Red Tail Boa

[ballpythonfanatic]

ok. i have a bp right now and she's great!
But i really want to get a red tail
Are they as managable as bp? any info would be nice.

[crusher]

a redtail is not an anaconda so it should not be in this section.

[ballpythonfanatic]

srry for putting the topic under Anaconda, im new at this

[Stewart_Reptiles]

a redtail is not an anaconda so it should not be in this section.

srry for putting the topic under Anaconda, im new at this

All fixed

[ballpythonfanatic]

lol. thank you!

[crusher]

k i was just waiting for a mod to move it.. either way they are very calm. though even males are a big step up from balls in size. i got mine when i only had 2 bps and i knew what i wanted and i got it. even normal bci's have amazing colors and patterns. the only problem is what youre gonna have access to feeding them when they reach the fully mature size. you can use websites to purchase food but food of that size is obviously very expensive... the enlosures are also very large so you need to make sure you have the space for a full grown not to mention the stepping stone enclosures to get to the last one. (putting a baby red tail in a 2x2x4 is obviously silly)

that being said... they are amazing animals to keep and very easy to keep healthy as well. they are a voracious animal and usually dont turn down meals but you need to make sure you quarantine them very well. IBD moves very slow through their system so you may think they dont have it but when you bring it into your snake room all your ball pythons contract it.

[ballpythonfanatic]

thank you for the info!
one more question.....what is IBD?

[Danounet]

Inclusion Body Disease

http://www.anapsid.org/ibd.html

One of the main reasons why alot of pepople keep either Pythons or Boas and not both. It affects Boas in a very slow way (from months to years), but it will kill a python very quickly.

[Aeries]

It's called inclusion body disorder, and it's a very bad, contagious disease that associated with boas. It can hide latent in your boa for over a year, and is fatal. It can spread to any other boas or pythons you have in your collection.

But to add my two cents to your original question, boas are typically amazing eaters and very calm. If you don't mind the obviously larger size and hense the larger enclosure and food that comes with it, I think they're easier to care for than BPs.
My biggest suggestion would be to go handle some adults (remembering that there are big differences in final size between a male and female) to make sure your comfortable with an animal that will reach that size.

[fire-eyes]

Hello,

I started with a ball python and after about 1.5 years, I got my first BCI. I'm very happy that I did!

My female ball python is a wonderful snake, very calm, docile, friendly, and has only bitten me once. She moves slow, etc etc.. Basically: A typical ball python. Incredibly easy to take care of. While I have not found the care of a BCI to be difficult, it is different.

We do have to keep in mind that in my case, it appears that I did get ahold of a slightly aggressive male BCI. I have tried to balance that with the fact that it's a baby, and often they tend to be nippy and "show-offy", and that it just may be a somewhat aggressive individual. At this time I just think it's slightly more aggressive than most, but it is not a big deal. It IS calming down with age.

Some key differences that I have noticed, and again this may be less of an issue with a "typical" BCI... With my BP, it is far more tolerant of sudden moves or even accidental light smacks to the head or body. In fact the only time I ever got bitten by my BP is when i was not paying much attention and over the course of about 10 minutes, i kept lightly running my thumb into its head about six times. When the seventh time happened, I got what I think of as an annoyance bite. "OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH" sort of thing.

I cannot get away with this with my BCI. Every single move I make is watched with the utmost of attention. Any moves towards its head from any direction causes it to take a defensive pose, and if I ignore it, he will become quite intimidating by hissing, huffing up a storm, and so on. At which point he generally gives me a warning fake strike, which is quite impressive on its own.

Basically, I had to learn to move slowly, without stutters or faltering, and intentionally. Don't surprise him, and I'll be fine. As soon as movements are too fast or erratic, he's going to get annoyed. This doesn't mean that he's mean -- He is just far less tolerant than my BP of things like that.

He is still a baby, so maybe this part will go away, who knows... Any time I go to take him out, he puts on his tough guy act. This took me a few months to learn to ignore. He backs into a corner, makes it as difficult as possible for me to grab, begins huffing, and then light hissing and then very loud open-mouth hissing. Pretty intimidating, even as a baby! But back to the intentional, stutterless movements, I just reach in there (not too slow, not too fast) and just grab him mid body or behind. This is where I have to commit, because he REALLY looks like he's about to dig into my hand. But at the last moment, he always decides "NEVERMIND" and decides to try to slither away instead. By which point it's too late and I have him.

He protests by squirming a bit, perhaps a few more hisses, acts like he's going to bite my hand or come at my face, and the rest of the tough guy act. As soon as I have him outside of his home, and in firm support of both my hands, it's like somebody turned the "chill out" switch to "on". From that point on, almost all the time, he is quite relaxed and gets curious about his environment.

I can generally handle him for about 30 minutes, at which point he will give signs that he's had enough. He'll stop being curious and wanting to crawl on everything, and go into a semi-defensive posture and just give me a death stare. He makes full eye contact and maintains it... just staring at me. It's very funny.

Then I put him back in his cage and he goes to hide, often giving a final goodbye hiss before scurrying off.

I think the toughest thing for me was those first few months. I got him when he was 4 months old. When he arrived from JimiSnakes (I can't recommend him enough!!), out of the bag he was very, VERY upset. Understandable, he really had no idea what was going on. He was happy to charge both me and my large camera setup. It was a real challenge to get him picked up and into his new home, as he charged and lept at me every chance he got. Those ten seconds between grab and into the cage was probably the most intense time between us ever. He flailed around in every direction trying very hard to get a chunk of me. Somehow, he did not.

