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New Boa

alshgs

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I’ve had this guy for a little over a month now. He was an anniversary present from the hubby. I was told he was a Solomon island ground boa. I’ve only ever had ball pythons but I am absolutely in love with boas now!

Soooo repticon is coming up in July or so, and I’d love to bring home one of the smaller species of boa (under 7 feet) any ideas?

Our boas name is Duck :)

31D19624-A95A-44CB-89C2-167A9A5AA843.jpeg 0A106F29-40A8-4AC4-AB29-1404880CFDE3.jpeg 87C2C25B-34A2-4CF7-A697-19D4885CBF2E.jpeg
 

Teckechick

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Duck is all kinds of adorable!!! Congrats on your new baby!!!!:heart:
 

aooratrix

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Kenyan sand boa? Dumeril's boa? Rainbow boa? Don't get a viper boa. Most are defensive from what I've seen.
 

alshgs

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I’m looking at the dumerils, the Central American boas and possibly a red tail. I don’t want a rainbow boa. I did, but a lot of the ones I see are defensive as well
 

Zara

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He´s lovely ❤ and such an adorable name for him. So sweet :)
 

hrafn

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He's beautiful!! :swoon: I'm a sucker for a pretty snake.

Boa constrictor constrictor is an amazing, huge snake with a sweet disposition. But I also loooove me a Dumeril's. :loveshower:
 

alshgs

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I’ve also been looking at the bci cay caulker as well (I think they’re called?)

I love the colors of the retics but the size is beyond what I can handle
 

AKahle6868

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I don’t have any ideas since I don’t have much snake experience except brother has an adorable ball python named Eli. Duck is gorgeous and I can’t wait to see more pictures as he grows.
 

alshgs

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We have a normal ball python named Kaa and a blue eyed Lucy who has yet to have a name and I’ve had her almost a year ‍♀
 

alshgs

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@riddick07 help me out with the boa situation and what you recommend
 

riddick07

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So first don’t call them red tails lol. That’s a made up petstore term and causes an insane amount of confusion all the time when trying to talk about the many sub species. The sub species of Boa constrictor imperator has actually been upgraded to its own species. So Bci is now known as Boa imperator. Most people still refer to them as Bci though. The reclassification is ongoing so I’m guessing more changes are incoming!

Most Common Boa imperator (almost all the morphs you find unless they have locality info attached) will stay under 7ft. You rarely get giant ones. While 8ft isn’t exactly uncommon, especially in females, a properly fed boa takes a long time to get there. You can find 9fts but they aren’t all that common and anything larger than 9ft is bragging rights for the rarity of it anymore. I can easily handle my 8ft boa girl by myself. She took about 10yrs or so to get to her size. So there is plenty of time to get used to a bigger size since they are slow growers as long as you don’t stuff them with food.

Recent studies show it takes at least 10 days for digestion. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the studies done but eating actually causes immense stress on their system. These are animals designed for starvation periods in the wild and generally finding very lean food even when they do. Most people still grossly overfeed their boas especially items with the nutritional makeup of what we feed. Even baby boas do just fine on food every two weeks. Which is actually what I start with when I get them. This is my general feeding schedule....(it’s actually the part of the feeding section of the caresheet I did for a group on Boa imperator). I’m not crazy strict about it but I’m rarely known to cut lengths between feedings and more likely to actually go longer between.

‘Feeding should be conservative. They do not need to eat every 5-7days. If there is a huge visible lump after eating it’s too large a food item. You want either no lump or just a slight one. Most stay on mice for their first 2 years when fed appropriately. Once up to size and moved onto weaned to small rats they should be eating every 3-4 weeks.


Mice – Every 14 days
Weaned-Small Rats– Every 3-4 weeks
Medium-Large Rats – Every 4-6 weeks
Jumbo Rats – Every 6-8 weeks


They do not require rabbits. Even the largest don’t require rabbits. By this we mean they don’t need 3lbs of rabbit every 6 weeks just because they could take that big of a meal when an adult. If you are giving a relatively large rabbit you can stretch out even longer between meals.


