New BCA (south Brazilian) Male

[artgecko]

Bear with me... This is my first try posting several pics in one thread.

I received this male today from Tom McCarthy. I did not get to unbox him myself (my husband brought him home at lunch time for me), but couldn't resist and took him out of a hide in his cage for a few quick pics. He'll be taking it easy in his cage for the next couple weeks to settle in before I feed him / handle him. He's a "super peaked" line South Brazilian BCA. Apparently some think this line was mixed with BCCs at some point, but they stay smaller (lengthwise) like a BCI.

Him in his cage after I placed him back (after handling). This pic really shows some of his neat patterns and color variation.


Holding him showing his great pattern. Lighting is far too "cool" in the pics, he is more redish brown with pink highlights on his sides... I will get better pics once he's settled in.


Still holding him, he wanted to investigate me. To those that said boas "checking out your face" freaked you out with your first boa... I totally understand what you mean now.


I want to also say a big thank you to Kali on her advice to get this guy. I enjoyed working with his breeder and now after seeing him in person I am very glad I bought him.

[MonkeyShuttle]

Awesome pattern on this guy!


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[Evenstar]

He looks FANTASTIC!!! VERY nice animal! I think you scored here! Glad the breeder was a good experience - another one to put on the "good guys" list! Enjoy him - you'll love having a boa and he looks to be a great choice!

[leylaraks]

He's pretty! Love his markings!


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[Gio]

Tom is a great guy! I talked to him a few times by phone and I may have actually looked at your snake to purchase last year if he is about a year old.

Tom told me to go the route I went which says something about him. He breeds for the true love of the hobby and not for the $$.

That said, I think I would have enjoyed a BCA quite a bit. You have a beauty!

Nice snake from a really nice guy!

Congrats!!!

[MonkeyShuttle]

Whats his temperament like?


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[artgecko]

So far... very chill. He didn't hiss or strike at me (I did use a hook to remove from his enclosure though) and once out, he just wanted to "look" around and tried to crawl on stuff. Didn't tense up on me or try to "run" at all. I was impressed considering he just arrived yesterday. Tom said that the BCAs are the most chill of the boas he has and that this guy should be the same once I've handled him more (Tom had not had time handle him a lot due to the number of snakes he has).

I'll be curious to see how big he gets... They're supposed to stay smaller than BCIs length-wise, but get pretty chunky. I'm hoping that both myself and my husband are comfortable with his size as he grows, so that we'll feel confident about getting other boas in the future. I'm also really curious about his colors and contrast as he matures, I'd love it if his background color stayed lighter, but we'll see how it goes.

Gio- I know someone else bought another male from him several months ago, so it could've been that one too. This was the last male of the litter and he was born on 8/11/12, so about 1.5 years old. He's still got, I think, 2 or 3 females left, one of which was the most expensive, so I'm assuming best example from the litter.

I was really happy dealing with Tom, I think that at the price I got this male for, he's definitely not looking to price-gouge anyone. I got in contact with him on another forum and he gave me great information about boas in a thread even without knowing I"d eventually purchase from him. I haven't talked to him on the phone yet, but he did leave me a message to tell me when the snake had shipped and about the heat pack with him, etc. and he's been very professional and friendly through email. I would definitely buy from him again, but I don't think he works with the BCI morphs that I'm interested in (he just had some sunglows, albinos, hypos, and hets born but doesn't work with pastels or jungles that I know of).

I'll have to start a pic thread for this little guy so that I can keep everyone updated on his growth, colors, and weight.

An OT question for you guys... Based on the pics, do you think he would take rat pups? The breeder had been feeding him small rats every 2 weeks, but I want to use a 10 day schedule at first, so I was thinking smaller prey items would be better.. I do have small and weaned rats if he needs to eat items that large at this point.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

[DooLittle]

Congratulations!! He is very pretty! He looks like a typical curious boa. What ever you feed him, you don't want it to leave a noticeable lump. So long as you can't see it, you are good. But if a small rat doesn't leave a lump, I'd stick with those, not back down to something smaller. I'd get him back on a 2 week schedule by the time he's 2, as well, if you plan to change to 10 days.

[artgecko]

Thanks!
I'll try a rat pup for the first feeding and see what the size is.. If it looks too small, I'll up it for the next feeding.

[thinkbig317]

Wow, smoking looking boa!!!! Very nice choice! And yes, my boa likes to give me "kisses" all the time!! Haha. Gets all up in my face....