going to get my first boa!!!!

ok, after doing ALOT of research i have decided to go with the columbian red tail... most likley its just going to be a normal. the person i buy all my snakes from (2 blocks from my house) is going to get me a juvy male. he is going to keep him till i can get my cage set up and get all temps and humidity to where it needs to be. If anbody wants to share care tips and/or tricks please feel free i will glady take any and all advice since this is going to be my first real experience keeping a boa. thank you

Nice. One tip, if you got the time, go with a PVC cage. It will save you lots of headaches trying to mess with temps and humidity. Also no matter what you go with, you NEED a thermostat to regulate any heat source you use. Also avoid dial temp gauges as they are usually very inaccurate. Go with a digital one. Also offer the same kind of hides for cool and warm side so the snake doesn't have to choose between security vs warmth. And avoid lightbulbs for heat, they kill humidity. If you have to use some form of top heat, go with a CHE and make sure the snake cant get near it.

And when you feed, make sure the prey is no thicker than the thickest part of the snake and if the snake is over a year old and under 2 years old, go for once every 2 weeks on the feeding. Boas are easy to overfeed as they always want food.

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Thank you for all the info..... This is my set up that I have for my ball python and will be the same set up for the boa I have a ap- t8 with a 80watt rhp hooked into a ve-200 I use a acurite thermometer with humidity and probe I use aspen bedding their will be 2 hides one on each end and climbing sticks with those green vines all over lol.... Hope this kinda gives you a clue of what I'm going to do I am a animal lover I don't mind putting money in my snakes habitat to ensure they live a long and happy life I am also in the process of breeding my own feeders so I know what I'm giving my snakes (quality) I currently have 1 male and 2 females I just got it all set up yesterday so I should be getting some baby's before I even know it..... Thank you once again for all the advice and if their is anything that might throw a red flag up please feel free to let me know

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Nice. Lot more decorative than mine lol. I keep mine easy to clean as I just throw everything out every 30 days and spot clean daily especially the retic who is a pee and poo machine.
These are the 3 for my boas and retic. The other gals will be getting there's in a few months.https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7da412_z_d.jpg
These are T10s btw. Will probably order T25s end of next year depending the boas and retic actually need them.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Nice. Lot more decorative than mine lol. I keep mine easy to clean as I just throw everything out every 30 days and spot clean daily especially the retic who is a pee and poo machine.
These are the 3 for my boas and retic. The other gals will be getting there's in a few months.https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7da412_z_d.jpg
These are T10s btw. Will probably order T25s end of next year depending the boas and retic actually need them.

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awesome..... i wish i could have more snakes but all in good time. right now im just tring to get this mice breeding under control hopefully before i get my new red tail

Thanks and eww I hate rats and mice lol. I'm lucky in that all my gals and guy eat F/T. I just buy them every couple weeks. I really just need to get me my little chest freezer and then stock up on about 6 months worth from Layne Labs. Good luck with the breeding.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Thanks and eww I hate rats and mice lol. I'm lucky in that all my gals and guy eat F/T. I just buy them every couple weeks. I really just need to get me my little chest freezer and then stock up on about 6 months worth from Layne Labs. Good luck with the breeding.

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Not to get off subject, but that's what I did. I bought a 3.5 cubic foot chest freezer, I ordered a ton of stuff extra, then I'm selling it and splitting shipping with the rest. I have enough hopper mice to last me a few months.

If you want to talk about breeding mice you should start a new thread about it, that's a whole can of worms you are opening up.

I breed tons of mice, one thing you have to realize is that if you go to the pet store and throw a bunch of random mice together they will tear each other up. I found that out when I went to the pet store to buy some feeders, he opened up the bin and there were a whole bunch of bloody white mice, it was shocking. Whatever you do don't keep more than one male per tank when the males are mature (at about 3-5 weeks old). It's best to get really young mice before they mature and before the testicles are obvious, just after being weaned, and keep them in their own group without adults. Then once they mature pair them up. Sometimes it's difficult to get a pair started without fighting. Once they breed keep all the young in their own group and pair up breeders as they mature.

