The Two Temperatures That Run This Enclosure
A Kenyan sand boa's heating instructions start with a gradient the sitter must protect, not create: a warm end around the low 90s Fahrenheit and a cool end in the low 80s, held by the thermostat you already set. This small burrowing snake spends its days under the substrate at the depth where the temperature suits it, so the heat source — usually a heat mat under one end — must simply keep doing its job. Write both numbers down, say where each thermometer sits, and ask for one reading check a day. The sitter's task is noticing a failure, not managing the heat hour by hour.
The Thermostat Rule: Hands Off
The single most important line in a Kenyan sand boa's sitter note is that the thermostat and its probe are never to be moved, unplugged, or turned up. A probe knocked loose while cleaning can let a heat mat run unchecked against glass the snake is lying on, and burns happen exactly that way. Tell the sitter what the thermostat display should read and what to do if it does not: call you, and unplug the mat only if you say so. Tape a small label on the probe cable where it enters the enclosure so it is not mistaken for a loose wire during a tidy-up.
Lighting a Snake That Lives Underground
A Kenyan sand boa needs no special lighting, and the sitter note should say so plainly to prevent well-meant upgrades. Ordinary room light on a natural day-and-night pattern is enough for a snake that spends daylight hours buried; a bright lamp added over the enclosure only heats the surface and stresses an animal that cannot escape the glare without digging deeper. If the enclosure has a viewing light, note its switch and ask that it be used briefly, not left on. Darkness at night matters as much as the daytime pattern, so the instruction is: no new lamps, no rearranging, just the room's normal rhythm.
Buried Is Normal — Do Not Dig
A Kenyan sand boa that stays invisible for the entire sitting period is behaving exactly as this species should, and the instructions must say so in bold terms. Sitters used to lizards or mammals go looking for a pet they cannot see, and digging through the substrate after a sand boa destroys its burrows, spikes its stress, and risks a defensive bite from a startled snake. The only excavation you should authorize is your own pre-agreed feeding routine, if a feed falls due, done exactly as written. Otherwise the checks are indirect: water bowl filled, temperatures right, substrate surface undisturbed, and any shed skin or waste noted when it appears on top.
What Should Trigger a Call to You
Give a Kenyan sand boa's sitter a short list of genuine alarms so the normal quiet does not get mistaken for trouble. A call is warranted if both thermometers read far outside the ranges you wrote, if the heat mat feels cold to the touch during the warm part of the day, if water has spilled and soaked a large area of substrate, or if the boa is lying on the surface open-mouthed or unusually limp when seen. Anything else — a refused meal, a full day unseen — can wait for a message. Wrapping these points into KinsLe's Care Pass lets the person watching your boa follow the thermostat rule and the temperature checks without needing you on the phone each evening.