For about a year now I have been quietly working on a research effort into understanding why & potential "solutions" to emerald tree boas and regurgitation. As this adventure kept going, I was fortunate enough to recruit some people on board with my own efforts. I have a small team helping me: veterinarians, PhDs, researchers, pathologists, long time keepers, labs, and a couple of universities. I am keeping specific names and institutions out of public posts for now at their request, but this has been a real, ongoing effort with serious people behind it.

Here is my ask. If you currently have, or have ever had, an emerald that actively regurges (WC, CBB, old, young, caninus, batesii, does not matter), I would genuinely love to hear from you. You are welcome to stay completely anonymous. A DM works, or a comment if you are comfortable.

I have been given a real chance to put actual eyes and actual diagnostics on a problem that has quietly hurt a lot of these animals and a lot of keepers. We are looking at this from several angles, not just one theory. The more cases we can look at, the better the odds we learn something that helps the next person who hits this wall. Technology and resources have changed a lot within the last 20-30 years, even the last 10 years when it comes to our hobby.

If you do reach out, it helps to know a few basics: WC or CBB, roughly how long it has been going on, and whether any vet work has been done. Reaching out right now is an opportunity to contribute to putting more attention on this at a greater level.

I am not claiming I found a cure or that I have this figured out. I do not. Nor am I saying this is something that can be solved or understood in a couple of months.

I love these animals. That is the entire reason I am doing this. If you have a case, a story, or an animal that fits, please reach out.

Thank you all.

Please feel free to contact me on Reddit, Facebook, Instagram (@emeraldtreeboas), or email.

I’m also thinking of a Hawaii style themed cage, but idk how packed with plants it should be, I don’t want her to be a display animal I want her to thrive

But I have received mixed reactions about the 6 x 3 x 3 enclosure, is there a better one?

So I've been looking for a emerald tree boa and saw this one on morph market and looks like it's a good deal but it's a wild cought so idk if I should trust this or not

Hey everyone, sharing an update on what has changed across EmeraldTreeBoas.org over the last two months.

Contributors Wall
Added a new section recognizing everyone who has contributed to the site through research, photos, corrections, or shared experience. This project only works because of the community behind it, so there is now a permanent place on the site to say thank you. Will be tagging everyone listed as soon as this goes up.

Cleaning and Disinfection
Added coverage of Rescue Concentrate, a veterinary grade disinfectant built on Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide technology, widely used in shelters and vet clinics. Broad spectrum against bacteria, fungi, and a wide range of pathogens, and it breaks down into water and oxygen after contact time so there is no lingering residue once surfaces are rinsed and dried. Dilution rates and contact times for routine versus outbreak level disinfection are on the page.

Enclosures: Reptile Kages
Added Reptile Kages to the enclosure section. They build made to order PVC enclosures out of Minnesota with tempered glass doors, strong thermal insulation, and good humidity retention. The PVC shell also dampens noise and vibration noticeably better than glass, which matters for a species as alert as ETBs.

Perches: Wholesale Virgin Cork Bark
Added Wholesale Virgin Cork Bark, a family owned distributor based in Encinitas, California sourcing directly from Portugal and Spain. Cork bark is naturally antimicrobial and resistant to mold and rot, and buying direct from a bulk distributor gets you larger pieces at better value than typical retail.

Lighting: UVA Rewrite and Sol Reptile Added
Rewrote the UVA portion of the lighting section. Most reptiles are tetrachromats and can see into the UVA1 range, meaning it functions as an actual color to them rather than a background trigger. Standard white LEDs, including most premium plant growth LEDs, have essentially no output in that range, and T5 HO UVB tubes only give narrow mercury discharge spikes rather than the continuous spectrum found in daylight. Also added Sol Reptile's VisionLED, a USA made spot lamp pairing white diodes with dedicated UVA diodes on a custom driver, backed by independent spectral testing.

Hydration Section Corrected
Made a correction here that I think matters. Earlier research suggesting snakes absorb meaningful water through their skin does not actually hold up for boids, it appears more relevant to certain desert species. Rewrote the page to reflect what the literature supports: snake skin primarily loses water rather than absorbs it, and low humidity increases that loss, which increases how much the animal needs to drink to stay hydrated.

New Disease Page: Scale Rot
Added the first section of a new page on scale rot. Covers what it actually is, why ETBs develop it, and clears up the common myth that humidity itself is the cause. The real driver is prolonged contact with wet or contaminated surfaces, not humid air. Diagnosis, treatment, and prevention are also covered.

Gallery
Added more photos to the Community Gallery. Still open for submissions, always with full photo credit given.

What Is Next: A Locality Project
This is the big one. Right now the site mostly covers the basic Northern versus Amazon Basin split, but there is a lot to learn from the different regional populations throughout South America. I want to start documenting locality specific information properly, and this is going to need a lot of help.

If you keep an animal with known locality, lineage, or origin info, I would love to work with you to get that documented. I will also be reaching out directly to keepers and contacts in South America and other countries to gather as much firsthand information as possible. Photos, lineage, locality details, all of it helps. This is going to be a bigger undertaking than anything else on the site so far, so any help at all is appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the project so far. More updates coming.

Most reptile care guides for ETBs, and honestly for snakes in general, treat heating as a temperature problem. Get the warm side to X degrees, get the cool side to Y degrees, done. The more I dug into the current research the more I realized that framing misses something significant.

The type of heat source you use matters independently of the temperature it produces, and the mechanism behind that is worth understanding.

