What next?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ax01

so what did u decide to get? SD Retic or Scrub this year and $1700 BHP next year? maybe all 3? ;)

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Haven't made a final choice yet Ax but I think it's coming down to a SD retic or boa. I haven't had any luck locating some nice CBB Scrubs. We close on our new house next week. After we get settled in I'm gonna sneak in a new critter. Hopefully the Lady of the Manor won't even notice or will be too happy to care ;).

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Haven't made a final choice yet Ax but I think it's coming down to a SD retic or boa. I haven't had any luck locating some nice CBB Scrubs. We close on our new house next week. After we get settled in I'm gonna sneak in a new critter. Hopefully the Lady of the Manor won't even notice or will be too happy to care ;).

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I bet something new and sparkly for her finger would be quite the distraction. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Haven't made a final choice yet Ax but I think it's coming down to a SD retic or boa. I haven't had any luck locating some nice CBB Scrubs. We close on our new house next week. After we get settled in I'm gonna sneak in a new critter. Hopefully the Lady of the Manor won't even notice or will be too happy to care ;).

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by hilabeans

I bet something new and sparkly for her finger would be quite the distraction. ;)

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https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...357048_fpx.tif

i would wear that!

Heck yeah!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Haven't made a final choice yet Ax but I think it's coming down to a SD retic or boa. I haven't had any luck locating some nice CBB Scrubs. We close on our new house next week. After we get settled in I'm gonna sneak in a new critter. Hopefully the Lady of the Manor won't even notice or will be too happy to care ;).

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Perfect final choices!

I somehow missed this thread and am sorry I did.

I can guide you in the right direction having both of those snakes and sharing a great love for carpets with you. I think I know your style.

I don't think the Cribo or Indigo would suit you, although they are certainly awesome. If you think retics make messes LOL!

Hmmm boa or retic??? You don't have anything from the Americas yet do you? The boa, a nice, big basin BCC Suri or Guyana would be fun. Boas still posses the qualities you enjoy, semi active, semi arboreal, and they DO have the girth.

IMO, more fun than a Burm, much, much less hassle than the Anaconda, at least a giant one. I don't like messing with a ton of water, and the huge ones need it to support their own mass. Males and yellows maybe not.

Really,,,, and I'm serious here, if you are honestly thinking of 1 and then another to round off, (I like even numbers too) get the boa and raise it slow, and then get a male SD x Dwarf x mainland retic.

BTW, mine dude (retic) isn't messy, and has a regular poop and pee schedule.

I seem to get lucky with all my animals. No pushing, very little defensiveness once I work with them.

Anyhow, I'm no expert and it's not about me, its about you.

I DO want to help you with anything you may have questions about.

Either here or by PM!!

I gave her a choice. She chose B. Option A will have to wait ;).

A.https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...bHFTjCJ4Jo28ml


B. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...w-29785693.jpg

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I gave her a choice. She chose B. Option A will have to wait ;).

A.https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...bHFTjCJ4Jo28ml


B. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...w-29785693.jpg

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Beautiful house my man!

Well done and nice looking group there, looks like a realty add!

Option C - all of the above! Gorgeous family and house Zig, congrats on all of it!

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I gave her a choice. She chose B. Option A will have to wait ;).

A.https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...bHFTjCJ4Jo28ml


B. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...w-29785693.jpg

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Awesome, congrats! Beautiful house and family.

@ Ax- That is one sharp ring. My GF would love and want it IF I showed it to her :D!

@ Gio- You and I have very similar taste in critters. I love your snakes and their enclosures. It was the EDR's pic and the pics of your boa the other day that put them back on my radar. They check off a lot of the things I want in my next snake in terms of size and temperament. I really want to join the Tics Team too though :). The pictures and threads on Wallace, Caesar, Gene, Phyllis, and all the other beautiful retics keep me in a mild state of perpetual jealousy ;). I'm thinking get the boa now and SD to top off the collection. I know nothing about locales or anything else about boas and would really like to work with a new species. I have started researching the husbandry though and it seems pretty similar to how I keep my carpets. If you, r anyone else, could recommend some good breeders I'd really appreciate it.