For the first week, I could not even enter my bedroom where his setup was (far wall) without him just going bonkers. Before I even got into the room, I could hear him start hissing. By the time I got in, he was hissing louder. Anything within 5 feet of the cage and he would lunge at the clear door and slam into it over and over again. NOT a happy guy. I did not handle him at all.

In the second week he began to calm down, no longer lunging but just making a whole lot of noise. By the end of that week, he was still hissing but it was not the full-volume hisses from before. He was calming down.

So after seeing all of this, I was wondering if I simply had a really mean snake, or it was just normal for a baby that was in a new environment. Of course, I had to start handling him at some point, right? I won't lie, he really intimidated me. I began opening the door and he would immediately come to the edge and star to take me on. At which point I would close the door again. I left a well-worn unwashed shirt of mine in there for a few days. I kept doing the open door, wait for him to take me on, close door thing for a few days. Until one day, he didn't try to take me on, but instead stayed in one place and just stared at me and flicked his tongue.

I had thought about what I would do this first time a lot, and knew that I would have to show no hesitation and just grab him, and accept any bites, and not let any bites deter me. It sounded easier than it really was. I paced around a bit and finally committed to it, trying to approach him from behind. He would have none of this, calculating my every move, making it impossible to not approach him from directly in front. I figured I was going to get bit and made the move, and got ahold of him. He moved from being threatening to just wanting to get away, and boy did he put up a fight.

I really had to hold onto him as he violently thrashed around, the poor little guy probably thought I was going to eat him. But once I had him with two hands and he had his tail wrapped around a finger, he calmed down, and just stared at my face as if he was in total disbelief that he was still alive. It was an interesting moment, because he didn't trust me and I sure as heck didn't trust him! I held him out as far away from my face as possible.

After a few moments, he became insecure in his stability in my hands and started to thrash and panic again. I did not have a good hold on him, but I was close to the floor, and somehow managed to lightly lob him into his home. He hissed a lot and charged at me, but I got the door up in time and with a THUNK he just pulled back and stared at me. What a ride.

The approaches and holdings got more and more trusting. He refused to eat F/T, so I reluctantly started him on very small live mice. An interesting, fascinating but also disturbing (to me) experience that I'm glad I no longer have to do. Also, I thought my BP's feeding response was strong. But this BCI's feeding response puts it to shame. I've never seen anything like it. Sometimes he hits so hard, and then constricts, and keeps coiling and rolling completely over, over and over again, just thrashing about like crazy... It's really something else.

It didn't take long until I got him to accept a F/T, I just had to make sure it was warm and "moving". And also that he did not key in on my fingers (even with tongs). He has eaten F/T ever since, and at 10 months old, now eats two small rats a week. He took the first rat I offered without any hesitation.

For the next few months, he was still fairly aggressive. I had expected faster progression, and indeed, it seemed like he was becoming more calm, but suddenly stopped becoming more calm, and just stayed at a certain aggression level. This entailed being able to handle him, but only for about 5 or 10 minutes, while also being very insecure in his "footing" while being held, and also more than happy to take swings at my face or any other body part. Though he only connected once, thankfully to my hand.

This concerned me enough that I made a forums posting. I checked the temps and sure enough, It was 4F too warm on the warm side. I dropped this, and he continued to calm down. Shortly after that, at 7 months old and 3 months after I had gotten him, I was finally able to hold him, have him be calm, stop watching my every move, and begin to get curious about things in the rooms. I could pet him gently once or twice, but after that he would let me know that I was pushing it.

So now at 10 months old, a half year after I got him, I know how to pick him up, get him out, and keep him in my hands. Since he is getting bigger (he grows FAST!), his weight goes up, and he seems more secure when in my hands. It seems some boas are "tail insecure", and don't feel confident unless something, anything, is in their tail grip. This seems to be true for mine. Even when he is just crawling around on the floor, I have to let him drag me along by just a finger. If I pull it away, he stops, looks confused, and begins to panic. I'm trying to wean him off of this, but he really does panic.

I have seen someone who had a similar situation, and as an adult, their boa must have something like a stick of deodorant in its tail grasp at all time when away from a branch or similar! It's strange.

As time goes on, it's becoming more and more calm. Trust on both sides increases. It's a totally different ballgame compared to my BP. However, I have loved ALL of it. I have only been bitten once, despite all the tough-guy acting. That seems to be rather common, where they will put on the tough guy act, but you eventually learn that it's 99% bluff, and that you can ignore it.

It seems to be very important to get the boa to understand at a young age that none of its acting or even biting will get you to go away. You'll have to learn how to push past the acting, and maybe even take a few hits, and keep going. Perhaps once it learns that none of that will make you go away, that it will come close to stopping it. But if you regularly let either of those things make you go away, the boa will remember that and keep doing it.

So to summarize, my experience with one possibly somewhat aggressive BCI has been fantastic. It has been intimidating at times, but with a lot of persistence, I have made a lot of progress. He is still getting more and more calm, though that is a slow progression. I have three snakes, a BP, a northern pine snake, and this BCI. The BCI has its own personality and tough-guy yet silly attitude that I really get a kick out of.

I know my rants get long, but I hope there is some useful information in here. Keep doing your research, and pull that trigger at some point. You may wonder why you didn't do it sooner!