New baby and new to boas.

I got this girl in a trade and she looks different from all the normals in her clutch. I have a feeling she's a normal but has a lot of pink undertones and in her tail.
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Like I said, I'm pretty sure she's a normal but I'd like some expert opinions

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She looks like a hypo to me.. I think. She's lovely. ☺

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Originally Posted by Fraido

She looks like a hypo to me.. I think. She's lovely. ☺

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I agree, she might be a little bespeckled, but look how disconnected and isolated the saddles are; might be some other more esoteric morph , but not a normal in my opinion.
Whatever it is, she's super pretty.

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Originally Posted by Fraido

She looks like a hypo to me.. I think. She's lovely. ☺

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A lot of people have said she might be a hypo

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Originally Posted by dkatz4

I agree, she might be a little bespeckled, but look how disconnected and isolated the saddles are; might be some other more esoteric morph , but not a normal in my opinion.
Whatever it is, she's super pretty.

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Thank you, she's definitely a pretty girl

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I'm thinking hypo as well. As it gets older the colors will improve and you may get a better idea of what morph it is if it is one.

Looks like a hypo, my boy is a pastel hypo.

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Originally Posted by Tigerhawk

I'm thinking hypo as well. As it gets older the colors will improve and you may get a better idea of what morph it is if it is one.

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What should I expect her to look like as she ages?

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Definitely a hypo. Not the cleanest, but 100% a hypo.

It's hard to tell how she may color up. I've seen some really drab ugly looking hypo babies mature into very bright colorful subadults, and some born really colorful that were less impressive. You'll just have to wait and see how she turns out. :)

I'd also be careful handling her with such a large meal, you want a small bulge with no scale separation, and I'd give her at least 24 hours after eating before handling. Generally, by then the bulge should be barely noticeable and traveled down the body. Pooping really varies, some babies poop about a week after eating, some like my sunglow pooped every other month (now she poops about 2-3 weeks after eating). :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

Definitely a hypo. Not the cleanest, but 100% a hypo.

It's hard to tell how she may color up. I've seen some really drab ugly looking hypo babies mature into very bright colorful subadults, and some born really colorful that were less impressive. You'll just have to wait and see how she turns out. :)

I'd also be careful handling her with such a large meal, you want a small bulge with no scale separation, and I'd give her at least 24 hours after eating before handling. Generally, by then the bulge should be barely noticeable and traveled down the body. Pooping really varies, some babies poop about a week after eating, some like my sunglow pooped every other month (now she poops about 2-3 weeks after eating). :rolleyes:

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I will admit the meal was a little large and I didn't think to get a picture of her before I fed her, so oops on my part. She pooed last night and ate again today. So she's pretty regular it seems. Weighed her today and she's at 58 grams. Not sure if that's a good wright or not for her size, but she's active and friendly so I'd call that a good thing. She ate again today, a smaller meals as well so not quite the bulge. I do plan on breeding her eventually, just trying to decide on a good male for her.

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Also meant to say 48 hours apparently my brain thinks 24+24=24.

She's definitely tiny, but aside from the feeder bulge she appears in good body tone so wouldn't worry too much. Some babies are born tinier, as long as you're feeding her mouse fuzzies or hoppers, or rat pinks of the same size (and not the giants I seem to get lol) she should be good on prey size.

Definitely do your research, I've been told boas are very difficult to breed (my earliest breeding venture won't be until next fall at the earliest if all works out, or fall 2019 if it doesn't), and the babies may be difficult to sell depending on what male you pair to her and if she's het for something. They can have 20-30 babies, I've heard of them as large as 50-60 and as small as under 10, and you should be willing and able to keep most or all babies if you do have trouble selling them. You've got 4-6 years to think about it though, and you'll enjoy her care along the way, I know I enjoy all of mine. :D


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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

Also meant to say 48 hours apparently my brain thinks 24+24=24.

She's definitely tiny, but aside from the feeder bulge she appears in good body tone so wouldn't worry too much. Some babies are born tinier, as long as you're feeding her mouse fuzzies or hoppers, or rat pinks of the same size (and not the giants I seem to get lol) she should be good on prey size.