@ Beans, Gio, and Rock- Thanks for the compliments but that's not my family or our house. Those are just stock photos to illustrate my point :). I'll definitely be posting the real celebration pics after we close!!

Congrats Ziggy on the house. You have a beautiful family my man...God bless!!

I vote for a Boa.

Lol! I was like - wow! They could be models!

Sorry for the confusion with the stock photos y'all. Here's my family. :)

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/RbFCy5r.jpg

Like I said, beautiful family!

Zig, you got me with boys in the prior photo. I knew you had a son so it fit. Instead, your holiday card makes the professional pic look amateur!

Even better :gj:

I love y'all. I'm jus sayin. ;)

Your son is beyond adorable, and your girlfriend is a true beauty, so happy you and your family are doing so splendidly with a new home and retic;) (maybe?)

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Sorry for the confusion with the stock photos y'all. Here's my family. :)

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/RbFCy5r.jpg

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Yep. Better than the photo I thought was you guys.

Well done brother,

Life is good and if folks think otherwise they need a look at that nice family 😊👍🏻😎

@ Gio- I'm learning to see the good more and more. Life gets tough and the world isn't always a nice place but there"s still beauty all around us. I've been through a lot and seen a lot so I'm humbled and grateful for ALL that I have and pray for all those in need. I'm very blessed with great/crazy family and friends.

Back on topic. Sorry for the interlude y'all. :D

Tell me some good boa and SD retic breeders. :)

Good looking family there Ziggy. Nice looking house too and grats.

And to jump in on your request for breeders, are you looking for mainland retic or SD hybrids/morphs? Also for boas, are you looking for pure locality stuff? Or morphs? For locality boas, i believe you said you are in the same local herp club as Vin Russo? I would definitely start with him for pure local boa stuff. Him and Christopher Wolf are the 2 guys i would go to for pure locality boa stuff and obscure BCC stuff like Venezuelan BCCs. Christopher Wolf is who i got Gina from.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

@ Gio- I'm learning to see the good more and more. Life gets tough and the world isn't always a nice place but there"s still beauty all around us. I've been through a lot and seen a lot so I'm humbled and grateful for ALL that I have and pray for all those in need. I'm very blessed with great/crazy family and friends.

Back on topic. Sorry for the interlude y'all. [emoji3]

Tell me some good boa and SD retic breeders. :)

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The world needs more folks like you ziggy, just sayin [emoji6]
SD retic breeders. Check out Daniel Solis. Just hatched some smoking 87.5% kalatoa SD retics, some tiger some normal. PM me for his # if you want. Aside from him maybe Garrett Hartle, Matthew Martin... not a lot of SD specific breeders out there but they can be found. I’ve considered pairing Gerald and Phyllis depending on whether or not I can get homes for most of the clutch should that happen. They’d be 75% SD Platinum poss het anery. Don’t hold your breath on me though, more of a pipe dream that I’d like to see come to fruition some day


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Also for SD retic crosses/morphs, can check out Mike Zosso, Shannon Roepke, Erik Alvarado, Bob Clark, and Samson Pruitt.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Also for SD retic crosses/morphs, can check out Mike Zosso, Shannon Roepke, Erik Alvarado, Bob Clark, and Samson Pruitt.

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Oooh, good call on everyone you listed there. Aside from Samson... I’ll let ziggy do some research and see how he feels about Samson from a moral standpoint anyway


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Good looking family there Ziggy. Nice looking house too and grats.

And to jump in on your request for breeders, are you looking for mainland retic or SD hybrids/morphs? Also for boas, are you looking for pure locality stuff? Or morphs? For locality boas, i believe you said you are in the same local herp club as Vin Russo? I would definitely start with him for pure local boa stuff. Him and Christopher Wolf are the 2 guys i would go to for pure locality boa stuff and obscure BCC stuff like Venezuelan BCCs. Christopher Wolf is who i got Gina from.

