Brown Tree Snake — Fact Sheet

Boiga irregularis · Brown Tree Snake

Full care guide and sources

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

For an average adult provide at least 120 × 60 × 120 cm, enlarged when the snake cannot stretch or travel normally. Add anchored crossing branches, cork tubes, dense visual cover and several snug elevated refuges. Use about 8-10 cm of well-drained soil-based substrate after quarantine. Seal cable holes and use redundant locks: this species can bridge gaps and exploit small openings.

🪨 Substrate and furnishings

House singly. Use a lockable front-opening enclosure with a shift box, removable water and branches that can be serviced while the snake is isolated. Quarantine new or imported animals for at least 60-90 days with paper substrate, separate tools, weight and faecal records, and veterinary parasite testing where origin is uncertain.

💡 Lighting

Provide an 11-13 hour day-night cycle and darkness at night. Low-level UVB is optional but beneficial when measured and paired with shade. Bright visible light over live plants helps establish a clear daytime resting period without exposing the snake at all times.

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 30-32 °C
• Daytime air: 25-29 °C
• Cool zone: 23-25 °C
• Night: 22-25 °C

💧 Humidity and water

Maintain a ventilated 60-80% range and a humid hide reaching 75-90% during shedding. Keep fresh water available in a bowl removable from outside or after shifting. Wet stagnant substrate is not a substitute for humidity and encourages skin and respiratory problems.

🪳 Feeding

Offer appropriately sized frozen-thawed rodents, chicks or other legally sourced whole prey every 7-14 days, adjusted to age and condition. Some new arrivals prefer birds or lizards and require gradual scent transition rather than live prey. Feed through a protected routine and never hold prey by hand.

☠️ Safety

This species is venomous. Venom exposure can cause pain, swelling or other systemic effects, and severity varies with species, locality, bite site and the amount delivered. A small wound or apparently dry bite is not proof of safety; every bite or sting requires urgent medical assessment.

If an incident occurs, move away, call emergency services or a poison centre, keep the patient still, remove rings and other constricting items, and follow dispatcher instructions. Do not use a tourniquet, cut or suck the wound, apply ice or electricity, give alcohol or medicines as a home treatment, or attempt to catch the animal. Antivenom choice and dosing are hospital decisions; verify the relevant product and local availability in advance. Sources: WHO snakebite guidance and appropriate species-specific toxinology or medical references listed below.

🩺 Health — warning signs

Common failures are escape, rostral abrasions, refusal after import, prey-borne parasites, mites, dehydration, retained shed, obesity and respiratory infection from cool stagnant dampness. Repeated refusal, wheezing, open-mouth breathing or loss of coordination warrants an experienced reptile veterinarian.