Rescue Boa

So thanks to one of my first friendships in Texas, I now have this beautiful girl in my collection.

http://iherp.com/Public/Animals/View...AnimalID=95406

My friend rescues snakes from bad situations. This boa was the property of a man who got divorced. She spent two months with the ex wife and was not fed, watered, or generally cared for. She is not dehydrated, thanks to the feces and urine-soaked cypress mulch in her 16-qt sweater box.

I have a couple of concerns.

First, though the pics don't really show it, she is pretty thin. Not nearly as thin as some of the ball pythons my friend got out of that place, but still not good.

Second, I think she might have some scale rot developing. I didn't get any belly shots because I didn't want to stress her out right now. Her belly is rather blotchily pink on the second half of her body. I'm hoping she's just about to shed, but that substrate did not look good at all.

I don't normally feed snakes the same day I get them, but she kept acting hungry, and immediately took the small F/T rat I offered.

All I know about her is that she is supposedly female, and supposedly a year old. Obviously a sunglow.

Would be interested to know if anyone could guess at her locality or has any observations to make at this point. I'll be updating this thread often with pictures.

Ever since I sold my three boas I have been missing them something fierce and pining after female boas on kingsnake and fauna (dreaming to one day breed boas myself). It's almost like this girl was an answer to a prayer. :oops: I hope I do right by her and get her fully recovered.

If she has some belly rot you can soak her in a Betadine bath.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

If she has some belly rot you can soak her in a Betadine bath.

---

Yeah, I plan on doing that once I've had a few days to see what happens with it. Luckily I already have Betadine on hand. :)

Shes gorgeous! Congrats on getting her!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike41793

Shes gorgeous! Congrats on getting her!

---

Thanks! She is a total sweetheart too. Did not want to be put down at all, lol.

She's beautiful, kudos for taking her in as a rescue!

By the pictures she looks to be at a perfect size to me; baby boas are quite slender and bulk up with age; I would say she's at a good size for a yearling. But pictures can be misleading, I know. In any case, she's not dangerously underweight and it sounds like she's a good eater (most boas are), so she'll gain it all back in no time. However, I would urge you to feed her no more often than every 7 days. Even if she does need to put on weight, overfeeding can stress the digestive system and do more harm than good for a recovering baby. Also, boas are prone to obesity which causes fatty liver disease. So the longer she stays somewhat slender the better!

x2 on the Bedatine bath. If it's only just developing that may nip it in the bud. If it's already set in you may need to seek a vet and get some antibiotics.

She is a Colombian boa of the Boa constrictor imperator subspecies.

Good luck with her, and please keep us updated!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Crazy4Herps

She's beautiful, kudos for taking her in as a rescue!

By the pictures she looks to be at a perfect size to me; baby boas are quite slender and bulk up with age; I would say she's at a good size for a yearling. But pictures can be misleading, I know. In any case, she's not dangerously underweight and it sounds like she's a good eater (most boas are), so she'll gain it all back in no time. However, I would urge you to feed her no more often than every 7 days. Even if she does need to put on weight, overfeeding can stress the digestive system and do more harm than good for a recovering baby. Also, boas are prone to obesity which causes fatty liver disease. So the longer she stays somewhat slender the better!

x2 on the Bedatine bath. If it's only just developing that may nip it in the bud. If it's already set in you may need to seek a vet and get some antibiotics.

She is a Colombian boa of the Boa constrictor imperator subspecies.

Good luck with her, and please keep us updated!

---

Thanks! I did give her a very undersized meal just to settle her tummy. Didn't want to risk a regurge after 2 months of not eating, poor thing.

She is at decent size, it's mostly near her tail that you see the thinness. She didn't suffer nearly as much as some of the babies. :(

I will go ahead and give her a few days to digest then mix up a betadine bath for her. Thanks for the advice!

She is a great looking girl. As already stated she really doesn't look that thin.

LOVE love the name :) She looks sooo much better already.
*Fila*

Okay, here's another question.

About what would she be valued at?

My friend who gave her to me is interested in a 650 gram black pastel female I have, so I was thinking of doing a full/partial trade depending on the value of each snake.

Truth be told Sarah, the sweetheart she is, wanted to give me money for this Boa, even though she brought me all kinda of goodies to help all the others, tanks, tubs, lights, hides, and so forth. I never wanted a dime, but of course she wanted to help me help them, and she did get a very nice girl, but my primary concern was for this boa to go to a good person, and that would be Sarah. Then Sarah says she will be selling her Black Pastel female, and I need one, so I ask how much :) She reminds me she is giving me money for the Boa, so I just tell her to take of whatever she feels she needs to give me and I will pay the rest. She wants to be fair, so she asked here for guidance, just like I would.

*Fila*

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by meowmeowkazoo

Okay, here's another question.

About what would she be valued at?

My friend who gave her to me is interested in a 650 gram black pastel female I have, so I was thinking of doing a full/partial trade depending on the value of each snake.

---

Why don't you trade snakes and keep money out of it? You will both have great looking animals you will both be happy with.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rob

Why don't you trade snakes and keep money out of it? You will both have great looking animals you will both be happy with.

---

I wish I could do that, but I really need at least a little money from my black pastel to put into my savings account. :( I would normally just sell the black pastel and then give Kathy some money to help with the ball pythons she rescued, but since she is interested in the black pastel we figured we would try to work out a deal for that instead.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by meowmeowkazoo

I wish I could do that, but I really need at least a little money from my black pastel to put into my savings account. :( I would normally just sell the black pastel and then give Kathy some money to help with the ball pythons she rescued, but since she is interested in the black pastel we figured we would try to work out a deal for that instead.

---

Fair enough, well I wish you both the best on working something out :)

Yes, and I agree that the Black Pastel is worth more than the Boa, but both are SUPER nice. I would much rather buy from Sarah than from XYZ online. Again, she owes me nothing, except to take great care of the Boa :) but again, she is just trying to be fair in her eyes :) A rare trait in this day and age.

Kathy and I worked out an agreement. :)

I gave Dolly a betadine bath today and noticed that she has some slight wheezing. Going to slightly up her temperatures and hope that the wheezing goes away on its own. The scale rot already seems to be reversing just from her being on dry paper towels, so hopefully it will go away soon.