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Sauzo- I definitely want a SD. The tiger retics are probably my favorite. I love Gio's boy Wallace. The albinos are really cool too but I already have (3) albino snakes so I'll pass on those. I'd like a critter that stays in the 8-12 ft range and one I can handle by myself.

I know absolutely nothing about boas either. All of my snakes are just pets and I have no breeding plans so locales don't mean a lot to me. I'm more interested in the size and looks of my critter. I saw this one beauty on Fauna the other day and really like the looks of it but when I talked to the breeder he said they top out around 6ft. I want something quite a bit bigger than that. I think I like the darker boas too. This is the one I was looking at.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...0&d=1525125980

Ziggy, not to derail the thread again, but had to chime in and say the pics of you, your girl and your boy are fantastic!! That's one happy family right there, the best part about life. Can't beat coming home to a woman you love and who loves you. I can't speak for the love you feel for a son (maybe someday), but I see a man who loves his boy and a son who loves his pappa.

Good stuff, my friend!!! I'm truly happy for you!!

Zig,

A BCC from Florida Red Tails genetics should get really big.

Iquitos, Peruvian boas are said to be the largest in the boa constrictor family however,, since you like dark boas I’m tossing in the often overlooked and under rated Argentine boa suggestion. They can get BIG. 50-80 pounds and a 9
Footer is somewhat common.

As for retics. I think even a smaller male mainland would work or dwarf tiger or a guy like Wallace.

Nice photos!

For boas: Legacy Reptiles and Cutting Edge Reptiles (vin russo) are great. Star Schaffer is a smaller scale breeder of Suriname BCCs and has excellent animals. She posts in the FB boa groups and I think she has a FB page but I can't remember her business name.

My vote would be for starting with a female BCC... You'll get the size you want and pretty heavy girth (even when kept in a healthy loaf shape), plus a calmer temperament than a retic. You can try out owning a larger snake with the BCC, then move on to a retic as your second if you like the size but want more spunk.

Plus, BCCs are just too gorgeous. A nice ferrari pastel or european pastel hypo BCI with good blood lines is pretty hot too (as is a lipstick junglow or coral junglow) and a female BCI can attain the size of a BCC as well. Asking for size of parents is a good thing with boas as there is a lot of size variation. BCCs in particular grow slowly, so may not be at max size when they are bred for the first time. I don't own a BCC yet, but do own a BCI, CA BCI, and BCA.

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Originally Posted by artgecko

Nice photos!

For boas: Legacy Reptiles and Cutting Edge Reptiles (vin russo) are great. Star Schaffer is a smaller scale breeder of Suriname BCCs and has excellent animals. She posts in the FB boa groups and I think she has a FB page but I can't remember her business name.

My vote would be for starting with a female BCC... You'll get the size you want and pretty heavy girth (even when kept in a healthy loaf shape), plus a calmer temperament than a retic. You can try out owning a larger snake with the BCC, then move on to a retic as your second if you like the size but want more spunk.

Plus, BCCs are just too gorgeous. A nice ferrari pastel or european pastel hypo BCI with good blood lines is pretty hot too (as is a lipstick junglow or coral junglow) and a female BCI can attain the size of a BCC as well. Asking for size of parents is a good thing with boas as there is a lot of size variation. BCCs in particular grow slowly, so may not be at max size when they are bred for the first time. I don't own a BCC yet, but do own a BCI, CA BCI, and BCA.

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ZIG,

I scored my boy from Legacy Reptiles, and know of all the breeders mentioned here and agree with Art's list.

Tom McCarthy also breeds boas and loves retics. Tom has had some really big boas, but I'm not sure he is producing anything BCC except Northern Brazilian BCC.

He also was into BCA boas but they are not typically huge.

