I'd Appreciate Some Suggestions Please...

As most of you know my middle two children are saving up/getting the grades to get their own personal snakes. Beth has reached her goal and will shortly get her female Albino Nelson's Milksnake then start saving for the male het for albino she'd like to go with it.

Luke, who is 14, has decided he'd like to have as his goal a much bigger snake. He is currently getting exposed to that with having Rauri the BCI here being fostered. Now all things considered, and knowing he won't be solely responsible for this snake at this point...what would be a few options to consider.

He likes the look for Rauri, but most importantly the nice temperment. He likes larger, heavy bodied boas but not something that will get perhaps as big as Rauri at maturity. We'd like something that is financially reasonable (he has to save 1/2 the cost of his snake plus get a decent grade average), as well as a boa that won't get over 6 feet tops (he'd like a male), has a good history of captive breeding so we aren't getting stuck with a WC baby, has care requirements that are something we could handle with our basic experience with the BCI.....

I know sounds like the "perfect boa" I'm looking for LOL. There's just so many options out there and we have lots of time (months) before we'd consider this purchase I'd like to start lining up ideas from experienced boa people and give Luke some options to look at and do research on. I don't want to just wildly google and then have to say no over and over to boa's that aren't really all that appropriate for a 14 year old young man to handle as his first "personal" snake.

He does like our royals but is just crazy over Rauri and really wanting to work hard to have his own boa when he's ready (and we're ready to back him up with it of course).


~~Jo~~

How about a Hogg Island? They tend to stay on the smaller end as I recall. I'm sure if he has help looking after it, it would be a good choice ;)

Hogg Island was my first thought too...or another smaller boa like nicaraguans :) And possibly dumerils boa too.

Many of the island boas stay pretty small (Hogg's for instance). If you check out RioBravoReptiles.com, he has a lot of information about locality boas, their care, and how big they'd get. If you have any questions, Gus would be more than willing to help you out... he knows his boas :)

And, as always, I'd check out Clay's site, redtailboas.com. He has some truly beautiful animals, as well as a full caresheet. I believe he even has some Hogg crosses for sale right now, and new litters will be coming here in a few months.

Jeff Ronne is also a good guy to talk to... he's been breeding boas forever... though I've heard he's been really hard to get ahold of lately. You can check out his website at The Boaphile.

Hope this helps... if you want other sources, I can get you some names of people that have really helped me out through Kinky and, now, Severus. Good luck!

well no personal experience here... but the breeder i dealt with (buying dexter) is really honest and helpful -

http://www.a1pythons.com/index.htm

his name is henry and he's THE one to buy snakes from around here. ;) he'll tell you honestly, from his experience, what he recommends. he's a 'no mess no fuss' kinda guy.

Dumerils get BIG.. males too! Over 7' 20lbs easy!

My hogg island female is 5.5' and can get bigger. I have seen 6' males.

My suggestions are pythons.

Jungle carpets.. babies can be nippy (true with many boids!) but usually tame easy. Beautiful reasonably sized pythons.

Sumatran short tail (black blood python) smaller than red bloods.. still a beefy animal. Gorgeous to boot.

Both of these animals need correct husbandry.. I assume you'd be helping your son care for the animal.

Yep we'll be helping and we have a deal with both Luke and Beth that when college comes or their life changes as they mature, they have the option of leaving their snakes home with me and Mike till they are more settled (like college dorm issues or whatever). We don't want them to ever face a life change in the coming years and worry their beloved snakes won't have a safe home where they will be cared for and, okay, spoiled rotten LOL!

Someone suggested a columbian x hogg island cross but I've never seen one of those.

Thanks for all the great suggestions (keep em coming) and the recommended breeders as we'd like to teach the kids to get their snakes from good sources if at all possible.

Lots of fun in the coming months doing research with Luke while he figures out what snake would be best for him (and we need to move first too LOL).


~~Jo~~

I truly like the looks of the Caulker Cay Boas and would love to get one one day. They are one of the true dwarf boas, and only get up to 5 feet I think (Gus's website says).

But that's me :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Someone suggested a columbian x hogg island cross but I've never seen one of those.

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Why ruin a perfectly good hogg island boa?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Why ruin a perfectly good hogg island boa?

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Lol... you should've seen those crosses. They were Hogg X Salmon, and had some of the prettiest pinks and oranges I've ever seen on a boa.

Tried to get pics, but I guess he sold them.

Anyway, here's pics of a Hogg X Columbian... these aren't my pics, they're a friend of mines. She calls this little girl Mutt. She didn't know she was a cross when she got her a baby, and thought she was pretty ugly. But, as you can see, she's turned out very pretty... ugly duckling to swan sorta thing.

Mutt
Mutt again

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Luke, who is 14, has decided he'd like to have as his goal a much bigger snake. He is currently getting exposed to that with having Rauri the BCI here being fostered. Now all things considered, and knowing he won't be solely responsible for this snake at this point...

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Sounds like an excuse for the parents to get a new pet after Rauri leaves! You slick dogs! :P

I just don't care for boa crosses.. well except for green x yellow anacondas, but that's hardly relevant. :P

Geeeeeeeeeeeesh! shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! My kids read this forum! Beth is a member! They weren't supposed to figure out my evil plan to get more snakes, not have to pay for all of them and encourage the hoodlums to get better grades! Geeze it was my best ever sneaky as heck parenting strategy! LOL

Don't mention Rauri leaving, I'm having empty tank syndrome already! Oh well I have the whole winter to spoil the bigger fella rotten before he goes home to his mom.


~~Jo~~

Oh yes, the Cay Caulkers and the other dwarf species are quite pretty, and stay small, so that's always good.

I recommended the cross as it would be the best of both worlds :) The snake would(hopefully) stay slimmer like a Hog Island, and wouldn't be as long. But would still retain the gorgeous pinks and oranges that both species have.

There are always Mexican Boas. ElevateThis has one and I believe she's a sweetheart, eats everything in sight and is easy to keep. They stay on the smaller side I believe, so that's always a possibility for Luke. I think their price range is comparable to Common boas.

Hope that helped a bit! :)

How about a woma? They get to be in the 6 to 8 foot range (although 8 feet is apparently huge for this species), although more colubrid in body type so not so nearly as strong and big as a BCI. Also, everything I have heard about them says that they are the perfect snake to keep. Even better than BPs in certain respects like alertness and feeding response.

The drawback is that they ain't cheap. The cheapest one I have seen was $400. But maybe you can talk your son into waiting a little longer and mow some more lawns or something.

Rachel

Womas are super awesome.. but $400 (and that's on the real low end) is a lot for a kid to save up.

hi jo her's a site i like if you want to look at alot of pet breeds even snakes.

www.centralpets.com/pages/reptiles/snakes.html

Hey thanks Eugene! That's a very handy resource to quickly look up stuff.


~~Jo~~