important to have some type of perches/branches. Amazons like the bigger chunks of driftwood as they like to lay in a nook or on a flat or broad section of wood. They seem to be more comfortable when several points of their body is in contact with some sort of surface. It is not uncommon for captive bred Amazons to spend a portion of their time coiled up on the cage floor.

Temperatures for Amazons should be kept at 80 to 82 degrees during the day time with a drop to about upper 70's for night time. To maintain the humidity it is advisable to spray the cage twice a day perhaps morning and afternoon then this will allow the cage to dry out overnight. The humidity will rise immediately following a spray and will reach 80 - 90% but will then fall until the next spray. Making sure that the animal is misted on daily basis will assist with the shedding process.

Feeding

On the whole Amazons are normally problem free as far as feeding goes, however, there are sometimes the picky eaters. Warmed prey is very rarely refused. It is advisable to feed the snake out of the cage, ie. in a contici box, as it will not associate your hand going into the cage as food. Do not feed prey that is too large for the snake as regurgitation may occur. Try to keep the prey size to the diameter of the thickest part of the snakes body. As most snakes, they will go off their food when they are due to shed.

General Information

They are a lovely snake to own. Being arboreal they are a brilliant display snake in that they can normally be seen during the day coiled up on a branch and at night they are out and about searching for prey or just hanging still from a branch waiting for something nice to eat to walk by. Handle them little and often and be very careful as they have a habit of unwinding backwards and can be very fast.

Recommended Reading

Kaleidoscopic Tree Boas by Stafford, Peter J., Henderson, Robert W. ISBN: 0894649752 Buy now

The Guide to Owning Tree Boas and Tree Pythons by Tom Mazorlig. ISBN: 0793820650 Buy now

The Living Boas by Jerry G Walls. ISBN: 0793804701 Buy Now

If you are at all interested in buying a reptile then please do as much research into the subject as possible. There is a wealth of information available. Do not use just these care sheets as your only source of information.