cat and snake

Question
Hello. I have six cats: four of the cats are outside cats who only come inside to eat for the most part, the other two are strictly inside cats. None of them are declawed.

My husband just recently got a red tailed boa about three weeks ago. The two inside cats, Snow and Siam, (both one year old) are constantly sniffing around the terrarium and jumping on the screen lid to look down inside at the snake. My husband will take the snake, Naomi, out of the cage to love on her, and he will let her crawl on the top of the computer screen when he is playing on the computer. My husband, to my knowledge, stays in the same room with the Naomi when she is out of the cage. Naomi is only 2 ft long.

My husband keeps Naomi in a 20 gal terrarium with a heating pad on the bottom. There is a red night time light on the top to help with the proper temperature, which stays around 85 in the air for the most part, but the bottom of the tank is much warmer (around 90 to 95) but not burning hot... just a toasty warm. There is a UVB light I turn on during daylight hours. She likes to lay on the ground a lot, but will crawl onto the branch if she wants to change temperatures. She mostly lays on the ground.

I have made my husband promise me to not let the snake near the cats when Naomi is big enough to consider them food. I would like you to give me any advice with cats and snakes which I have not considered already. I worry about my cats' safety constantly with the snake. Should I be socializing them?

Answer
Right now your cats are a threat to the snake, as they would kill it if they could get to it. But their behavior is also a threat to your house.  Not a good idea for them to be jumping on the lid with all those electrical cords and lights up there.  BTW snakes don't need UVB only basking lizards, turtles, and crocodilians need that.  In a year or so the tide will turn and the hunters could quickly find themselves the hunted.  The best practice is no cats where the snake is-have one room that is off limits to the cats.  And if the snake is out he should be under supervision the entire time(that would be true with or w/o cats though).