Check out this Agrie!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LANEr-70MBk

This is a 3 year old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Fpc25vp1Q

Normals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTZWeswdb0k

If you are looking for a darker boa that still gets decent size, look into IMGs. They are on the spendier side but they can get close to black in color. Also another darker boa is a Boa Constrictor Longicauda aka Peruvian Long tail. They are decently priced at anywhere from $250-$400. Obviously an anery one would be darker but here is Louie who is from parents from Vin Russo yellow line and Legacy Reptiles. He's het anery.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...0224a6a1_h.jpg

You can also looking a Boa Constrictor Occidentalis aka Argentine boa. They get darker too but i have heard they can get a bit nippy. BCLs tend to be very shy and take a long time to really settle in and trust you. I've had Louie almost a year and he is just coming around to trusting me vs my other boas who are pretty much carefree after a week lol.

Also, from what i have been told by a few breeders who i wont name, Legacy Reptiles has gone downhill the past couple years. They used to be very reliable and picky about their locality stuff but i guess now, they are less stringent on their sources. Take it for what its worth but that is why i didnt mention them on my pure locality list. I would still stick to either Vin Russo or Chris Wolf for pure locality stuff as well as Gus Rentfro but he is out of the game.

Oh also Ziggy, you arent going to find too many boas that get to really large sizes. About the biggest will be Peruvian BCC which would probably top around 10 feet but you are looking at about 10 years for that lol. Boas grow very slow compared to pythons.

If you are looking for size, then you will probably want to stick to pythons like a dwarf or SD cross. With retics, there are tons of stuff. Or if you dont mind a possible 13 foot male, you got even more choices with mainlands. For darker stuff, look at super Motleys or Goldenchilds. Also there is one i personally like, Mochinos.

I would like to go on record to state that this thread is really starting to bother me. I did not realize how nice boas can be.

Gio’s is ridiculously awesome and I’m really liking the others I have started to look up and read about. This must stop. I thought I was done with carpets but here we go again. 🤨😀

Decisions decisions....Can't wait to get back in the lab! :cool:

SD retic
Boa
Scrub
????

That max pink argentine bca. Is just so cool,
the darker boas are just wicked I’ve got a Hypo Img and a pair of Bcl and I love them I always loved the lighter ones when I first started down the boa route but the darker ones are really iridescent
Good luck with your quest


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Sorry ment bco Argentine max pink


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It is hard to beat the nearly all black Argentine boss. They are not all bad tempered either, I worked with a pair 20 years ago that never even hissed at me. I also have a soft spot for those pink based bright red tailed surinam boas. There is a Facebook group specifically for those guys that as I try to live through vicariously. Just not enough room to have them all.

Sorry I’m late to the party.

Congrats on on your new home and such a beautiful family as well. :)

I’m confident that you will pick a stunner whatever it may be. You have a great eye for beauties and great taste in snakes.

Hey Ziggy, if you are considering an Argentine boa I have an acquaintance with a gravid female. I think I saw him state he would be selling babies for 200.00 ea. He has pics of them on his fb page, PM me for his info if interested.

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Originally Posted by enginee837

Hey Ziggy, if you are considering an Argentine boa I have an acquaintance with a gravid female. I think I saw him state he would be selling babies for 200.00 ea. He has pics of them on his fb page, PM me for his info if interested.

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That’s a nice deal.

The Argentine boas are so under the radar. I think mostly because of the dark colors

They are a very hardy boa and the southern most boa species.

You can keep them in cooler conditions and FYI, that whole hissy, snappy stuff is them same with any snake or can be. Honestly I think people feel more intimidated by dark colored snakes. I can understand that.

An 8 foot , 40 pound female Argie is pretty bad a$$.

Those Argentine boas are schweet!!

Zig,

Keep in mind BIG doesn't always mean long I'm sure you know that. The same reason the anaconda beats out the retic as the "largest snake" is the same reason my boa makes my longer SD x Dwarf retic seem like a jump rope by comparison. At least right now.

