Zahara my 20 yr old boa

I just want to comment on this again because I find it so satisfying.

I'm no long time keeper, at least by my standards, but I have seen a lot in my short time the last 7 or so years.

One thing I have seen frequently is the "all out" mentality. I understand the excitement as I felt it the same as most I assume, but what happens in many situations is that folks new to the hobby become so infatuated with things and want everything NOW. They don't sit back and enjoy, study or appreciate what they have. All too often the whole collection ends up sold or placed and the interest in the hobby dies when things move too fast.

I understand not posting on a board for an eternity, I take breaks and am less active each year, but I still have the 4 snakes here, none of them are going anywhere and they are all doing well.

My hope is to eventually have animals like this featured boa. Something 20 or more years old is a goal. I feel that shows true dedication to the animal/species.

I don't need to breed anything, as I find there are enough breeders, and they are certainly more qualified than I. I just want to have my pets and enjoy them for what they are. I also want to learn/study their biology and continue learning.

April should really be looked at as a devoted, long time keeper and asset to the hobby.

I look around and I just don't find posts like this very often.

20 years and going strong! I'm impressed.

Once again I say,,,, WELL DONE.

Beautiful girl. So very cool to see other keepers that have had their animals long term. They’re such great pets and very rewarding to watch them grow from tiny neonates to the large adults. Whenever I have my big girl out (7’ Colombian redtail), I’m always amazed how far we’ve both come since I brought her home as a very small juvenile. :P

I love it! Thanks for sharing and kudos to you April. :)

Forgive me if I mix up these possible facts; didn’t you raise a 9 foot girl that lived long as well? Did you euthanize her due to arthritis? :(

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Originally Posted by Gio

One thing I have seen frequently is the "all out" mentality. I understand the excitement as I felt it the same as most I assume, but what happens in many situations is that folks new to the hobby become so infatuated with things and want everything NOW. They don't sit back and enjoy, study or appreciate what they have. All too often the whole collection ends up sold or placed and the interest in the hobby dies when things move too fast.

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I want to comment on this and thank you for posting this. As someone who suffers from the all-out mentality in literally every facet of life, I found snake keeping to be no different. In the short time I have been keeping snakes, I have definitely acquired 2.5x more than I really need. However, I am currently transitioning to making this my career so I am sort of committing myself to it in a few ways. That being said, I do NOT want to suffer from burnout simply because I moved too fast.

These words will stay in my head. Thank you, Gio.

Again, Zahara is just exquisite. Thank you for sharing.

She is so beautiful! Big girl. I bet she's had some adventures throughout her 20 years. I like the Destiny t-shirt by the way :)

Wow!! Looking stunning at 20 yrs old. Love her colors too. Thank you for sharing with us ..

Awesome job with her all these years!!! She looks fantastic!!! :gj:

Thanks again everyone! Yeah, we've had some adventures, she's moved from CA to Vegas, back to CA and now to UT with me. She's blessed with me with two beautiful litters along the way and is a wonderful boa.

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Originally Posted by Reinz

Forgive me if I mix up these possible facts; didn’t you raise a 9 foot girl that lived long as well? Did you euthanize her due to arthritis? :(

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You have a good memory! Yes, my very first boa Autumn.

She was born in 1989, original owner got her at a pet store. I was her third owner having adopted her from the PennySaver in 1998. Sadly she went blind her last few years and then the last year stopped feeding and started having movement control issues. Through it all and even on her last day when I took her to the vet to end any suffering in 2017, she always crawled into my arms. I'm getting teary remembering. I loved her very much. When I had her put to sleep, she was 28 years old.