2 People??

With an average size male boa, would it take 2 people to get him out and handle him. This is about the only thing keeping me from getting a RTB. I can handle the nippyness.

Unless you are unusually small or frail you will be fine.. Thye are a powerful animal though...

It all depends on what you are comfortable with....up to a certain size :)

Personally, anything over 8'.....I would not even attempt to hold an 8'+ snake on my own.

We are fostering a 5.5 foot male columbian boa. He's is girthy, heavy and very strong for his size as I'm sure most of them are. He's also incredibly easy going but as a matter of rule and to set a firm example for our teenagers I don't remove him alone as he is longer than I am tall (short female here LOL). Our only problem with handling him actually is it takes two of us to get him back in his enclosure as he struggles a bit and slithers quickly back out as fast as you can put him in LOL. He also seems a lot more active when out than any of our ball pythons and definitely takes careful watching as he gets into everything. When he wants to though he can be very lazy and will cuddle under a blanket and watch tv with anyone that's willing to have a rather large lap snake LOL.


~~Jo~~

I guess it could be a good habit to do have two people when taking out a full size rtb, but it isn't all that necessary. They are really strong snakes, but are generally not "nippy". Some can be, but that goes with all snakes. I have an albino rosy that thinks he is a rattlesnake or something. He hisses and nips all the time, but after a few minutes he gives up :) . My RTB is extremely nosy, but has not nipped at me yet ;) . As babies they are probably at their nippiest, but not as nippy as most snakes are. I have said a lot of "buts" so I'll stop now, but...

Whats a general growth rate. Whats the poundage on a average adult male too.

General Growth Rate? Not exactly sure; they are born already close, if not, to two feet. They will probably grow at least three feet, some more, in the first year. Although, they will slow down after that. Most are not as big as people say they can get. females 7-9 and males 5-7 feet. a nine foot female will weigh as much as 70-75 lbs--I think :) .

You should have 2 people to help you handle a snake when you know longer feel comfortable doing it alone. This will be different for every person. One thing that should be the same is any time a snake 10' or greater is out it there should always be 2 people present. Any time the enclosure must be opened there should be atleast 1 other adult in the house in hearing distance.

My 5.5' boa I handle/feed/give shots to by myself.

My 7' 4" 21lb female I probably should have someone with me to deal with. I never do anything with her unless someone else is home. Yesterday I took her downstairs soaked her in the tub and gave her a shot by myself.

I've held a 12' burm by myself (but with others around), but I wouldn't recommend you doing anything with an animal of that size with no one else around. A boa won't get that big though..

My decision just got a lot harder now that I found some nicaraguan boas. So I have to decide to either get a columbian male from a nice shop round here or to mail order a nicaraguan.

Nicaraguans are mostly black and no where near as cool looking. They are a lot nippier and harder to tame than Columbians. I got bit on the friggin ear lobe by one of them! PmeOff bad. Myself I'd go with the Columbian, but if you want another idea check out the Guyuna Red Tails, they absolutely Rock! or a Surinam, they are cool too. I just bought two Columbian Albino Hets, wanna wait three years for an albino, LOL!

Im thinking of getting a Surinam now instead of a columbian. They're way nicer I think. I saw some stuff though that said very few are CB, they're not as hardy, and juveniles have regurg problems. To me this seems to be contridictory to what I have read before. Or are they more difficult than columbians. Which doesn't make sense, since they're essentialy the same snake cept from different countries. Also do they get bigger than Columbians.

Colombians and suris are NOT the same snake.

A colombian is a BCI (boa constrictor imperator)

A suri/guyanan/pervian etc is a BCC (boa constrictor constrictor)

BCCs are much more beautiful.. more vivid colors (that stay with age) widow's peaks in the pattern are common etc. They can grow larger. I saw a peruvian that had to be 10-12', though this is unusual. Suri females are usually 9' or more sometimes. They are more sensitive to husbandry mistakes.. you need to be extra diligent with temps/humidity. They can take longer to tame (but my baby is already very nice)

As far as regurges go.. this is caused by feeding too big of a food item.. feed smaller than you think!

There are plenty of CBB suris on kingsnake.. expect to pay $250-600.. they aint cheap.

I may stick with a Columbian, they get smaller which helps a lot. Maybe one day I can get that Surinam that I want but for now I'll stick with a columbo.

Colombians can get 8-10' and 30 or more pounds.. this is not a small snake! If you can, find someone who has a big one around you that you can handle.

I forgot if someone mentioned hogg island boas or not.. (too lazy to read this again) hoggies usually stay smaller than colombians and are beautiful (keep more color/unique looking)