Sniper is a male boa, and typically male boas are smaller but they can get to female sizes when certain circumstances are present.

Honestly I think you are best off getting a boa of some type and a retic of some type.

They are so different but both just fantastic to own. Honestly I juggle favorite snakes here daily, minus the royal, sorry I'm not into them, but of the other 3 here I can't pick a favorite.

Right now this guy is blowing me away.

He's almost 7 feet and in excellent condition and health.
http://i.imgur.com/4BRfnzv.jpg

I know I am VERY late to this post, however, I thought I would add my two cents.

First, wonderful family and Mazel Tov on the new house. Good luck on all fronts.

Secondly, if you are between a SD Retic and an Boa of some kind, I would lean more towards a Boa. I made that choice and I am incredibly happy.

Boa's generally have amazing temperaments and are often calm and easily controllable even when large/adult size. I got a female BCI in October of 2017 (Behira - who is a ghost BCI and will be two in June of this year). Right now she's about 3 1/2-4FT and about 900G. Far from where she will be. However, she is alert, interested, responsive, curious, and basically unafraid. When being handled she doesn't freak out and get head shy, but is calm and easy to read and predictable. Total sweetheart when out. As she grows, I imagine she will be even less afraid (although she is pretty fearless now). She also moves more than say, a BP, but her movements are slow and deliberate most of the time.

Feeding time is a separate issue. Strongest feeding response of any snake I have had. However, she happily eats F/T. Because of her temperament being awesome when out, but the strong feeding response, I hook trained her and that has been fantastic.

I am rambling here. However, SD Retics are awesome - don't get me wrong. Beautiful and intelligent and curious animals. However, I've heard of more issues/work with them.

Here is what I have observed, largely on this forum (Keep in mind I do not own a Retic of any kind - only a BCI, BP, and Corn Snake on the snake front).

1. They pee like crazy. Lots of cleanup.

2. They get antsy when they get hungry - often rubbing their face, for example, on the tank doors, walls, etc. Some people think it's part of their charm, but you need to be on top of it.

3. They are a handful. They may not be aggressive, but they move a lot and where they want. Handling an 8FT retic is work and requires strength and trust. A 7-8FT female boa is a predictable puppy dog comparably.

If you want a challenge - and can handle it. By all means, get a Retic.

However, if you want a large animal that you handle on your own and easily, I would be thinking Boa.

There are many choices of Boas, as has been mentioned, and you can get virtually any color, pattern, etc. you want.

Negatives on Boa's are their slow growth (if looking for a large snake fast) and, as mentioned, strong feeding response can take some getting used to. However, that can also be a big positive.

I think it was mentioned here the idea of getting a Boa and if that goes well, also getting a Retic later on. That seems to make a lot of sense to me.

I hope this helps and I also hope I didn't offend any Retic people. Please, if I am off base on my limited observations, feel free to correct me.

To sum it up with my experience with my snakes, retics are hands down more work. I have to clean Caesar's cage once a month and he eats once every 10 days. He also used to push badly and hamburger faced himself a few times but i think this was mostly from wanting to breed as he has pretty much quit pushing now. Also from his ungodly feeding response, i have had to unhook his upper lip from one of his upper teeth when he bit his lip. That was NO fun at all and Caesar showed me unhappiness by wrapping around my waist and down my right leg twice.

The boas go 2-3 months between substrate changes and while they are friendly and interactive, they are not nearly as personal as the retic. Like i said, Caesar is the only snake who seems to actually want attention and usually when he gets rambunctious, i just slide open a door and he comes right up to me and sits there while i pet him. Sometimes he will also sit on my arm while i pet his body. Weirdo snake for sure. The boas can be a little unclear when trying to 'read' them sometimes but Caesar is easy to read. He clearly lets you know if he wants to be left alone but pushing your hand away or just crawling off.

I personally feel you cant go wrong with either one but if i had to pick a favorite, it would have to go to Caesar the retic as he is almost as much of a character as my bearded dragon. Those 2 really make my day when i see them. Almost like reptile dogs in a strange way lol.

