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Need a little guidance / new Boa
Hi All,
Just need a little guidance on a spur of the moment Boa I picked up last weekend.
Background:
Craigslist ad "female emperator boa" , Location is like 1 street down from me, I can walk there in minutes.
I figure "emperator" should have been "Imperator" so it would be a BCI?
Was told owner had it since little and it was 2 years old and female. She measures about 3' and weighed in at 562g when I got her home.
Being female it's going to get 7+ feet full grown in 3 or so years?
I was also told she hadn't eaten in 3 weeks and would need fed, she was fed bi-weekly (this is correct feeding schedule?) and had a shed in there in which she refused food that week too.
I had a 75g small rat that I attempted to feed her Sunday night and she took it no issues. So it that size appropriate for a bi-weekly feeding?
She is very gentle, curious and inquisitive in the short time I and my daughter handled her.
I currently have her in a 20L tank, 90* hot side (using a che), thermostat will be delivered today and she will have a uth running then, and 78* cold side, 52% humidity is this correct? or does it need to change?
She was in the cage pictured, I was given it too, I see no way to control temp or humidity. But was going to clean it up good and use it for a "play area" for the boa and my Corn snake to give them a place to explore and climb. Good idea or no?
I currently have 2 exo-terra terrariums one is a 36x18x12, the other is a 36x18x18, either of these appropriate for the Boa? Beginning of the year, funds should be good to buy a Animal Plastics cage, will I be ok with the tanks I currently have until then? or would she out grow those by then?
She does have a "well snake check-up" at Deepwood Veterinary Clinic next Tuesday too. (https://deepwoodveterinaryclinic.com/) they are close to me, and I have taken my snakes there for them to check over, and add to their system so if I ever have an issue with one.
And all the questions I can think of now (Ugh sorry if I'm a pain). On to the pictures.....
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Gocntry For This Useful Post:
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Re: Need a little guidance / new Boa
Originally Posted by Gocntry
Craigslist ad "female emperator boa" , Location is like 1 street down from me, I can walk there in minutes.
I figure "emperator" should have been "Imperator" so it would be a BCI?
Yes
Was told owner had it since little and it was 2 years old and female. She measures about 3' and weighed in at 562g when I got her home.
Being female it's going to get 7+ feet full grown in 3 or so years?
I would expect she'll get to 5-6 feet over the next three years if fed conservatively, and after that she could end up at 6+ feet.
I was also told she hadn't eaten in 3 weeks and would need fed, she was fed bi-weekly (this is correct feeding schedule?) and had a shed in there in which she refused food that week too.
I had a 75g small rat that I attempted to feed her Sunday night and she took it no issues. So it that size appropriate for a bi-weekly feeding?
At her size/age you could give her a medium rat every three weeks.
I currently have her in a 20L tank, 90* hot side (using a che), thermostat will be delivered today and she will have a uth running then, and 78* cold side, 52% humidity is this correct? or does it need to change?
I would move her to the 36"x18"x18" Exo-terra you mentioned as it should last her for at least a year. Temps and humidity sound fine.
She was in the cage pictured, I was given it too, I see no way to control temp or humidity. But was going to clean it up good and use it for a "play area" for the boa and my Corn snake to give them a place to explore and climb. Good idea or no?
I like that idea. It's also good to have somewhere to safely stash a snake temporarily if you need to do deep-cleaning or maintenance on its regular enclosure.
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to bcr229 For This Useful Post:
Bogertophis (07-24-2019),Craiga 01453 (07-24-2019),Gocntry (07-24-2019)
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Re: Need a little guidance / new Boa
Originally Posted by Gocntry
Hi All,
Just need a little guidance on a spur of the moment Boa I picked up last weekend.
Background:
Craigslist ad "female emperator boa" , Location is like 1 street down from me, I can walk there in minutes.
I figure "emperator" should have been "Imperator" so it would be a BCI?
Was told owner had it since little and it was 2 years old and female. She measures about 3' and weighed in at 562g when I got her home.
Being female it's going to get 7+ feet full grown in 3 or so years?
I was also told she hadn't eaten in 3 weeks and would need fed, she was fed bi-weekly (this is correct feeding schedule?) and had a shed in there in which she refused food that week too.
I had a 75g small rat that I attempted to feed her Sunday night and she took it no issues. So it that size appropriate for a bi-weekly feeding?
She is very gentle, curious and inquisitive in the short time I and my daughter handled her.
I currently have her in a 20L tank, 90* hot side (using a che), thermostat will be delivered today and she will have a uth running then, and 78* cold side, 52% humidity is this correct? or does it need to change?
She was in the cage pictured, I was given it too, I see no way to control temp or humidity. But was going to clean it up good and use it for a "play area" for the boa and my Corn snake to give them a place to explore and climb. Good idea or no?
I currently have 2 exo-terra terrariums one is a 36x18x12, the other is a 36x18x18, either of these appropriate for the Boa? Beginning of the year, funds should be good to buy a Animal Plastics cage, will I be ok with the tanks I currently have until then? or would she out grow those by then?
She does have a "well snake check-up" at Deepwood Veterinary Clinic next Tuesday too. ( https://deepwoodveterinaryclinic.com/) they are close to me, and I have taken my snakes there for them to check over, and add to their system so if I ever have an issue with one.
And all the questions I can think of now (Ugh sorry if I'm a pain). On to the pictures.....
She’s beautiful and your enclosure looks amazing, good job. Just be ready if she gets big, you will learn to love all that length for the rest of her life lol. At least she looks like she has ample space.
