Could I handle an adult BCC?

Hey there everyone! It’s been a couple years haha.

Some of y’all know that I am currently the keeper of one snake, a little male bp named Fírnen. He’s in shed right now, but he’s still doing well!

Anyway, recently I’ve been thinking about adding another snake to my household and I was hoping to go for a bigger species this time. I really like everything I’ve heard about red-tailed and common boa constrictors, but I’m leaning more towards BCC because of their pretty tails :) My only concern is that I’m a relatively small human being (around 5’3” and 104 ibs), and I’m not sure how much muscle power it takes to handle a 7.5-10’ long snake.

What do y’all think? Would a BCC be too much for me? Or am I underestimating myself haha.

How good are you at hauling rope that doesn't want to be hauled?

The worst part with a snake that can be longer than you are tall is that of they want to "run" you get to haul rope until you can cage them. I think you can handle it, just need to be prepared.

You may struggle with a 10 footer as the bcc are pretty girthy but there are smaller varieties of bcc that don't get that big and males are nearly always smaller than the females unless seriously over fed
Daski on here has a really nice venuzwalen bcc that one of the smaller locality and are still stunning

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I've always heard the rule of thumb is that you need one person to handle every 6 feet of snake. A large BCC would probably end up putting you over that limit.

If you like the red tail (and who doesn't!) maybe you could find a nicely colored BCI morph. I've seen pastels with pretty vibrant red tails.

Or you could try a Venezuelan dwarf BCC. You get all the color in a small package, and from what I understand a great disposition as well. Probably gonna cost though....

Or you could get the BCC and find a significant other who is into snakes. I 'd like that option best.

There are probably other options I haven't thought of so keep looking and asking

Thanks! All three of those ideas sound good, although honestly I wouldn’t know where to find a pastel BCI or a Venezuelan dwarf BCC. Anyone here have any breeder recommendations?

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Originally Posted by Joci

Thanks! All three of those ideas sound good, although honestly I wouldn’t know where to find a pastel BCI or a Venezuelan dwarf BCC. Anyone here have any breeder recommendations?

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Pastel BCI? Morphmart, just check out the breeder and exercise due caution. It is the internet.

Venezuelan dwarf BCC? I recommend Tommy Carpenter at TC Reptile http://tcreptile.com/ . He has a solid reputation and is easy to deal with. I just received a Hog Island Boa from him. His snakes are in demand so I had to wait, but it was worth it. Frankly, we're talking about an animal that is going to live at least 20 years, what's a few months wait?
dakski here bought one of TC's Ven. dwarf BCCs and he seems thrilled. You might ask him what he thinks.

I have a male Paraguana locality boa, not from Tommy though:
http://tcreptile.com/paraguana-penin...enezuela-boas/

I doubt he'll reach five feet at maturity. He's three and still has plenty of room to grow before he'll need to be upgraded from a 41-qt tub.

The bit about these guys having a stronger food drive than other boas is also true. When he tub is opened he doesn't just have the hopeful expectation of being fed like my other boas do, he will come right out and it's obvious he's hunting.

I second Tommy for locale boas.

I got Feliz, my Venezuelan BCC from him.

A male BI is another way to go.

Behira, my female BCI is getting big, but she’s so calm, I am not worried about it.

If you get a locale boa with a good temperament, or even a BI, and work with them and DO NOT overfeed I think you should be ok.

However. Find someone with an adult Boa you can see and hold. I held a 17 pound female BCI when Behira was 700g and it was eye opening.

Feel free to ask questions or PM me.

There are a a few points I'd like to make here and I'll start with one that I feel you are the most concerned about, size. The size question often comes up in discussions when somebody is debating on whether or not to acquire a boa constrictor.

For reasons unknown, a lot of folks think all BCC/BC "get huge". It's simply not true, and most stay at average sizes even with continual, lifetime growth. Can they get big? Well, the answer is yes but these really big boas are exceptions to the rule. There are very tall people that walk the earth, however if you looked at the percentage of 7 foot tall folks VS. what is generally viewed as "average", the numbers favor "average" by quite a margin. Tall people are the exception to the rule.

I feel an 8 foot boa is a good sized animal, male or female and I'd consider 8-9 feet of BC a big boa. If you are able to find a copy of THE COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR by Vincent Russo, you can read about his thoughts on the size of most boa constrictors.

There are 3 members here, one being a friend of mine that rarely posts, that have locality BC. They have the Pokigron, Suriname locality, which came from Rio Bravo lines. Gus Rentfro imported them to the US years ago and kept the line pure. Pokigron Suris tend to stay on the smaller side and I believe my friend has an adult female that is 7 feet long. His male is slightly smaller, which leads me to the next point.

Sexual size dimorphism does exist and females are typically larger. That said I was told by Mr. Rentfro that there is no reason a male BC can't reach the size of a female. Much of his reasoning related to breeding and how breeder males are kept.

I have a fairly large male BCI/BI. He isn't over fed, as a matter of fact he doesn't eat over the winter, but he is fed well during the summer months. He's 7 feet long which some people would consider large for a male. He is a locality, Colombian BI from Barranquilla, another Gus Rentfro creation.

Why is he maybe bigger than average or what is said to be average for a male? He's a pet that isn't used for breeding, he doesn't experience the pheromonal cues a female boa would give off and change his behavior (no female boas here) and he isn't intentionally kept smaller for breeding.

I feed him normally and because he's in captivity without the obstacles he'd have to deal with in the wild, he simply grew. What I'm getting at here is that a male boa can often be very similar in size to a female.

Your question; "Could I handle?" The answer is entirely up to you and that's where planning comes into play. You seem to want a larger animal. Generally boas are a great step up. They are actually the perfect pet snake in my opinion.