Guinea pigs are fatty don’t feed them. Jumbo rats are considered borderline for the same reason. Rat pups are debated. Some boas have digestion issues with the large milk bands of rat pups while others never have an issue. The risk isn’t worth the hassle.’


I know this isn’t exactly what you asked but it’s what drives me crazy when talking about boas with people so figured I’d get it out of the way lol. I am also very conservative with the food compared to many people. Even if you feed slightly more often than me you will still be within appropriate range for feeding them.


So if you really want something that’s not going to get near the heavy bodied 7-8ft size. I’d check out Boa imperator locality animals like the crawl cay, Tarahumara, caulkers cay, Tamaulipas, Sonoran, Nicaraguan. There are others but these are some of the easier ones to find. Some people will tell you Sonoran and Tarahumara are the same. They are not. All Tarahumaras are Sonoran but not all Sonoran are Tarahumara. Tarahumara are a locality within a locality basically. Just to get that out of the way too lol. If you like the Tarahumaras I can give you the breeder I got my 3 from and he also breeds some of the others too. If you like Anery Nicaraguan I have a breeder I just grabbed two from that I can give you.

If you like all the morphs of the common Bi then go with a male. Unlikely to ever break the size you are comfortable with.

If you want to look at some of the smaller sub species under Boa constrictor then Boa constrictor longicauda (has an Anery morph that is awesome!) & Boa constrictor amarali (heavy bodied but smaller length size around 6ft) are my wish list boas and I love these guys!
 
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riddick07

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I don’t own many other species of boa besides imperator & constrictor. I have two Brazilian rainbows but they are not my favorite even though both are perfectly fine attitude wise. They are however in your size range. If you are fine with meeting their needs of high humidity and low temps they are a decent choice. People say they aren’t beginner animals but they are some of the easiest ones I’ve kept. I’ve kept them at room temp before of 72-75 and they did fine. However 78 seems to be their sweet spot and they love that temp. If you give them a gradient never go above 85 with them. You can fry a BRB very easily. My temps go from 72-78 for my one and my other has 75-83 range. Both are perfectly fine but both tend to hang out at about 78. Humidity never drops below 70s but as babies you have to be very strict about keeping it in the 90s. They are designed not only to tolerate high humidity but even wet situations don’t bother them. This is where people fail with them. They are not used to maintaining those ridiculously high humidity levels and they stop thriving. 95+% humidity is what is recommended for babies. My humidity stayed in that range and generally wet cage. Never had a spot of scale rot ever.

I like dumerils but don’t have one. They are a good choice too and have similar feeding requirements of the imperator & constrictors.
 

riddick07

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Also crypto is going around right now. I’d test any new additions for it and practice very strict quarantine.

Test for both of these because the lizard strain has now shown up in a snake. These guys are fairly cheap. Send in poop from 3 different time periods. You can combine them into one sample for testing instead of 3 different tests if you wanted. It seems to have started in the hognose community this time since most ones popping up right now are hognose but who knows where it’s spread at this point or who it popped up with that hasn’t spoke up. RAL - Test : Reptile
  • Cryptosporidium saurophilum (Lizard)
  • Cryptosporidium serpentis (Snake)
 

riddick07

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Also Central American Bi is just a catch all for all those boas that look influenced by those localities in that area. If its labeled Central American it means they actually have no clue what the locality is on the animal. Just that at some point a locality influenced the look. It could actually be a pure locality animal but the lineage was lost so it’s just another Common Bi mix. Common is the term used for the Bi that have no locality info. Morphs won’t be listed with common in the title because it’s already known the locality info was lost. If the locality is listed with a morph then the lineage should be freely coughed up by the breeder. There are pure locality morphs out there just not many.
 
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TinyFeathers

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He's awesome! I really like snakes!

You know some types of girls like roses, or diamond jewelry, for their anniversary but then, there is the type of girl that likes to get snakes!:lol:
:snake:
 

alshgs

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@riddick07 thank you thank you thank you! Finally I found someone that explains it all perfectly! I will admit that that Duck was an impulse buy. That had him half off since the store was relocating but he was adorable and I already had a spare set up. I actually sat in the floor of the store for 30 minutes doing research on him.

