Calling all dumeril boa owners

Hello my friends! Been researching the Dumeril Boa as my next purchase. I have found a 3 month old male Dumeril boa that I have my eye on, but I wanted to take a moment and ask all of you current Dumeril boa owners to share the Good, Bad and Ugly facts about this type of boa. Thanks in advance :)

I have a 6 year old female who is 6 feet long. She's always been very easy to care for, easy to handle, docile, and easy to feed since I bought her at 2 years old. They are burrowing snakes and love to burrow as deep as the substrate you provide them. They drink a lot of water. They're nice and straightforward snakes, and a good size. Very sedentary species, they tend to just chill on the couch or lay in your lap and stay there.

I don't think there is any "bad/ugly" really!

They're amazing snakes. We got Memphis as a juvenile (she's probably a late 2017 snake) maybe 6 or so months ago, and she's just awesome. Fairly straightforward husbandry. Docile. A nice mix betwee lazy and active in her cage. Content to chill when out.

The only potential thing to be cautious of that I can think of is to be sure you're getting a decent eater. I have not personally experienced any feeding difficulty with Memphis (she's never missed a meal and we've only ever given her F/T rats. She begs for food, lol) but I've heard that Dums can be notoriously finicky eaters as hatchlings.

But you should definitely consider one! They're very underrated in my opinion.

You already got some great advice above and I would echo what was said

I love mine and he’s a great snake always out to see. Loves to burrow. Very bossy when I’m in the room. Just a cool dude.

Ive heard as well that they can be tough to get states on food.

Also choose wisely because at first glance they may all seem the same. But I’ve seen very light colored ones with pinks and oranges etc and I’ve seen some drab dark muddied browns and blacks. I wanted a brighter one so I passed on a few until I found my guy

Mine was purchased as a baby. There are no morphs, per se, as far as I know but there are bloodlines. These bloodlines give them an appearance that can be more pink, less stripes, etc. They are a little more expensive and can be difficult to spot as a newbie because the differences can be vague. Regardless, a normal looks gorgeous on its own and pictures do not do it justice. If you have to hold one to understand the beauty and texture of its smooth skin. It is almost like admiring a living expensive handbag..

Anyways, if you have experience with ball pythons, I would recommend them as a step up snake or boa alternative to the BCC and BCI that you see commonly everywhere. There is a level of humidity to maintain like a bp. They prefer cooler temps (low 80's) and deep enough substrate to burrow and hide in. Mine has 2 hides but will always prefer to burrow. One of main reasons why I think they are a step up is due to their picky eating. Like a bp but much more shy than a bp. If your husbandry is off, they won't eat. If they are not happy with something, they won't eat. Some owners even resort to using baby chicks to get them to feed. Mine ate f/t at the start. Then, he decided not to. I had to go down the ladder so to speak and go back down in size and feeding live to get him to eat before slowly switching back to f/t.

I find that it is less about the type of prey but rather just their shy nature taking a bigger toll on them than a bp would be. So if you have dealt with a picky eater before, and you have worked with bps, you will be fine.

My only warning is that mine can be a bit food aggressive. So have a hook or paper towel roll handy whenever you open the cage so that you can break any feed response your animal might have. They also prefer to be kept a bit cooler so I do not advocate cranking them with a 90F hot spot. Other than that, I would pretty much agree with everything previously mentioned.

My 5 year old boy Champ is just an awesome snake. He has never given me cause for concern in any way. He eats, sheds, and does everything else like he's supposed to. I keep him at low to mid eighties warm and low to mid seventies cool with 65-75 % humidity in a deep substrate of 100% cypress mulch. Favorite snake to handle and favorite to look at, when he's visible, lol!

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I got mine as a rescue. She was abandoned by her previous owner, and I took her in.

She wouldn't eat at first, but her husbandry had been way off. She had no heat source, nothing to burrow in. Just a water bowl.

I got her in a nice enclosure, belly heat at 85 on one side, and heat lamps on the other side, one lamp for day, and one lamp for night. The night light is a black light of a lower wattage than the day light, to give her a night time temp drop. I use aspen bedding for her to burrow in, and I gave her hides on both sides.

She LOVES this setup, after one week, she started eating again, and hasn't slowed down since.

She's a very agressive feeder, but completely docile when she's being handled. An absolutely great pet snake

https://i.imgur.com/i3cQsJU.jpg

WOW!! Thank you everyone for all the wonderful replies. It seems that dumerils are a favorite to some and I am glad to hear that they are good natured snake as well. I really did not hear anyone with negative feed back except that they are food aggressive, which most boa's are. I found a local breeder here in Toronto and paid them a visit today to see the dumerils they had. OMG! Talk about gorgeous, the patterns on them were stunning. There were only 3 of them left and all about 3 months old. It did not take me long to pick out the one I was drawn to which just happened to be a precious little boy. I handled him for awhile and was amazed just how docile and relaxed he was, even at that age. I was happy with my choice and will be able to bring him home either tomorrow or Friday. I can't wait as I am excited to add him to my family of reptiles. I will most definitely let everyone know when he is home safely and post a picture of him.

Thank you again my friends for sharing all of your stories about these beauties. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/imag.../th_fing02.gif

Congrats and welcome to the club! Can't wait to see photos!