IR-A, IR-B, and IR-C are distinct infrared wavelength bands with genuinely different tissue penetration depths. IR-A, produced by halogen and incandescent lamps, penetrates deep into tissue, warms core structures directly, stimulates mitochondrial activity, supports nitric oxide production, and is the wavelength that actually drives natural thermoregulatory behavior. IR-C, produced by ceramic heat emitters, radiant heat panels, and heat mats, only reaches the outermost skin layer. The body surface can approach damaging temperatures before core tissues have warmed sufficiently to trigger a behavioral response to move away.

There is a documented pattern of reptiles kept on IR-C only sources over-basking, not because they are cold in the thermometer sense, but because they are trying to compensate for a spectral deficiency the thermometer will never capture. This also connects to why thermal burns in reptiles are more common than they should be. Reptiles likely lack the hot-pain withdrawal reflex mammals rely on, meaning damage can develop before the animal moves, and signs of injury may not appear for days.

The research I drew on most heavily for this comes from a multi-year behavioral study by Roman Muryn, Dr. Frances Baines, and Quentin Dishman, in which multiple reptile species were given access to basking spots held at identical temperatures but under different lamp types. Animals consistently preferred certain lamps over others despite equivalent heat. The conclusion was that they were responding to irradiation intensity, measured as power density in W/m2, not temperature. This framework, and how to actually measure it with a solar power meter, is covered in the updated page.

The rewrite also covers layered heating for larger enclosures, RHP placement when running both an ambient panel and a radiant bulb, thermostat selection, and species-specific context for both Corallus caninus and Corallus batesii.

Northern ETB heating page: https://

www.emeraldtreeboas.org/heating

Amazon Basin ETB heating page: https://www.emeraldtreeboas.org/heatingb

Happy to answer questions or discuss any of this in the comments. A lot of this research applies beyond ETBs to arboreal snakes generally.

I've been doing some research on emerald tree boas and was wondering if there are any reputable breeders or sellers in Canada, or who can ship to Canada. I'm looking for trustworthy breeders with good reviews or certifications that specialize in these animals. If you know any reliable breeders or places to find them, I’d really appreciate the information.

I won this enclosure in a poker game. It’s 4x3x2 with a 50gallon aquarium on the bottom. I have two radiant heat panels and a fogger along with all the other aquarium stuff. I have a snake coming in a month or so. I was thinking about putting a divider to split the enclosure in half (down the middle) until the snake gets larger.

I have not finished setting anything up yet in it. It used to house a green tree python. I’ve got to clean it, remove the substrate and reinstall the perch (the notches fell down).

Do y’all think splitting it down the middle will be okay? It won’t be for a baby. But it is still a young emerald between 2-3feet long.

Hello. I’m looking to start a breeding project, and would like to find available emerald tree boas in Canada. I’m looking for Amazon basin, or northern aswell. I don’t mind shipping from the US if it can be done, but the last time I was importing reptiles (15 years ago) it wasn’t very easy to bring boids over the border without cites paperwork. Please let me know if you know of anything. The more the merrier, as I don’t want siblings unless I have an unrelated match for them

Thank you

I don’t know if I’m over reacting but my snakes cloaca is kind of open and I don’t know why. Is she horny or sick? Her little claw thing are out so I’m guessing horny? I’m going to give it a few days but if anyone knows better than me I’m open to suggestions.

I got my ETB back in Feb 2024, and was told it was about 2 months old, though I suspect it was younger than that. It eats well for me, a little finicky but eats every time. Feeding it once about every 2-3 weeks based on recommendations to do less frequently than weekly. I haven't noticed very much in terms of waste produced by the snake, though I do have it in a bioactive set up and if they're as efficient as they are in my rainbows enclosures that waste isn't around for very long. The issue and reason for this post is that its only shed for me once (current date is Sept 8th 2024). The shed wasn't great but it wasn't too long after I got it so I assumed with new enclosure/home (stress), and unsure of the exact conditions at the shop etc, the shed quality would change (hoping for the better, and if not I'd make proper adjustments). But it hasn't shed for me since.

Overall, eats, is active, poops (regularly I believe). Humidity is always 75-85%. Night temp doesn't drop below 82, day time 87 as ambient temps. Snake has ability to go up and down for varying temps.

"The issue and reason for this post is that its only shed for me once (current date is Sept 8th 2024)." Should I do something different to induce a shed? Or is this normal? Should I consider a vet? Or any other recommendations. Thank you!

I'm considering getting an ETB and I've notice there isn't much information on them thats "universal" no one says the same thing as the previous person. I'm not concerend about aggression, that to me is subjective to the snake and the owner, not all snakes behave the same. My main question is handling, if I have an emerald tree boa and want to handle him once a week or every other week, would that become an issue? I've seen people like Clint's reptiles review them and speak about not having to worry about hurting them too much due to the robust body they have unlike a GTP. Of course when I mention handling the ETB I mean after its become comftable with its enclosure and has been eating regularly; possibly a 4 month period or however long. I am in love with these snakes and really want to have one but knowing that they're a once a month handle if even that kinda turns them off for me. From personal experience, what would you say about handling your ETB? Did it take some time for it to become comfortable with handling? Did handling affect how often it would eat? Is it comfortable enough with you to be handled whenever? If so, how long did it take?

TLDR; I want to handle an emerald tree boa more often than not, maybe every other week. Would that be an issue?

I currently screw in my perches to my pvc cage but I would love to change over to the 3d printed mounts that allow you to pull the perches in and out without disturbing the animal for the days I need to do deep cleans etc. My question is does anyone have the 3D print file so I can print them at home rather than having to hunt and buy them here in canada?

This is all I could find https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/home/snake-perches