I know it's a mortal sin...

No pics, sorry. I just got a new red tailed boa, not quite sure what it would be classified as. I was told it's a colombian boa constrictor, its tail is more brownish than red.

Not sure on the gender, I looked at the sexing up some snakes video on snakebytes but I don't have anything for comparison.

The guy I got it from didn't seem to take great care of it, but it was healthy upon inspection only skinny. It is somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 feet, I don't want to bother it any more than I have to while I am setting up it's new terrarium. It has a lot of loose skin, any suggestions on a feeding program to get it up to size in a healthy way?

Most likley a BCI. A feeding program? A weekly meal of a single rat around the same size as the animals girth at the widest part of the body, just big enough to make a small bump. Give the animal at least a week with out handling before attempting to feed. You don't want to feed too much or too big or you may have the meal returned to sender :weirdface not good

Congrats on the Bci!!!! :D
However, no pictures :weirdface Evil man!! ;)
So, you'll want to make sure the temps are a bit lower than what you'd keep for a ball python but the humidity is pretty much the same.
As for feeding (and as was mentioned) once a week is fine. Bci's don't grow as fast as ball pythons and they are not circular in body shape like balls are. I have two yearlings (600g+) and they are taking f/t weanling rats. I have a 4 month old who is taking f/t rat pups.
I think you'll be able to tell if the snake is still hungry!! Bci's have terrific feeding responses!!! Since you believe yours to be underweight, start with a smaller sized prey for a couple of weeks and work up to what you think it ought to be having.
Since it might not have had the greatest of care with its previous owner, I would recommend a vet check with a fecal float (when the snake gives you one!)
I have never left my boas alone after getting them. They are curious creatures and I like to let them get accustomed to me as part of their environment; a long-time breeder suggested this to me with her boa and it worked great.
Of course we are all expecting pictures as soon as you can get them!!!
Congrats again. Boas are great snakes and you'll have a lot of fun with yours! :banana:

If its skin is wrinkled it is probably dehydrated. Give it a good soak and make sure its humidity is correct :)

And gratz on the new snake!

I think its a female, the spurs are barely noticeable, but I'm not really sure still. I have avoided handling as much as I could but still had to take her out of her cage for maintenance type things (putting in new thermometers/hides) and I installed a pretty cool hatch on top of a normal aquarium that now has two panels and locks, I'll have pictures ASAP, I've also had to take her out while I was working on that to avoid inhaling fumes from super-glue.

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Originally Posted by ajeff

Most likley a BCI. A feeding program? A weekly meal of a single rat around the same size as the animals girth at the widest part of the body, just big enough to make a small bump. Give the animal at least a week with out handling before attempting to feed. You don't want to feed too much or too big or you may have the meal returned to sender :weirdface not good

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I actually thought it would be a good idea to give her some smaller food when I first got her, I also wanted to see if she would take frozen/thawed because she was fed live by her previous owner. I had fuzzies that my milk is too small to take and fed her two of those the first day I got her. Surprisingly she took frozen/thawed no problem and she kept it down just fine.

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Originally Posted by starmom

Congrats on the Bci!!!! :D
However, no pictures :weirdface Evil man!! ;)
So, you'll want to make sure the temps are a bit lower than what you'd keep for a ball python but the humidity is pretty much the same.
As for feeding (and as was mentioned) once a week is fine. Bci's don't grow as fast as ball pythons and they are not circular in body shape like balls are. I have two yearlings (600g+) and they are taking f/t weanling rats. I have a 4 month old who is taking f/t rat pups.
I think you'll be able to tell if the snake is still hungry!! Bci's have terrific feeding responses!!! Since you believe yours to be underweight, start with a smaller sized prey for a couple of weeks and work up to what you think it ought to be having.
Since it might not have had the greatest of care with its previous owner, I would recommend a vet check with a fecal float (when the snake gives you one!)
I have never left my boas alone after getting them. They are curious creatures and I like to let them get accustomed to me as part of their environment; a long-time breeder suggested this to me with her boa and it worked great.
Of course we are all expecting pictures as soon as you can get them!!!
Congrats again. Boas are great snakes and you'll have a lot of fun with yours! :banana:

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I looked at the care sheet for BCI on here and I'm keeping the temps in that range, I still need to take her to the vet. I actually went and got some mice from the store, (first time I've ever had to buy anything but pinkies or fuzzies), and in retrospect they're probably too small for her. But it's probably going to be sufficient to keep her stomach satisfied for the next few weeks.

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Originally Posted by LizardofOzz

If its skin is wrinkled it is probably dehydrated. Give it a good soak and make sure its humidity is correct :)

And gratz on the new snake!

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I can't tell if the skin is wrinkled or just loose, I don't want to mess with her much because I feel like she's not re-homing well, she isn't really using her hides, just chilling in the corner. I think I will try to soak her if she still looks wrinkly by the end of the weekend, she has a water dish with sufficient water to soak in, but I know snakes won't soak when they need to.

Thanks for the advice and reassurance

I'm not going to post about my boa either. I can't find my camera cord to upload pictures sooo everyone's gonna have to wait. :]

Gratzi on the new snake though! Make sure she's hydrated real nicely and give her a slightly smaller meal than normal.

How big is she?

I have no luck at sexing ANY snakes yet.. and when I tried my boa I couldn't get the hemipenes.. so I can only hope it's a boy as jimi told me.. :8:

bci's dont really use hides so thats nothing to be concerned about

mine just goes from corner to corner

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Originally Posted by crusher

bci's dont really use hides so thats nothing to be concerned about

mine just goes from corner to corner

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Really?
Mine rests on top of his wooden jungle gym. :]

I don't even think he KNOWS he has aspen.. haha.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say-- about the hides.

Two of my boas don't use the hides at all; I took the hides out. They chill on the climbing structures in their cages and thermoregulate on those height levels. One boa does use her hide, but only one. She also climbs and thermoregulates but also uses her hide from time to time and so I keep it in there.

It might be hard, but you need to remind yourself that these are not ball pythons!! These are curious and interactive snakes (I know, a generalization) and it's really cool when they accept you into their environment :banana:

My boa tosses his hide around the cage and then curls up over his heat pad corner >.<

I took out the hide, but was wondering, maybe he was playing with it? lol now he may get sad and bored :P

Congrats on the new pickup. Generally most Columbians do have brown/orangeish tails despite the name as they get older. Only true redtails keep the bright red coloration (Surinames for example). I would soak him and make sure his humidity is correct, loose skin is often a good indicator of dehydration. As for the feeding program, everyone pretty much covered it. Don't worry about accelerating (large prey/extra feedings) it due to his condition. A stable feeding program will bring him up to size before you know it.

I to got a RTB in june that turned out to be a BCI,and he to was skinny and not taken good care of.about 3 weeks ago I got him this hide and he didnt use it at all for the first 1 1/2 wk. And then he stayed in for from then until tonight.he came out 2 times, and both times I took him out to soak him.when I put him back, he goes straight for it expect for right now. His eyes were blue until last night,so I took him out for a short soak and he didnt go right back in his hide.

here's some pics..........

the hide

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...obucket032.jpg

him

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...-5-08005-1.gif

and his tail

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../7-5-08027.jpg