BALL PYTHON vs. RED TAIL BOA

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Originally Posted by nathaniel

The odds of you having to feed your red tail are slim....

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:O:O

LOL I had to read that a couple of times before I realized he meant the odds of having to feed rabbits was slim.

hahaha yes i meant rabbits..... you will have to feed your snake, my bad guys.

thanks for all the input, I plan on getting one this spring after i build my double display case. I'll be sure to post picks.:gj:

My female, Sonja, is around 3.5-4 years old now, is 8ft long and 25+lbs. She's still growing at a good pace too.. For prey, she gets one 2-2.5lb rabbit every 4-5 weeks, which seems to suit her fine. Keeps her at a very healthy, lean weight and she's not grumpy in between.

I feed her rabbits because they are younger and leaner, whereas Jumbo rats(she only gets f/t regardless unless I can find an appropriately sized rabbit in town) are older and much more fatty. The rabbit also keeps her satisfied alot longer than 3-4 jumbo rats. These are meat rabbits that are human-quality too, not some lop-eared rabbit from the pet store, haha.

Alex I'm glad you're doing your research first and considering if you want another type of snake. That's always a benefit for both you and your snake.

Our Colombian boa is a male. We specifically wanted a male for our teenage son as they get a decent size but not usually as big as the females. Getting your boa from a reputable source that has sexed it properly is always a good idea.

If you have ball pythons and add in a boa, you'll want to do specific and careful quarantine and again, buy from a good source - not the local pet store. There are diseases boas can carry that may not show obvious effects but are deadly to ball pythons. It's not like this happens every day, but it is a consideration when you have a mixed collection.

I love the inquisitive nature of our boa. He's not easily stressed by handling and is generally just a big busy goof when he's out to visit. He does need watching closely as Severus will literally get into anything he can shove his snout into. LOL He's a well socialized snake that we've yet to hear even hiss. Sev is likely an unusually easy natured snake though so don't expect that from every boa.

Even Sev with his easy nature is a strong, aggressive snake on feeding night. Boa's have a lot of power in that strike, a long strike range and they are nothing to fuss with when they are hungry. This is a snake that preys on animals both on the ground and in the trees in the wild. They are not playing about when it's time to eat so keep that in mind and watch your fingers. :)

At maturity some people feed jumbo rats to large boa's, some do feed appropriately sized rabbits too. We had a large rescue female boa who ate jumbo rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, etc. She'd always been fed a varied diet having grown up in a pet store and basically could have cared less as long as it was warm and fuzzy - it was dinner. As long as you are offering top quality prey and enough of it to satisfy the size of the boa you are feeding, it'll be fine.

~EDIT~ if you are feeding rabbits, it's important to note that some rabbits are meat rabbits and bred specifically for that purpose, they are certain breeds that are better fleshed for that purpose (examples would be the New Zeland, the Californian or the Florida White just to name a few)

I agree with the above on feeding. Our RTB is 8 ft and a male. The main thing is the space requirements. They need more space typically than a ball.. And of course larger food. Our male ate colossal rats when we could get them.. Otherwise it was 2 jumbos.. at minimum. He was fine to handle. not a bad temperment, pretty easygoing.. until he had to go back in his home. He liked to be out. Also he likes to escape as well. so a secure enclosure is a good idea too;)
As for a Columbian being a BCI, unless its a BCC has been crossed with a BCI its not the same thing.. You would probably want to be careful here.. Some of the BCI's are known for their not so friendly tempers...
This is Damien a Nicaraguan boa(BCI)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/PICT0828.jpg
He was also a farm raised so thats why you need to be careful.. Our Captive bred female is much nicer.. And stays smaller as well.
If you still want a columbian red tail, you also need to consider when it is 7+ feet long and you may decide you are tired of the snake that is going to live for many more years, what you are going to do with it. Large snakes are hard to place if you decide you dont want them. You may also want to make sure of the rules where you live. Like around here you arent supposed to have constrictors over 6 ft long.. It took us about a year to find someone to place our columbian with.. He now lives at a friend of ours house who breeds boas. And we visit regularly. But the laws are a very important thing to look into.

May Be A Rookie Question, But What Does Bci, Bcc Mean?
-thanks

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Originally Posted by ALEX B.

May Be A Rookie Question, But What Does Bci, Bcc Mean?
-thanks

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Bci means affordable and Bcc means expensive :rofl:
No really, Bci is Boa constrictor imperitor and Bcc is Boa constrictor constrictor; it's the taxonomy classification. Someone can correct me on this since I alway get it worng, but Bcc's are east of the Andes and Bci's are west???? Bcc's are also much more expensive than Bci's!

I think that is right and I also think that the BCC is the true "red tail" correct me if I am wrong.