Definitely do your research, I've been told boas are very difficult to breed (my earliest breeding venture won't be until next fall at the earliest if all works out, or fall 2019 if it doesn't), and the babies may be difficult to sell depending on what male you pair to her and if she's het for something. They can have 20-30 babies, I've heard of them as large as 50-60 and as small as under 10, and you should be willing and able to keep most or all babies if you do have trouble selling them. You've got 4-6 years to think about it though, and you'll enjoy her care along the way, I know I enjoy all of mine. :D


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Well right now she's eating what I would consider rat fuzzies. I hate switching snakes from one prey item to another it's a chore that doesn't always work. At least with ball pythons... she seems a little thin to me, but I'm used to ball pythons so I guess that's kinda coloring my judgement. But not gonna over feed her. There's a ball python at one of the local shops that's super fat, it's sad. It's owner way over fed it

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Definitely shouldn't be a problem with boas, they are usually not picky at all. I can give any one of my non-ball python snakes, doesn't matter what species (except the retic for obvious reasons), a mouse and have them take a rat the very next feeding. Then they can take another mouse and switch right back to rats with no problems.

I feel rat fuzzies are probably a bit too big, especially if you feel she has a thin girth and after seeing the bulge in those photos. I feed mouse hoppers until they're well over 100 grams, and even just a regular rat pinkie is bigger in size than a mouse hopper. Unless you get day old rat pinks, allegedly. I haven't raised rats in a few years and have never been delivered day old rat pinks.

This is also considering the fact I've never gotten a baby boa under 80 grams. I feel that Crona may have been smaller, being 82 grams at 4 months old vs Nymeria being 80 at 1 month. He's now 7 months at the weight and length Nymeria was at ~3-4 months. So me, myself, with your boa being even smaller, would err on the side of the smaller mice.

Plenty of people do start out on rats (my first one was started on rats), so as long as you step down on the prey size as they get older then perhaps it's not so bad. I just in general like to feed conservatively right from the beginning, so that's what my advice will reflect.


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Some more pics of her outside after big poo lol.
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Can't wait for her to start shedding and growing for me, get big plans and finally decided to chase Moonglows as the project I most enjoy lol.

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I would personally stick with mice until she is large enough to take weaned rats. And definitely size down the meals. In that first picture, that lump was huge. I don't even like lumps that big in my pythons and they are stretchier than boas. You're better off feeding smaller meals than larger meals. All of my gals when they were neonates ate hopper mice, then adult mice, then weaned rats, then appropriate sized rats, then rabbits once they were large enough for jumbo rats as jumbos have a lot more fat so I don't feed those.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

I would personally stick with mice until she is large enough to take weaned rats. And definitely size down the meals. In that first picture, that lump was huge. I don't even like lumps that big in my pythons and they are stretchier than boas. You're better off feeding smaller meals than larger meals. All of my gals when they were neonates ate hopper mice, then adult mice, then weaned rats, then appropriate sized rats, then rabbits once they were large enough for jumbo rats as jumbos have a lot more fat so I don't feed those.

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I'm going to try her on frozen thawed hopper mice this weekend and see if she takes. Just a little gun shy since I've had problems switching snakes off mice in the past. I do also have ft rat pinks I could try her on that are much smaller than the first meal. The last meal she ate barely left a lump in her. I purposely picked out the smallest fuzzy rat they had.

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I wouldn't worry about boas. They are garbage cans lol. I've never had a problem switching mine from mice to rats and prekilled to F/T. Even my BP went from mice to rats prekilled to F/T with no problems. Even the jungle carpet who would only eat live white mice at night for the gal who had her before ate F/T any color mice in the day for me 2 days after I had her. And the little 2 month old Dumerils gal eats like a beast on F/T hopper mice. I might just be lucky or be the "snake whisperer" lol but I wouldn't worry about boas.