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Registered User
Actually, they’re switching things up a bit. It just recently came out that the “BCI” isn’t a subspecies of Boa constrictor anymore. It has a 5-7% difference in genetic makeup so that it is being reclassified to just a “Boa Imperator.” So now BCC and BCI should be just BC and BI. Also there’s slight variations in how you should keep them differently. You need a bigger setup for a tank that size and idk if by bi-weekly you mean every two weeks or twice a week. Either way she should be eating a meal the size of the thickest part of her body every 10-14 days depending on if she needs to gain or sustain weight. Also 50% of humidity is too low. BI’s (BCI’s) need right around 75% humidity. BC’s (BCC’s) even more so. Usually around 80-85%. Do you know the origin of your new boa? Because if you are sold an “emperator” imperator, and it turns out to be a constrictor, you may inadvertently be hurting her health and shortening the length of her life span. Good luck with your new girl!
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to SnekNoodle For This Useful Post:
Gocntry (07-27-2019),NewmanLovesSnakes (07-24-2019)
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Re: Need a little guidance / new Boa
Very nice looking boa, definitely an Boa imperata, not a bc, these are very distinctive in apearence, my boas love to climb and use there shelf all the time.
I would only worry around shed time about the humidity. using a decent substrate will help with humidity, I use orchid bark
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Last edited by richardhind1972; 07-24-2019 at 11:12 AM.
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to richardhind1972 For This Useful Post:
Craiga 01453 (07-24-2019),Gocntry (07-24-2019),NewmanLovesSnakes (07-24-2019)
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Re: Need a little guidance / new Boa
Originally Posted by bcr229
At her size/age you could give her a medium rat every three weeks.
Perfect Prey says mediums are 90-150 grams, so the 75g I fed her Should be good for 2 weeks?
Then I'll up her feed size to the bigger ones and feed every 3 weeks.
And Thank You for all the other input, I appreciate that.
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Re: Need a little guidance / new Boa
Originally Posted by NewmanLovesSnakes
She’s beautiful and your enclosure looks amazing, good job. Just be ready if she gets big, you will learn to love all that length for the rest of her life lol. At least she looks like she has ample space.
Thanks,
The enclosure was given to me by the previous owner, It was built by them, but it's made with pegboard, so no way to control temps or humidity.
But I am going to clean it up real good and use it for a play area for all my snakes to play in (one at a time of course).
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The Following User Says Thank You to Gocntry For This Useful Post:
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Re: Need a little guidance / new Boa
Originally Posted by Gocntry
Thanks,
The enclosure was given to me by the previous owner, It was built by them, but it's made with pegboard, so no way to control temps or humidity.
But I am going to clean it up real good and use it for a play area for all my snakes to play in (one at a time of course).
Have you thought about trying to insulate it? I’m sure some duck tape or calk could work. Maybe doing that then adding a thin piece of plywood on the inside so the snake has no access to the chemicals? Just a thought.
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Most likely BI, yes, no longer BCI.
No, if you feed properly, she won't go from her current size to 7'+ in only 3 years. Most of the boas you see online reaching 7' before, say, 5-6 years, are usually power fed. This is unhealthy for them, and cuts their life short. Most likely, you're looking at 6+ years old to see 7', if she ever gets there.
Yes, biweekly is correct at her current size, smalls I do 2-3 weeks. I see no reason to bump her prey size atm, you want the meal to be equal to girth with no scale separation if there's a bump.
Temps are good, I'd bump humidity to 70-80%, no less than 60%.
8.3 Boa imperator ('15 sunglow "Nymeria," '11 normal "Cloud," '16 anery motley "Crona," '10 ghost "Howl," '08 jungle "Dominika," '22 RC pastel hypo jungle "Aleister," '22 pastel normal "Gengar," '22 orangasm hypo "Daemon," '22 poss jungle "Jinzo," '22 poss jungle "Calcifer," '22 motley "Guin")
1.4 Boa imperator; unnamed '22 hbs
3.3 Plains garter snakes
1.2 checkered garter snakes (unnamed)
~RIP~
2.2 Brazilian rainbow boa ('15 Picasso stripe BRBs "Guin" and "Morzan, and '15 hypo "Homura", '14 normal "Sanji")
1.0 garter snake ('13 albino checkered "Draco")
1.0 eastern garter ('13 "Demigod)
0.0.1 ball python ('06 "Bud")
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to CloudtheBoa For This Useful Post:
Gocntry (07-27-2019),jmcrook (07-25-2019)
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Re: Need a little guidance / new Boa
Originally Posted by SnekNoodle
Actually, they’re switching things up a bit. It just recently came out that the “BCI” isn’t a subspecies of Boa constrictor anymore. It has a 5-7% difference in genetic makeup so that it is being reclassified to just a “Boa Imperator.” So now BCC and BCI should be just BC and BI. Also there’s slight variations in how you should keep them differently. You need a bigger setup for a tank that size and idk if by bi-weekly you mean every two weeks or twice a week. Either way she should be eating a meal the size of the thickest part of her body every 10-14 days depending on if she needs to gain or sustain weight. Also 50% of humidity is too low. BI’s (BCI’s) need right around 75% humidity. BC’s (BCC’s) even more so. Usually around 80-85%. Do you know the origin of your new boa? Because if you are sold an “emperator” imperator, and it turns out to be a constrictor, you may inadvertently be hurting her health and shortening the length of her life span. Good luck with your new girl!
Thanks for the info, Bi-weekly = fed every 2 weeks, guess I made that confusing.
I do not know the origin, Sorry. It was a Craigslist ad, that happened to be right down the road from me. Ad stated "Emperator" and I was told the owner had it since it was small, and was now 2 years old.
Soon as she gets her "well snake check-up" at the vet, she'll have a 36x18x18 terrarium, then in 2020 hopefully an AP Cage will be ordered.
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