A Rescue Story of a BCI

Starting a couple of weeks ago I was on here asking questions about BCI's and BCC's because I had went and rescued what I was told was a Red Tail. You guys were great about helping me figure out what he really was and giving me some suggestions. I have since determined that Wicked is most likely a 'he' and is definitely a Central American Boa Constrictor. Thanks for all of your help! :gj: (all of my experience was with BP's)

I wanted to post a couple of pics and tell you about Wicked.

I rescued Wicked from an ignorant imbecile that apparently knew nothing of caring for snakes in general. When I arrived at the house the whole backwoods family was there. I have never in my life seen such trashy people nor a house that was in the condition that this one was in. They were all sitting out in the front yard on cinder blocks when I pulled up amisdt piles of trash, broken furniture and crap in general. Wicked was in a fruit crate at the man's feet.

They immediately go in to how I HAVE to take care of this snake and if I ever went to get rid of him call them first because they would want to take him back. I went on this rescue alone because my bf was at work and man, was I nervous for a few minutes...then I got angry....

The man goes in to his house to show me Wicked's tank. He had him in a busted up, pieces of glass missing 55 gallon tank. The thing was held together by sheer luck and a lot of duct tape. The screen lid was duct taped to the tank. No UTH, no heat bulbs, no heat source what so ever. There was dried blood streaks all down the front of the glass. Inside of the tank they had used a combination of cedar chips and fluffy hamster bedding. The cotton bally stuff, Comfy Care I think is what it's called. There was moldy feces and bedding EVERYWHERE. Water dish was bone dry, full of green algae and at least 6 urates were in there. I counted a total of 8 moldy turds in the tank. That gives you an idea of just how long it has been since the tank was cleaned!

Then the man busts out the rat cage that had a male and female in it that he was breeding for snake food. Two adult rats in a ten gallon tank. No food, no water. Just lots and lots of feces and urine. The smell was beyond horrendous! As he is showing me the rats he is telling me how they used to breed regularly but haven't in quite a while and he just can't figure out why...Gee, I freakin' wonder! :mad:

He tells me that if I wish to take the rats as well I can have them too. Of course I took them. These people couldn't clean their house, their kids or themselves. No way in hell I was leaving any animals there. NO WAY!

So anyways, we got the critters all loaded up and let me tell you my drive home smelled so bad I was gagging and I am not a weak stomached person. I get home and start cleaning tanks right away. I am OCD and a clean freak. I HAD to get this stuff done asap! I had to force myself to stop so I could take a few pics. Here is what I took: (pardon the quality, used my cell)

This was Wicked's tank
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...ckedsPast1.jpg

Here is the rat's cage
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...-11_12-561.jpg

I only took a couple of pics because the smell was killing me and I couldn't stand to have these animals in conditions like that any longer! And let me tell you the pics don't do the horror of it justice at all! :rage:

So now it's been a couple of weeks. Wicked is doing amazingly well. We treated, with PAM, for his horrible mite infestation. That was awful! I cannot believe that he survived those conditions for the year that they owned him. He has been eating great and seems to have adjusted to the "culture shock" of a clean and nice environment. He is curious, inquisitive and quite active at times. I finally got him out the other night and held him. It went very well. I was told he is super aggressive. Hmmm, I didn't have any problems at all! Maybe if you respect the animal it will respect you as well. Food for thought!

Here are a couple of pics that we took while I had Wicked out for the first time:
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...-15-31_338.jpg

http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...-17-49_209.jpg

The rats are doing pretty good. They are very very fearful of people and try to escape their new cage constantly. Can't say that I blame them after where they came from...

Anyhoo, that's Wicked's story. Thanks for reading/viewing...;)

He looks great. :gj:

Good job rescuing them from such horrible conditions.

He looks great! Thanks for sharing your story, great to know he is good hands now :)

I'm glad he's doing good for you. Just shows how resilient these animals can be.

Glad he got out of a bad place and into the hands of someone who knows what they're doing! Same for the rats as well!

Though (just an opinion, not saying I'm correct especially if others more knowledgeable already jumped in) but this guy looks like a regular BCI Colombian to me over a CA. Not to hijack a really wonderful rescue thread :)

Thats great. Everyone won it that situation. Congrats on the new arrival and good job on the rescue. Thanks for sharing :gj:

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

Glad he got out of a bad place and into the hands of someone who knows what they're doing! Same for the rats as well!

Though (just an opinion, not saying I'm correct especially if others more knowledgeable already jumped in) but this guy looks like a regular BCI Colombian to me over a CA. Not to hijack a really wonderful rescue thread :)

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That's exactly what I was thinking when I first saw this thread this morning but I held my tongue. Glad I'm not crazy! I believe you have a normal BCI! Congrats on the rescue though, he's in much better hands now. :)

Alright. I am back to being confused. :confused:

I take it a Central American Boa Constrictor is not a BCI but rather a Colombian is? I know that Wicked is NOT a BCC. I have learned that much so far; being able to tell the difference between BCC and BCI. So this poses my next question. What IS the difference between a Central American Boa Constrictor and a Colombian? I thought that Colombians were the TRUE red tails...