If you are a mature, healthy person you shouldn't have issues handling a boa. You will grow to know the animal's behavior as well.

There are many good suggestions above from others that you can look into. I'm sure you will find something you like in the boa world.

My full grown, adult, male looks like this.
https://i.imgur.com/53NhQUS.jpg

He's thick but very easy to handle.
https://i.imgur.com/264GOTZ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WRA5Txk.jpg.

I hope some others post photos of their adult animals.

Good luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gio

There are a a few points I'd like to make here and I'll start with one that I feel you are the most concerned about, size. The size question often comes up in discussions when somebody is debating on whether or not to acquire a boa constrictor.

For reasons unknown, a lot of folks think all BCC/BC "get huge". It's simply not true, and most stay at average sizes even with continual, lifetime growth. Can they get big? Well, the answer is yes but these really big boas are exceptions to the rule. There are very tall people that walk the earth, however if you looked at the percentage of 7 foot tall folks VS. what is generally viewed as "average", the numbers favor "average" by quite a margin. Tall people are the exception to the rule.

I feel an 8 foot boa is a good sized animal, male or female and I'd consider 8-9 feet of BC a big boa. If you are able to find a copy of THE COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR by Vincent Russo, you can read about his thoughts on the size of most boa constrictors.

There are 3 members here, one being a friend of mine that rarely posts, that have locality BC. They have the Pokigron, Suriname locality, which came from Rio Bravo lines. Gus Rentfro imported them to the US years ago and kept the line pure. Pokigron Suris tend to stay on the smaller side and I believe my friend has an adult female that is 7 feet long. His male is slightly smaller, which leads me to the next point.

Sexual size dimorphism does exist and females are typically larger. That said I was told by Mr. Rentfro that there is no reason a male BC can't reach the size of a female. Much of his reasoning related to breeding and how breeder males are kept.

I have a fairly large male BCI/BI. He isn't over fed, as a matter of fact he doesn't eat over the winter, but he is fed well during the summer months. He's 7 feet long which some people would consider large for a male. He is a locality, Colombian BI from Barranquilla, another Gus Rentfro creation.

Why is he maybe bigger than average or what is said to be average for a male? He's a pet that isn't used for breeding, he doesn't experience the pheromonal cues a female boa would give off and change his behavior (no female boas here) and he isn't intentionally kept smaller for breeding.

I feed him normally and because he's in captivity without the obstacles he'd have to deal with in the wild, he simply grew. What I'm getting at here is that a male boa can often be very similar in size to a female.

Your question; "Could I handle?" The answer is entirely up to you and that's where planning comes into play. You seem to want a larger animal. Generally boas are a great step up. They are actually the perfect pet snake in my opinion.

If you are a mature, healthy person you shouldn't have issues handling a boa. You will grow to know the animal's behavior as well.

There are many good suggestions above from others that you can look into. I'm sure you will find something you like in the boa world.

Good luck!

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Thanks! What you’re saying here makes it seem like it could be realistic for me to keep a Pokigron Suri male (which is what I was looking for in the first place) without trouble.

I don’t live by myself, so even in the case that the snake grew to be on the larger side, I have people that are willing to help me handle it.

Because of them, it wouldn’t become an issue of “The snake is too big so I can’t take care of it anymore”, but the people I live with aren’t quite as fond of boop noodles as I am and would probably prefer that I didn’t need to ask for their help, so that’s why I made this thread.

From what you’ve told me, it seems like there wouldn’t be a very high chance that he would become extremely big anyway. I’ll continue to do my research and seek out advice around here, adding new animals to my household isn’t a decision I make lightly!

Well, back in the day, I had a female guyana bcc that reached 11ft in my care, and while rather big, I found her to be fairly easy to handle due to her placid nature. I'm not a very tall guy, but dealing with her was more like weight lifting than a wrestling match.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joci

Thanks! What you’re saying here makes it seem like it could be realistic for me to keep a Pokigron Suri male (which is what I was looking for in the first place) without trouble.

I don’t live by myself, so even in the case that the snake grew to be on the larger side, I have people that are willing to help me handle it.

Because of them, it wouldn’t become an issue of “The snake is too big so I can’t take care of it anymore”, but the people I live with aren’t quite as fond of boop noodles as I am and would probably prefer that I didn’t need to ask for their help, so that’s why I made this thread.

From what you’ve told me, it seems like there wouldn’t be a very high chance that he would become extremely big anyway. I’ll continue to do my research and seek out advice around here, adding new animals to my household isn’t a decision I make lightly!

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Correct,

If you are mature, responsible, and in good health, you should have no problems with the Pokigron Suri. Even a female, at least from the Rio Bravo lines should stay within the "average" of what is generally expected.

Unless you get a terribly intolerant animal, you should be able to handle it quite easily.

Size in and of itself, unless we're talking GIANT, isn't always the big issue during handling.

I would take 2, 3 or even four more feet of my BC over my 8+ foot SD X Dwarf retic. Even some large colubrids are a chore when it comes to handling.

I usually find that boa constrictors move in a very controlled and deliberate manner. My retic is too busy and my carpet is somewhat sporadic with her movements but still a great handling snake.

If you want bigger, I'd highly recommend a BC.

Bloods are great but similar to what you have. A boa is very different and I think a nice direction to take when looking to step up in size.

I've got a BCC that's 6-7 years old now and only a little over 6 feet and maybe 10 pounds. I'm not much larger than you and went for a male just in case, I prefer smaller for multiple reasons. I don't worry about dealing with him by myself at all but I am cautious when feeding him, boas are not like my short tails at all lol. It's pretty easy to tell his mood and he's very easy to handle.