And the boa takes a slight lead as we head into the backstretch. :)

Yeah!! Go Boa, Go!!:dance:
Sorry Sauzo, I know you love your Retics, but I'm rooting for the Boa.

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Originally Posted by RickyNY

Yeah!! Go Boa, Go!!:dance:
Sorry Sauzo, I know you love your Retics, but I'm rooting for the Boa.

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Haha, i love boas too...i got 5 of them lol. Like i said, i dont think Ziggy would go wrong with either a boa or retic.

@Ziggy- Talk to a lot of people with BCOs and i would advise join a couple BCO FB pages and ask lots of questions about their personalities and temperaments. Also iirc, you said you are a member of a herp club and i'm assuming you go regularly. If so, ask them too. While all snakes will have their own individual personalities, each sub species will have differences. For example, my suriname, hypo bci, normal bci and sunglow bci all are really laid back and have been since about a week after i got them. Louie my BCL though was VERY shy when i got him and is finally warming up to me after almost a year. He never was shy was about food and is hands down the most forward and eager eater out of all the boas. A lot of people i've talked to who have BCLs and also breed them have said the same thing, BCLs tend to be a much more shy boa and take a lot more work to really get them to warm up to you.

This is assuming you are going with a BCO. I still am going to throw in a BCL though especially if you get a good bloodline one. They start out as ugly ducklings but with each shed, they get better and better until about 3 years old when they fully develop in color. They are like a GTP in terms of how much they change from babies to adults except unlike certain GTPs like biaks where you never know what you will end up with until about 5 years old when they are close to being done with changing and can look completely different from the parents, you can get an idea for a BCL baby from the parents.

Like here are the parents of Louie who were from a Meltzer/Lincoln line from Legacy Reptiles and a yellow line from Vin Russo. And you can see he is looking more and more like his parents with each shed.
Mom
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...41af853b_o.jpg


Dad
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...1954c3a7_z.jpg

And finally, Louie again.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...830f68d3_h.jpg

BCLs are also an underrated boa which arent very easy to find. The three people i know who work with them that i would trust are Vin Russo, Jessica Fee and Sonya Koolmo who is who i got Louie from.

I agree with sauzo bcl are very underated I have a great pair of bcl and such great snakes,there colour change is mad, this is my female bcl she was 2 in April,she had shed last night, I just opened the glass and she came out,loves being out hates going back , she has got a mad feeding response but I think that's most boas,lol
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0077785bfc.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...efaed53b23.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...533ea03613.jpg

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I dont know, i personally think Louie has the strongest feeding response out of everyone...or he is just kind of special ed lol. He will stay in feed mode for anywhere from 1-2 hours and will strike the glass doors if you walk by too fast during that time. None of the snakes have that strong of a feeding response. Although i did beat the beast!! I gave him his normal weaned rat which he ate in about 20 secs flat and then went into ballistic mode and like clockwork, hit the glass a couple times as i was feeding the others. Well Dottie didnt want her small rat like usual so i played enne meene minimo and Louie won the lottery for extra food in the form of a small rat. I opened his door and the guy was all in my face for more food lol. I gave him the small rat and he lost it. He went banzai and grabbed it and packed that one in too. And now for the first time since i've had him in almost a year, he is quiet after eating. He is just sitting there half hanging out of the cool hide all relaxed. That is why i think i need to up everyone to small rats now. I tend to underfeed my snakes which might be why they get up in arms so much when they smell food.....or they are just snakes lol.

Got through the closing. Move in a couple of weeks then start the critter search. I think I've made my decision but will keep it a surprise for now. :)

http://i.imgur.com/WAZahZ4.jpg

congrats Ziggy! that's a big ol house! i bet Mainland Retic. a female!

...so if i get tix to Superbowl 53 thru u, can i stay crash on your couch and hangout w/ your animals? ;)