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Originally Posted by Carlene16

That's exactly what I was thinking when I first saw this thread this morning but I held my tongue. Glad I'm not crazy! I believe you have a normal BCI! Congrats on the rescue though, he's in much better hands now. :)

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Alright. I am back to being confused. :confused:

I take it a Central American Boa Constrictor is not a BCI but rather a Colombian is? I know that Wicked is NOT a BCC. I have learned that much so far; being able to tell the difference between BCC and BCI. So this poses my next question. What IS the difference between a Central American Boa Constrictor and a Colombian? I thought that Colombians were the TRUE red tails...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

Glad he got out of a bad place and into the hands of someone who knows what they're doing! Same for the rats as well!

Though (just an opinion, not saying I'm correct especially if others more knowledgeable already jumped in) but this guy looks like a regular BCI Colombian to me over a CA. Not to hijack a really wonderful rescue thread :)

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CA are BCI. Colombians are BCI. Surinames and Peruvians are BCCs and NOT BCIs (as an example). BCCs are the "true redtails". Colombians are not BCCs or "true" redtails.

CAs are usually darker in appearance and grow smaller than Colombians. I'd go into more details but I need to head to work :) Perhaps someone can go into more detail while I'm gone.

Either way he's very handsome! I have two BCI Colombian morphs myself: a Jungle and a Hypo.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

CA are BCI. Colombians are BCI. Surinames and Peruvians are BCCs and NOT BCIs (as an example). BCCs are the "true redtails". Colombians are not BCCs or "true" redtails.

CAs are usually darker in appearance and grow smaller than Colombians. I'd go into more details but I need to head to work :) Perhaps someone can go into more detail while I'm gone.

Either way he's very handsome! I have two BCI Colombian morphs myself: a Jungle and a Hypo.

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Great info :)
I don't know very much about CA's. True red tails are not colombians but are commonly mislabeled as such. True red tails are surinames and a few others. Check out surinames though, they have FANTASTIC red tails, like no other. A BCI as a baby might make you think you have a true red tail, but with age they loose the red. With surinames that red holds its color very well.

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Originally Posted by Carlene16

Great info :)

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Thank you :)

For Valkerie, here is an awesome webby if you haven't seen it already, it goes into lots of different boa localities and even talks about BCLs as well: http://www.riobravoreptiles.com/

And here is a visual of Colombian morphs vs regular CAs and CA morphs (I got my little male BP from Lynn at Boas and Balls): http://www.boasandballs.com/CollectionBoa.html

Notice how much darker/browner they are in comparison to regular Colombians who are usually a lighter cleaner brown-greyish? Also they are usually much more peppered than Colombians, though some Colombians are highly peppered. There are exceptions to CAs and Colombians of course, not every snake looks the same.

CAs usually grow smaller than Colombians and I have heard they are usually more nippy (exceptions to this of course as well). They have the same husbandry requirments as Colombians while BCCs can be a bit pickier/sensitive to their husbandry.

Thank you very much for the additional information! As I said before, all of my prior experience and knowledge was with BPs. I definitely see the difference between the CAs and the Colombians. I, like most people, used to look at a BCC or BCI in pet stores and go "Red Tail". I am learning to spot the differences!

No matter what Wicked is I am so very happy to have him here. I just wanted to know what he was exactly so I could offer him the proper care AND not be one of the ignorant people that just called him a red tail and left it at that. I KNEW he wasn't a true red tail. I just wasn't 100% positive on what he was...LOL

Thanks again for all of your help. I really appreciate you taking the time to educate me :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

Thank you :)

For Valkerie, here is an awesome webby if you haven't seen it already, it goes into lots of different boa localities and even talks about BCLs as well: http://www.riobravoreptiles.com/

And here is a visual of Colombian morphs vs regular CAs and CA morphs (I got my little male BP from Lynn at Boas and Balls): http://www.boasandballs.com/CollectionBoa.html

Notice how much darker/browner they are in comparison to regular Colombians who are usually a lighter cleaner brown-greyish? Also they are usually much more peppered than Colombians, though some Colombians are highly peppered. There are exceptions to CAs and Colombians of course, not every snake looks the same.

CAs usually grow smaller than Colombians and I have heard they are usually more nippy (exceptions to this of course as well). They have the same husbandry requirments as Colombians while BCCs can be a bit pickier/sensitive to their husbandry.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shadows Valkyrie

Alright. I am back to being confused. :confused:

I take it a Central American Boa Constrictor is not a BCI but rather a Colombian is? I know that Wicked is NOT a BCC. I have learned that much so far; being able to tell the difference between BCC and BCI. So this poses my next question. What IS the difference between a Central American Boa Constrictor and a Colombian? I thought that Colombians were the TRUE red tails...

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Central American and Colombian boas are both BCI. Central Americans are smaller than Colombians. Colombians are called common boas, because they are the most common in the reptile trade. Most people think of Colombians when they are talking about BCI, because of that reason.

True red-tails are BCC's, such as Suriname and Guyanese.