I started pairing up one male and two females, there's no fighting but not sure how the babies will work with two females. Especially if one has young in the same nest as older babies, may be a nursing issue. Best to put them one male to one female in a separate 5 gallon or 10 gallon tank. Then I put the weaned babies in a 20 gallon feeder tank, when I put the new mice in I pull all the decorations and watch them. There is usually fighting and I'll pull the mean ones and gas them and feed them off, usually they are the mature males that fight. Even if you don't put in new mice the males will start fighting as they mature. s

Rats don't fight as much but some do and can get real mean, feed those off first. Usually with rats there's minor fighting for an hour or so, then they calm down. I found if you throw a young male rat in with a female with babies the female will fight him almost to the death of him. It's best to have one huge male rat with several smaller female rats and pull the moms as they are about to give birth. A rat ready to have babies can get really mean and usually has to be separated into a 10 gallon tank.

In my last batch of mice I moved the mom and dad and babies into a 20 gallon breeder so she could nurse them a bit more, right now I'm getting to the point where the mom is ready to have babies before the young are weaned, probably best to watch real close to separate the young as soon as she has more babies. I also find that white mice produce a lot more babies a lot quicker than fancy mice. It's probably best to find a good source of white feeder mice and use them as breeding stock. Sometimes you can get females that are ready to have babies, then you don't even need a male to start.

I used to think I hated mice and rats, that's only because it brings up thoughts of dead foul smelling rodents. Rats and mice are actually pretty cute and friendly once you get into them, the hard part is feeding them off, I can see some people getting really attached to them. It's best to have all white mice and rats so you don't get attached to any one particular rat or mouse. Personally I'd rather gas my own rodents and feed them fresh and fuzzy vs. feeding off a nasty freezer burned rodent that I have to soak in hot water. Just my preference...

That's an extreme view on frozen rodents to be honest ... I've only ever seen one freezer-burned rat in all my years and it was in the reptile shop's freezer. ....even then the guy who found it had been digging around near under all the stock and just unearthed it . He just chucked it straight in the bin and didn't even mention it .
For what it's worth I'm in the camp of the two guys above and have only ever fed DF rodents . 100% take up every time including the five Royals / Balls unless someone is in shed mode .

I accept that the are two sides to every story though and I respect your reasoning ...

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Nice caging O/P and Sauzo. Looking good.

what is the "normal" growth rate of a columbian bi. i know most of it depends on feeding (which i will need some advice on) like what % of the animal weight do i use to find the appropriate size food. but anyways the reason i am curious about the growth rate is i want to eventually when it is bigger, i want to get it a enclosure that is to my liking most likely 6'x2'x2' i want something big so he has all the room he will ever want or need something it can roam around in and climb in i know that much room is probably not needed but i feel that the more room the better... thank you

Boas grow slow. For example my big girl is about 4 years old and she is about 6.5'. I've had about 3.5 years and got her at about 18". My sunglow is about 2.5 years old and almost 5'. I've had her a little over 2 years and when I got her, she was about 2'.

As for feeding, I feed anything up to 1 year old once a week. 1-3 years old every 2 weeks. 3+ years, depending on the snake and if its male or female, anywhere from 2-4 weeks, males being on the 4 week schedule. Some people actually fast them for a few months in the winter. I usually just stretch out their feeding by about a week or feed smaller prey but I feed year round. As for size, you want to make sure its about the same thickness as the thickest part of the snake. A little bigger is fine for BI but you want to keep it close. I never bothered to weigh the food. I just eyeball how thick they are and give them food.

Also some people say start on rats asap. I disagree. I would keep your boa on mice until its large enough for weaned rats and higher. Baby rats are just milkbags imo as they don't have fully developed muscles, organs and are filled with mothers milk which isn't great for boas. Switching boas over to rats from mice is pretty easy for most of them so I wouldn't worry.

Also feed in the cage. Don't fall for the wives tale that they get aggressive when fed in cage. That's BS. If you are worried about a baby eating substrate, just have a piece of newspaper, printer paper or paper plate handy and when you dangle the prey for the snake with tongs, when the snake grabs the prey, just hold it with the tongs and place the plate or paper down on top of the substrate under the snake who is coiled on the prey and then lay em all down on the paper. After the snake eats and crawls off into its hide or wherever, then just take the paper out and you are done.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Boas grow slow. For example my big girl is about 4 years old and she is about 6.5'. I've had about 3.5 years and got her at about 18". My sunglow is about 2.5 years old and almost 5'. I've had her a little over 2 years and when I got her, she was about 2'.