As for rat pinks, those are going to be too small for her. I wouldn't do anything smaller than a hopper mouse. Try one and see what the lump looks like. As mentioned, it should be noticeable but not glaringly noticeable if that makes sense. You want to know it ate a meal but not look like it ate a football and needs to be rolled like a wheel into its hide lol.

And the reason I say I don't like rat pinks or fuzzies is because to me, they just seem like a milk bag lol. They aren't going to be as developed with bones and organs as a hopper or small adult mouse. I see as the same reason you don't feed guinea pigs to boas since they have a lot of fat but they are fine for pythons.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

I wouldn't worry about boas. They are garbage cans lol. I've never had a problem switching mine from mice to rats and prekilled to F/T. Even my BP went from mice to rats prekilled to F/T with no problems. Even the jungle carpet who would only eat live white mice at night for the gal who had her before ate F/T any color mice in the day for me 2 days after I had her. And the little 2 month old Dumerils gal eats like a beast on F/T hopper mice. I might just be lucky or be the "snake whisperer" lol but I wouldn't worry about boas.

As for rat pinks, those are going to be too small for her. I wouldn't do anything smaller than a hopper mouse. Try one and see what the lump looks like. As mentioned, it should be noticeable but not glaringly noticeable if that makes sense. You want to know it ate a meal but not look like it ate a football and needs to be rolled like a wheel into its hide lol.

And the reason I say I don't like rat pinks or fuzzies is because to me, they just seem like a milk bag lol. They aren't going to be as developed with bones and organs as a hopper or small adult mouse. I see as the same reason you don't feed guinea pigs to boas since they have a lot of fat but they are fine for pythons.

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You have better luck with ball pythons than me. I have several that are the pickiest butt heads in the world and none of my ball pythons will eat frozen thawed. Which is just so frustrating 😒 but anyway, I get the not developed enough argument. That makes a lot of sense actually, I'll try her on the hoppers I feed my cornsnakes and see where to go from there.

The only garbage disposal of a snake I have is my green anaconda, but she's on a self induced fast right now which is weird for her. But normally she just destroys food no matter what it is.

My only other boa experience was one I babysat for a while that was a picky little thing. She would only eat live, no matter what her owner or I did.

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Sauzo - the size of the pinks depends on the source. All of my rat pinks are in the 7-11 gram range, and are bigger in size than my hopper mice. Day old pinks are apparently the size of fuzzies or small hoppers though I've never gotten such a tiny rat pink.

Ditto on nutritional content. Pinkies are virtually useless for boids imo.


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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

Sauzo - the size of the pinks depends on the source. All of my rat pinks are in the 7-11 gram range, and are bigger in size than my hopper mice. Day old pinks are apparently the size of fuzzies or small hoppers though I've never gotten such a tiny rat pink.

Ditto on nutritional content. Pinkies are virtually useless for boids imo.


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The rat pinks I have are quite large, but I'll try the mouse hoppers first and see how that goes.

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Originally Posted by Artemisace

You have better luck with ball pythons than me. I have several that are the pickiest butt heads in the world and none of my ball pythons will eat frozen thawed. Which is just so frustrating 😒 but anyway, I get the not developed enough argument. That makes a lot of sense actually, I'll try her on the hoppers I feed my cornsnakes and see where to go from there.

The only garbage disposal of a snake I have is my green anaconda, but she's on a self induced fast right now which is weird for her. But normally she just destroys food no matter what it is.

My only other boa experience was one I babysat for a while that was a picky little thing. She would only eat live, no matter what her owner or I did.

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Dang, that's just bad luck all around lol. I am jealous though of that Anaconda but I just cant bring myself to get something that will end up so big. Same goes with retics. Love both of them but in the end, those both will be more snakes than I can "tote" around if needed.

Maybe the boa you babysat for wasn't comfortable? Pretty much all of my girls just destroy food anytime. The only exception is the BP who will usually go off food from Oct/Nov until about Mar/Apr, then she goes gung ho again and eats everything.

@Cloud- Yeah I've noticed that from place to place. The shop by my house has hoppers which are pretty darn small where as the normal place I go has pretty meaty hoppers.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Dang, that's just bad luck all around lol. I am jealous though of that Anaconda but I just cant bring myself to get something that will end up so big. Same goes with retics. Love both of them but in the end, those both will be more snakes than I can "tote" around if needed.

