KeeprHusbandry You're a Pro? Click here to meet Rex
Atlas / Library / Boidae / Indian Sand Boa
CITES II
Boidae

Indian Sand Boa

Eryx johnii

Photograph: Srivatsan Ramkumar · CC BY

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

CITES II is a global listing and holds in every country. National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/eryx-johnii

‹ All husbandry guides
warm end32–35 °C
cool end24–29 °C
Humidity40–50 %
Enclosure50×30
Diet7 days

The numbers

Thermal gradient

152025303540 °C
24–29°Cool side
32–35°Warm side

A real gradient, 32–35°C warm against 24–29°C cool, so the animal chooses. The sheet states no separate night figure.

Why

Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet stateswarm 32-35 °C / cool 24-29 °C

Humidity

40–50%Target RH

The sheet states40-50 %

Identity

Enclosure and conditions

Enclosure

0.5 m0.3 m
warm side
50100150200 cm
0.5 × 0.3 m · 50 × 30 cmWidth × depth
15dm² of floor
Substrate: not in our dataWater: not in our dataHides: not in our dataUVB: not in our data

Drawn from the stated numbers. Seen from above: the sheet gives a footprint and no height.

Why

The rectangle carries the exact width-to-height ratio of the figures above it, and the ruler under it places that width on the 0–250 cm scale every sheet here shares, so two species still compare at a glance. Nothing is added that the sheet does not name: a lamp drawn on a sheet that never mentions one would be invented equipment. What the sheet leaves out is listed rather than left blank, because an empty tank reads as « none needed ».

The sheet statesat least a 10-gallon aquarium (approx. 0.5 x 0.3 meters (1.6 x 1 feet)) or enough room to stretch out

Temperature
warm 32–35 °C / cool 24–29 °C
Humidity
40-50 %

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Diet

Feeding rhythm

every 7 dAs an adult
4Meals in 28 days

Twenty-eight days, one row. Each band is a meal window. The sheet gives several ages on one line; this is the adult figure.

Why

The windows widen as they go because the interval is a range: four meals after a 10–14 day cycle land anywhere between day 40 and day 56.

The sheet statesrat pinks or mouse fuzzies; young snakes require weekly feedings for the first year; adults 4 to 8 times a month for females and 1 or 2 times a month for males

Common questions

Will I ever see it? It seems to just bury itself.

That is honest to expect. It spends most of the day under the substrate and comes up at night, so it is a snake for people who enjoy the digging behaviour.

Is it docile?

Very. Sand boas are among the most placid snakes we sell and rarely bite outside of feeding time.

Why does the tail look like a second head?

The blunt tail works as a decoy so a predator strikes the wrong end. Some people call it the two-headed snake because of this.

What does it need in the enclosure?

Deep loose substrate to burrow in, a warm zone at one end on a thermostat, a small water bowl and a secure lid. Simple and cheap to run.

What it needs

A heat sourcebecause tempwarm 32-35 °C / cool 24-29 °C
A thermostat to regulate itbecause tempwarm 32-35 °C / cool 24-29 °C
A thermometerbecause tempwarm 32-35 °C / cool 24-29 °C
A hygrometerbecause humidity40-50 %
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « at least a 10-gallon aquarium (approx. 0.5 x 0.3 meters (1.6 x 1 feet)) or enoug »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

Others in this group

What this sheet states

77%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

This sheet states 5 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: day/night engine and awake count on the globe, the diet section. We show the gap rather than fill it with a plausible number.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.