time to get one

[delsol1983]

well i ventured into my local petco yesterday and held a baby bcc. well i decided it was time to get one. i am going thursday to get a 20 gal long. i have an extra uth and some extra astroturf. what else should i get for him. i know i need a water dish. i am going to do two hides. do these snakes need a uvb light or is a regular floresent ok. i curently have a frilled dragon and a 2 foot ball python. i know the bp and the bci are going to be completely different to take care of.

first off, congratulations!!! Boas are great

i said "boas" becasue you wrote bcc at first, then at the end, wrote bci

im gunna guess its a bci, since they get smaller, are cheaper, and you havent had too much experience with big snakes, by the way you said whatyou have, i culd be wrong

but, bci's are normally what are in stores


congratulations again, and post pics, and um.....


they dont need uvb, and...well, heres a great care sheet (and forums at this site too, for rtb owners)

http://www.redtailboas.com/general_c...eral_care.html (<<Care sheet)

http://www.redtailboas.com/ (<<site, ask questions, not as friendly as here, but a lot more bci owners)

[delsol1983]

i know i said two different things but at pet co they had a bcc but i want to get a bci for size resons like you said. the girl i talked to there said that ared tails are the same and they get the same lenth. i tried to tell her the differece between the bcc and the bci but she wouldnt listen because she had one ond she knew what she was taking about. how big on average does a bcc get and a bci. it is probly on here some where so you can just give me a link. she also told me her bcc was going to get around 9 feet full grown.

bcc= female- 10- 12

male - about 9 feet, but sometime bigger


bci = female- around 9 feet, maybe more

male - 6-8 feet, normally more around the 6 ft range


http://www.mccarthyboas.com/FemaleSu...02_12_2003.jpg that picture is of a BCC, you can tell by the brighter tail, and the saddles (darker part on back) go like

} { } { } { } { } (only way i can put it on a computer, but its basically liek that)


Some of them may be smalle peaks and pointier, and others rounded


and a bci looks like

http://www.mccarthyboas.com/BigMamaTom11200204.JPG you can see the saddles are rounded like


) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (

again, not the best, but only way to show it on a computer.


their colors are a little darker than a bcc

and in most pet stores, they normally sell bci's, and bcc's are normally more expensive

you could look at the snake in the store you want and try to match it to what i said

hope it helped

bye

and

oh, and i forgot to mention


a lot of times, petco isnt the best palce to buy a herp, as with any big commercial pet stores

try to find a smaller reptile store, they normally take better care

or you could try to find a breeder near you

and of course you could go to redtailboas.com and buy one from Clay, they have guarentees and everything

[steelsack]

she also told me her bcc was going to get around 9 feet full grown.

Hehe, if she really does have a bcc then she's probably going to be in for a surprise! If it's a male then it just may stay that small with careful feeding schedules, but if it's a female than she's most likely off on her guess by a good few feet.........
bci's definitely max out smaller than bcc's, with the males of both species usually ending up smaller than the female.
I've noticed and have asked a lot of other people about this and you'll most likely find your bci doesn't hide much. They're pretty bold, not at all shy for the most part. So far my bci has been in his hide only once.....and even then only halfway. Don't feel that you need to crowd him with too many.......a warm and a cool will do. I almost gaurantee they'll stay pretty empty :wink:
I also used to use astroturf, but have found the wonders of cypress mulch. This stuff is great, cheap, holds humidity really well, repells insects, and doesn't mold easily. Since switching I have ditched my humidifier and mist it maybe once a week. Of course it is summer and the bulbs are running at half throttle, but the difference from using the turf was instant and quite satisfying. Can't feed on it, tho.....
Sorry to ramble, but that mulch sure is fine! 8)

[delsol1983]

thanks for all the info guys i really love this site becuase of all the info everyone gives