Maybe the boa you babysat for wasn't comfortable? Pretty much all of my girls just destroy food anytime. The only exception is the BP who will usually go off food from Oct/Nov until about Mar/Apr, then she goes gung ho again and eats everything.

@Cloud- Yeah I've noticed that from place to place. The shop by my house has hoppers which are pretty darn small where as the normal place I go has pretty meaty hoppers.

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I used to have a lot more giant snakes, but unfortunate circumstances changed that. That is a very good possibility that she was uncomfortable, the set up they had given me wasn't the best. I do miss my giants and plan to get more at a much later date, but they are black holes for food. It just disappears lol 😂 checked on her tonight and she's looking good with where she's at with digestion lol. I'm glad I have my frozen mice because the hoppers at the shop I get my feeders from are tiny 😒 but they do very small mice so I guess I'd be okay

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Well if you plan on purchasing food from them regularly, I would just eyeball the thickness of your boa and then when you go down to buy a mouse, ask to a small adult. Then just gauge whether that would be better than the hopper. The place I go, ive been going for years so I know all their sizes pretty much by heart lol. just remember, you want a slight lump but not a football :P And yeah that's my whole reason for not getting a giant like a retic or anaconda. If something happens, it will be much easier to work with my dumerils, bp, carpet, boas and bearded dragon vs a 10' retic or anaconda lol.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Well if you plan on purchasing food from them regularly, I would just eyeball the thickness of your boa and then when you go down to buy a mouse, ask to a small adult. Then just gauge whether that would be better than the hopper. The place I go, ive been going for years so I know all their sizes pretty much by heart lol. just remember, you want a slight lump but not a football :P And yeah that's my whole reason for not getting a giant like a retic or anaconda. If something happens, it will be much easier to work with my dumerils, bp, carpet, boas and bearded dragon vs a 10' retic or anaconda lol.

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I had an 11' tiger retic that pinned my arm one time when I was handling him. It wasn't a malicious thing, he was just holding on so he didn't fall. That was really the moment I realized how powerful he truly was, you can always kinda guess but when you get a demonstration like that it kinda puts the whole thing into perspective. The really crazy thing is that I know the anaconda will be far more powerful when she's that size and will be more than double the weight. One of the reasons I got into boas was because I wanted to get back in the "larger" snakes and boas aren't what I would consider giants by any means. I've also had the chance to play with a couple of larger boas and just fell in love with them so there's that too lol :P Yeah the shop I go to I have been going to ever since I started keeping snakes, actually got my first ball python from them, they just don't get very many mouse hoppers very often and they sell out of the big ones quick. So as long as she takes frozen thawed I'll be okay because I get those from rodentpro.com in bulk.

New pics from yesterday afternoon of my little girl climbing a tree 😊
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She ate an FT mouse hopper for today so happy days on that 😊

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She is gorgeous. I can't wait to get another boa. I love ball pythons and am really happy to be able to in a situation where I can keep them again but to be honest, I really got this new one just to get the g/f used to snakes. She had never touched a snake before and has always been deathly afraid of them. Now she is doing a lot better. There is def another boa in my future!! She fell in love with the ball and we have watched enough youtube vids about boas that she is totally warming up to the idea of getting one now. I couldn't be happier that the love of my life is warming up to something that has been such a passion of mine since I was a kid. Life is good! That's a good looking girl you have there!

Break your g/f in on a carpet python!! If she can handle a feisty jungle carpet, she can handle anything!! With that said, I love Ally's spitfire attitude although she is starting to lose it since she is getting used to me now and really only seems to get excited over mice now :(

Carpets are interesting I used to have one. They can definitely be bittey little weirdos. I've really come to love boas nice size to them and mostly super tame. I'd agree with getting her used to a carpet but I've had much more luck getting people used to handling tame snakes and showing them aggressive ones and letting them decide if they want to hold the bittey ones

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