As for feeding, I feed anything up to 1 year old once a week. 1-3 years old every 2 weeks. 3+ years, depending on the snake and if its male or female, anywhere from 2-4 weeks, males being on the 4 week schedule. Some people actually fast them for a few months in the winter. I usually just stretch out their feeding by about a week or feed smaller prey but I feed year round. As for size, you want to make sure its about the same thickness as the thickest part of the snake. A little bigger is fine for BI but you want to keep it close. I never bothered to weigh the food. I just eyeball how thick they are and give them food.

Also some people say start on rats asap. I disagree. I would keep your boa on mice until its large enough for weaned rats and higher. Baby rats are just milkbags imo as they don't have fully developed muscles, organs and are filled with mothers milk which isn't great for boas. Switching boas over to rats from mice is pretty easy for most of them so I wouldn't worry.

Also feed in the cage. Don't fall for the wives tale that they get aggressive when fed in cage. That's BS. If you are worried about a baby eating substrate, just have a piece of newspaper, printer paper or paper plate handy and when you dangle the prey for the snake with tongs, when the snake grabs the prey, just hold it with the tongs and place the plate or paper down on top of the substrate under the snake who is coiled on the prey and then lay em all down on the paper. After the snake eats and crawls off into its hide or wherever, then just take the paper out and you are done.

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wow that answered every question i had... thank you very much

Boa tip number 1: dont over feed (I put that above temp and humidity b/c you already have BP's, the requirements are very similar) Like Sauzo said, they are always hungry but really do not need much food. Problems seem to arise b/c feeding young boas a lot really does accelerate their growth, but in the long term it shortens their life.

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Originally Posted by dkatz4

Boa tip number 1: dont over feed (I put that above temp and humidity b/c you already have BP's, the requirements are very similar) Like Sauzo said, they are always hungry but really do not need much food. Problems seem to arise b/c feeding young boas a lot really does accelerate their growth, but in the long term it shortens their life.

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I will be sure to not over feed I would not want to shorten his life.... Thank you....I figured the temps and humidity would be appox. the same but wasent for sure

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Now where is this boa!!?? Pictures!! I'm bored and if I don't see new pictures, i'm going to just snap random pictures of my snakes doing nothing and just post them lol.

The guy I get my snakes from is is waiting on the snakes to arrive he said he is going to order a couple so I can pick the one I like he owns a small pet store a couple blocks from my house and the only snakes he really gets is bp cuz their is next to nobody around here that wants snakes plus I am waiting on my t8 (should be a couple more weeks before it arrives) and get it all set up.... But I promise that as soon as I get him/her I will post alot of pics.... But I mean if you want to post random picks of your snakes that's cool because I love seeing different snakes and all the different set ups you guys have for them

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oh and just a question but what is a good price for a baby normal columbian bi? would $120 be a good price for one or would that be too high? i dont mind putting money into my animals i really dont but i dont like getting ripped off either. thank you

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Originally Posted by erebus45

oh and just a question but what is a good price for a baby normal columbian bi? would $120 be a good price for one or would that be too high? i dont mind putting money into my animals i really dont but i dont like getting ripped off either. thank you

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Prices vary by location, by you 120 might be a good price by me a normal baby from a breeder usually cost 50-80 depending how clean the pattern is. 120 can usually buy you a hypo in most places, check morph market, fauna or even the big breeder's website to get a better idea.

You will almost always get a better price from a breeder vs a reseller. Like mentioned check out FaunaClassifieds.com and also check out Kingsnake.com. I have never bought anything off Morph Market but last time I looked at boas on it, it was pretty lacking. Lots of BPs though.

Also most breeders don't breed "pure normal" per say. The normal are by products of trying to hit some morph so most "normals" are actually het or dh for something. Pet shop people wont know but a breeder would as it is his snakes. $120 for a pet shop normal is kind of high when compared to what you can get from a breeder but bottom line is if you like the snake, then I wouldn't worry too much about it being $120.

