Getting a boa soon but don't know which kind

Hey guys

I just realized that I dont know anything about boas. I've heard about Boa Constrictors, Imperator, Central American and few others. Are these the same?

I just want a regular boa (no morphs such as albino) since I love the colors. I've looked online but almost all sites don't offer "regular" ones and all the prices are 300 and up, while petco offers one for 150. I handled it today and the poor thing freaked out and tried to get off me so fast I had to put him back in his tank. Are boas generally more active and faster than ball pythons?

Go to scamps. Maybe they will give you one for free like they did me...LOL

I suggest going to a show, where you can often find normals for less than $100, and get a chance to talk directly to the person who bred them.

The few boas I have in my care at the moment all seem to be much more active and curious than the balls, and I think that on average that's true most of the time.

Jess is correct... your boa is not going to be like your ball. He is going to be out and about, checking his enclosure out, seeing who's walking around outside, and when you get him out, he's going to want to check out the inside's of your sleeve, under the couch, the lampshade, everything! They are very active, very curious snakes and will be constantly moving when they are out of their enclosures (and a great deal inside, too).

As for the subspecies: you are probably talking about BCI (boa constrictor imperator) which includes localities like Columbian boas (which are your typical red tails and reach around 6-8' in length in females), central american boas (which are typically a little smaller and a little darker than Columbians, reaching at max 6' in females), hogg islands, etc.

There are also BCC (boa constrictor constrictor) which are usually labeled as TRUE red tails. These guys include your peruvians, surinames, brazilians, venezualians, etc. They normally get larger than Columbians---females are 10' or so---and have bright brick red tails.

Then there are the BCO (occidentalis) which are Argentines, the BCA (amarali) which are Bolivians, the BCS (sabogae)... so on and so forth.

There are many, many different subspecies out there!

I work with Columbians, which are, again, your typical red tail boas---most of the morphs you see out there for sale are Columbian BCI's. For a normal, I would definitely check out www.kingsnake.com. Email a few breeders... they may not advertise them, but most of the big guys will have some normals, especially in the spring. Very few litters contain only morphs! (there are some morphs out there on the low end of the scale, as well... some hypos run for around $200, anerys for around $150).

Also, if you want more info on localities, check out: www.riobravoreptiles.com

Hope that wasn't an overload on you! :D

Wow. Thanks for the replies :)

I think I'll either settle with the colombian or a central american. The local petco has had two boas (I think they are the same) for awhile now, and I can't tell what type they are. But one of them is 2 feet long, yet is skinnier than my bp who is 93 grams at 19 inches

Where can I find out about shows around my area? That would probably be my best bet

Here's the big list of shows on Kingsnake: http://kingsnake.com/events.html


Boas are going to look a little skinnier than BPs. Where BPs should have this nice round shape, boas tend to be more, well, box-ish looking, lol. They are long, thin, muscular snakes... a boa that's round is probably overweight.

I'd opt for a Colombian over a CA boa.. Central American boas tend to be nippier and not as brightly colored.