I’m learning about all the different types of boas. I joined a few groups on Facebook as well. And I quarantine all of my reptiles since I do have other snakes and lizards :)

I may have more questions but this is awesome for right now.

And I would love the name of that breeder

Duck is on fuzzies every Sunday. Should I change that?
 

riddick07

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No problem! I know more about imperator & constrictor than any other species since they are my favorite:)

The breeder for the Tarahumaras & various other sub species & localities is Brian Vuillemenboa (Facebook name) try not to drool too hard over all the pretty red Bcc hahahaha. The Anery Nicaraguan are from
Kelsey Skully Butchel (Midnight Serpents) also on Facebook. Kelsey will ask questions and proof of setups before selling to you just be prepared! She doesn’t have a problem educating people either though if you are unsure about anything. You also have Vin Russo at Cutting Edge he does pretty much all localities & subspecies. He also has a very good educational book and it’s the go to for beginners & experienced alike. It’s a bit outdated now but he has been talking about getting an updated version out. Unfortunately you will not be finding a cheap copy right now. If you want to see any info in it I can share some photos with you.

Some groups on Facebook would be Snake Enthusiasts Group & Boa Constrictor Keepers are two decent groups. Your new boa is not a constrictor or imperator just so you know! I have a friend with one and As a a juvie every 2-3 weeks is what she feeds. As an adult once a month will most likely be perfect. Fuzzies are probably a pretty small meal though for your guy unless they are rats & not mice. If they are fuzzy rats then a slightly more often meal is a good idea because young rats are missing the nutritional value of weaned rats or hopper mice because they are all jelly like with fat & milk & not developed haha

If you ever have more questions or anything you can find me on Facebook too not just here! I answer messenger relatively fast. Victoria Hudson is my Facebook located in pa, profile pic is me & my blue & gold & cover photo is a baby boa outside.
 

alshgs

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No problem! I know more about imperator & constrictor than any other species since they are my favorite:)

The breeder for the Tarahumaras & various other sub species & localities is Brian Vuillemenboa (Facebook name) try not to drool too hard over all the pretty red Bcc hahahaha. The Anery Nicaraguan are from
Kelsey Skully Butchel (Midnight Serpents) also on Facebook. Kelsey will ask questions and proof of setups before selling to you just be prepared! She doesn’t have a problem educating people either though if you are unsure about anything. You also have Vin Russo at Cutting Edge he does pretty much all localities & subspecies. He also has a very good educational book and it’s the go to for beginners & experienced alike. It’s a bit outdated now but he has been talking about getting an updated version out. Unfortunately you will not be finding a cheap copy right now. If you want to see any info in it I can share some photos with you.

Some groups on Facebook would be Snake Enthusiasts Group & Boa Constrictor Keepers are two decent groups. Your new boa is not a constrictor or imperator just so you know! I have a friend with one and As a a juvie every 2-3 weeks is what she feeds. As an adult once a month will most likely be perfect. Fuzzies are probably a pretty small meal though for your guy unless they are rats & not mice. If they are fuzzy rats then a slightly more often meal is a good idea because young rats are missing the nutritional value of weaned rats or hopper mice because they are all jelly like with fat & milk & not developed haha

If you ever have more questions or anything you can find me on Facebook too not just here! I answer messenger relatively fast. Victoria Hudson is my Facebook located in pa, profile pic is me & my blue & gold & cover photo is a baby boa outside.

Okay so I added you on facebook.

As for the fuzzies, they are mice. Thats what the store had him on. He's almost 90 grams. What should i bump him up to?
 

Gen120

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he's just stunning! I love snakes and find them outside sometimes, they're usually small rat snakes. I picked one up a few months back, let me see if I can find the pics I got of him. I'm fairly educated in snakes so I definitely know what I'm doing. I certainly wouldn't recommend just anyone handling snakes outside lol! I love snakes so much, I would love love to have one as a pet but I'm bothered by feeding them mice and such because they are cute too. Maybe I'll go with gecko's or something, I've had them before.
 
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