Well as I am still currently waiting on my t8 and my boa.... I have been doing alot of research (everyday more and more research). Ok I know a boa can be over fed easily but Im hearing ppl say don't feed them till after they poop is that really ok? Or is their a better way of going about it? Thank you

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I don't go by the poop method as each snake poops differently. My guideline is anything up to 1 year old, I feed once a week. Then from 1-3 years, every 2 weeks. After 3 years old, if its a male, then once a 3-4 weeks. If its a female, once every 2-3 weeks. But those are guidelines. You also play it by sight. If your boa is starting to look chunky, back off the food. If its constantly hunting for food, then maybe feed it a bigger meal.

Also some people will quit feeding them in the winter to mimic the wild. That works fine too but me personally I just feed them the same but might extend out the feeding a little in the winter but generally the same.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

I don't go by the poop method as each snake poops differently. My guideline is anything up to 1 year old, I feed once a week. Then from 1-3 years, every 2 weeks. After 3 years old, if its a male, then once a 3-4 weeks. If its a female, once every 2-3 weeks. But those are guidelines. You also play it by sight. If your boa is starting to look chunky, back off the food. If its constantly hunting for food, then maybe feed it a bigger meal.

Also some people will quit feeding them in the winter to mimic the wild. That works fine too but me personally I just feed them the same but might extend out the feeding a little in the winter but generally the same.

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ok thank you I will do exactly that and as for the winter time feedings I don't think I would feel right not feeding him through the winter time so I might just expand his feedings too. now with the size off food....correct me if Im wrong but I want to look for something that is the same size as the widest part of him, right? trying to make sure iv got this down pat cuz I don't want to over/under feed him/her. I want to make sure that it has proper care ...... hot spot 90 warm side 85 cool side 75? humidity 50-70% 75% in shed? like I said iv don't countless hours of research from all different kinds of sites/videos so hopefully it wasn't all for nothing...thank you

Hey, I just saw this boa thread and also noticed on Rodent Pro dot com that they had a warning about feeding boas retired breeder rats, apparently they can't digest all the fat? Never heard of that and was surprised to see it on a rodent site.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Hey, I just saw this boa thread and also noticed on Rodent Pro dot com that they had a warning about feeding boas retired breeder rats, apparently they can't digest all the fat? Never heard of that and was surprised to see it on a rodent site.

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Thats good to know eventually I will be breeding rats once my snakes need that size lol hopefully a couple years from now lol

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Originally Posted by erebus45

ok thank you I will do exactly that and as for the winter time feedings I don't think I would feel right not feeding him through the winter time so I might just expand his feedings too. now with the size off food....correct me if Im wrong but I want to look for something that is the same size as the widest part of him, right? trying to make sure iv got this down pat cuz I don't want to over/under feed him/her. I want to make sure that it has proper care ...... hot spot 90 warm side 85 cool side 75? humidity 50-70% 75% in shed? like I said iv don't countless hours of research from all different kinds of sites/videos so hopefully it wasn't all for nothing...thank you

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Pretty close. You are correct on the feeding part, you want food about as thick as their thickest part.

Hot spot is good. Warm side is good. Cool side I would try and bump up a little. I prefer to keep cool side around 78-80F. Humidity I would bump up. I try and keep their humidity between 60-70% and for sheds I don't raise anything. They all have perfect shed in that 60-70% range.

Also if your boa is under a year or 2, I wouldn't quit feeding in winter. Some people do it for adults but like I said, I usually just slow their food but I don't quit feeding.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Hey, I just saw this boa thread and also noticed on Rodent Pro dot com that they had a warning about feeding boas retired breeder rats, apparently they can't digest all the fat? Never heard of that and was surprised to see it on a rodent site.

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Surprised they said that. Its true and pretty known. Pretty much any "jumbo" sold is a retired breeder be it mice or rats. Also avoid feeding boas guinea pigs as they are very fatty. They are fine for pythons but not boas. Rabbits are good for boas as they are lean meat and lower in fat content. Plus they are dense so a little goes a long way with them.

first off, i just want to thank everybody for the great advice it is all VERY helpful. one a side/unhappy note thanks to the holidays coming up it will be even longer before i get my baby bci:mad:.........the suppliers of my local pet store will not be shipping anything till the end of the month i wish their was more breeders around me (i don't really like the thought of buying a animal online i haven't even got to see or hold) i don't know maybe its a good thing im having to wait longer i know my t8 is due to arrive tomorrow i have everything i need to set it up so hopefully this weekend ill be able to start getting it all warmed up to where it needs to be...anyways just thought i would share my frustration lol... thank you all once again for all the advice