Boa morph, temporment, and size questions

[queenelvis82]

Hello all,
I am thinking about getting a Boa and I have a few questions about morphs.
Pretty sure I want a BCC, but am not sure if the morphs like arabesque, sunglow, anytheristics, motley, etc.... fall into this category or the BCI category.
People online have been saying that BCI Boas are a bit more aggressive than BCC. Is this true?
Finally, I live alone and was wondering if a 7-10 foot snake would be safe for one person to handle. I heard mixed opinions on this. Some people said that if some freak accident happened and the animal turns on me, I would be in big trouble. However, others said that is not true.
The main morph I am looking into is a Suriname BCC. Would this be a good choice for my first Boa? I have a python now that I've been taking care of for a year and a half, so I have some experience.
If anybody could help me out, I would appreciate it.
Thank you.

[enoreg]

I think if you are unsure you should not own a big snake. Boas are very safe if you know what you are doing and you handle them often. Don't let horror stories or public fear of snakes cloud your attitude towards boas. I suggest you find a place to test handle some boas. See what is comfortable for you. Adopting an older snake can be a good start since some of the socializing is already done. There are a lot of people with more than one boa in a home including single people.

Hope this helps.

[KitaCat]

As far as I know, BCC's do not have any morphs. All morph boa constructors are BCI's.
I have two BCC's, and they're by FAR the calmest snakes I own. They will let us scratch the top of their head and not even flinch. I'm not saying any BCC will necessarily be this calm, but I expect these snakes to be extremely docile adults.

[bcr229]

BCC typically come in localities - Surinam, Guyana, etc.
BCI come in morphs as mentioned above, though there are some smaller-size localities such as Sonoran and Tarahumara.

Typically the larger the snake the more chill it is, though obviously some individuals will be exceptions. The BCC in particular I've handled are very mellow, but they do get big and strong! And my three Tarahumara BCI's were hissy little things for the first 18 months of their lives.

[artgecko]

I would suggest seeing a full grown adult (particularly female) before deciding. I believe most people suggest having a second person with snakes over 8ft long and BCCs can exceed that more frequently than BCI.

For my first boa i went with a male south Brazilian BCA... They look very similar to a BCC, but don't get as large, and males stay leaner, so not as heavy. My BCA is the calmest snake I own and looks fantastic.

If the largest snake you have now is a BP, I would say go for a male BCI or BCA... They typically will get to about 6' and 15lbs (some can be heavier or longer). If you end up feeling comfortable with that snake, then go for a BCC. BCCs tend to be more expensive than BCI (except high end morphs) and they can be more finicky on husbandry and feeding issues.

This is the breeder I got mine from. These pics are actually his parents and the litter he was in. I can tell you that I have no regrets about adding a BCA to my collection and that mine has turned out to have a great personality and great looks / color too. This breeder is raising up stock to breed from, so he likely won't have BCAs available for another 2 years or so, but I believe he has a litter of jungles / sunglows now.

[Sauzo]

BCC really only come in morphs if they are crossbred to a BCI morph.

As for temperament, every snake will be different. Both my BCI are tame as puppies and I can reach in straight for their head and pet them and they are fine. It really just depends on how often you handle the snake and just its genetic disposition. I handle Rosey who is my 6' BCI girl by myself all the time and like I said, she is a puppy dog. About the most aggressive thing she does is when she doesn't want to go back in her cage, she will wrap my arm ad hold on while trying to double back out of the cage door and go on top of the cage or back up my arm to my shoulder. Of course feeding is a different deal and you should always take care then even if your snake is puppy dog tame.

A Suriname is not a morph, its a local like Peruvian and Guyana. There are subspecies within each one too like Iquitos and Pucallpa and stuff. But like mentioned, most people that buy BCC buy them for local and want a pure blood snake, not crossed. BCIs is where your morphs will mostly come from.

As for a first boa, BCC or BCI are fine, just BCC are more finicky I guess you can say as far as feeding mostly. While a BCI will eat pretty much anything, anytime, anywhere and can eat larger prey without much of a problem, a BCC will be more prone to regurgitate if a meal is too big which can pose problems since regurgitating in any snake is not a good thing and very hard on them. I would definitely read up on BCC and find a good breeder to ask questions. Mostly you need to get their husbandry more spot on that a BCI. With that said, I love both my BCI girls and they come out usually every other day and ride on me as I do stuff around the house or just relax and watch tv or work on the computer.

As for BCC breeders, you can try Ash Lopez at Black Forest Constrictors, Weird_Science01 aka Star Shaffer on Redtailboas.com, McCarthy Boas or Gottabsleeved aka Skip Frye over at Reptile Insider.com. Those are the ones I would personally.

[Gio]

I would suggest reading this recent/similar thread.

BCC = locality. BCI = locality and morphs.


Read up on past threads a bit.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ecommendations

[JoshSloane]

Look at the quoted thread above. BCI and BCC are the same in temperament. 'Most' boas, both BCI and BCC that I have seen are puppy dog tame. There are always the occasional temperamental individual animals, but 'usually' that is the result of an error on the keeper's fault. With good and constant handling, spot on husbandry, vast majority of boas will be very tame and easy to handle. It is always advisable to seek out an adult boa to make sure you want something that big in your life. However, boas have a growth rate that is glacial compared to the larger reticulated and Burmese pythons, so you do have the opportunity to almost grow with the animal and get used to it. Again, do your research. An adult full size boa is a powerful animal and not much fun to deal with if you aren't properly caring for it.

[Zincubus]

This is my 7'+ , male Snow Boa .. Very , very strong but thankfully very calm / friendly / docile so I manage him easily on my own .
Sorry don't know if he's a BCI or whatever .. He's a Kahl if that helps .

[JoshSloane]

This is my 7'+ , male Snow Boa .. Very , very strong but thankfully very calm / friendly / docile so I manage him easily on my own .
Sorry don't know if he's a BCI or whatever .. He's a Kahl if that helps .

Hes a BCI. Its pretty rare for people to cross BCC with BCI. Its infinitely rare to have a boa with BCC blood that is a homozygous recessive trait like albino. You would have to insert the recessive gene into the BCC population and then likely back breed to produce a morph. Im not sure if I have ever heard of this happening. BCC breeders are pretty obsessed with maintaining locality genetic lines.