Our new girl Sonia

We got another red tail about a month ago from somebody that bought her but no longer wanted her. She is young but we are unsure of her exact age because they bought her from a big box pet store. The reason they were getting rid of her was because she had bite them. I'm pretty sure it was a feed response because she is an absolute sweetheart until feed time like any other boa. Without further ado, her she is.

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Congrats Lou! She's pretty and will just get better. I really like those areas on her tail where the beige base has come through the red. :)

Very nice.


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BigLou3 left our the best part! A man bought her for his stepson. At some point, she bit the kid (presumably during feeding) and he didn't want to go near her after that. I told the man it was understandable for a child to get spooked after being bit. He then informed us that his son was 22. I couldn't help but laugh. She's been an absolute darling, but she definitely displays a healthy boa feeding response!

What a little cutie <3

From her size I'd guess no more than a year old.

Nice pick-up!

Could a yearling stay that small? She just weighed in at 101g empty.

Nice Boa Lou and Eavlynn. Congrats on the new addition.

Thank you for the kind words everyone. She is definitely a nice addition to the family. Reinz, I like the patterning on the tail also It is unique.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eavlynn

Could a yearling stay that small? She just weighed in at 101g empty.

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She might not necessarily be a yearling, just that she's definitely not older than a year. She sounds like she's around 3-4 months at that weight/size, but that's purely speculation, since we don't know how she was fed or anything.

Congrats on the new boa! These guys are definitely my faves, and she's got some awesome patterns. :D

Grats! Amazing addition! So you get bit by your snake and now he has to be rehomed? Sad.

I'm hoping to get a rough estimate on age as she grows. If she grows at a slow steady rate, she's probably still only a few months old. If she's 5 or more months old, I would expect to see exponential growth with regular feeding. We have a male and female ball, one was 5 months, the other a yearling, and they were both the same size. After some appropriately sized weekly meals, our little dude took off. He's more than twice the size of our little girl. I would assume that the same theory could be applied to the boas we have?

In the end, her age doesn't much matter. I'm thrilled that we have her, and look forward to watching her grow! I'm sure she'll grow up to be as beautiful as your boy, Cloud, is handsome:)

They seem to grow about the same rate throughout the first year, depending on feeding.

If she's been underfed she'll explode in growth regardless of how old she is, but she looks in good condition.

Just be sure not to overfeed her, too much food is as bad as too little (maybe even worse)! She should be getting mouse hoppers every 7-14 day at her size.

I wouldn't necessarily expect her to grow too awfully much, these guys aren't ball pythons, they shouldn't grow all that fast. I'd say if she's 2.5'-3' once you've had her 9-12 months she's doing good. :)


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Little Sonia is on a 7 day schedule at the moment, being fed 10% of her weight. If she starts filling out girth wise, faster than she's growing length wise, we'll bump her to 10 days, then 14 after that, and so on. We definitely don't want our boas to be overweight, or at risk for fatty liver disease. I'd like to have them both around for 30 to 40 years.

Albert- I know! If we rehomed snakes whenever we got nipped we wouldn't have any of our little carpets, or one of our BPs. Snakes aren't for everyone though, and at least we can be content knowing that this little gal will be happy, loved, and long lived in our care.

What a tail, just beautiful all around, congrats! LOL he was 22!

Don't feed by weight it's power feeding for a boa. You should be feeding something that is about her girth or smaller that leaves a small lump with no scale separation. 10% is kinda close to that while they're small but as they get bigger it becomes more and more food.

Feed based on what size lump the meal leaves not the percentage of weight.


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She is on a 7 day schedule right now. While she is small she is getting 10% of her body weight since it seems to be appropriate. She is getting a hopper for dinner tonight which is 10g and she weighed 109. Once she gets larger we will base it more on "lump" size lol. We just want her to be happy and healthy.


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