Questions about Hog Island Boas

[RedRabbit]

WrongPython, your Sonoran is SO cute. I remember happily checking in on her progression thread just last week while I was at work, haha.

Luvyna, I think the question of manageable size is a very reasonable concern to have. I've heard a fair number of reptile keepers (both reptile Youtubers and in-person) say that something in the boa constrictor/boa imperator size range is the largest they would consider still being relatively safe for one individual to handle on their own. You'd definitely want someone else present as a spotter once you're talking about the true giants like burms and retics. However, it's all up to your personal comfort level. Sometimes boa breeders at shows will bring an occasional adult boa or two, either to sell or just to showcase one of their breeding pairs; if you happen to be attending another expo in the future, perhaps it would be helpful to take a look at one of those, to get a sense of actual size scale, and ask if the breeder has time and is willing to demonstrate how it handles? Q's breeder actually had a 4-year-old male boa imperator at his table, so when I asked what I could roughly expect Q's adult size to be, he just pointed at that fella, haha.

Some rather ugly but hopefully entertaining pictures incoming! These are just from me coming home from work at whatever hour in the evening, seeing a boa pose that made me chuckle, and snapping a photo, in dim lamp lighting and through the hazy sides of their plastic tubs.

First, a demonstration of Gen's love-hate relationship with his Acurite:

"This is nice. I shall cuddle with it."



"Never mind. Perish, wretch."



And next we have a collage of Q's considerable acrobatic skills. While most of the time he sleeps IN his tree hollow, there have also been at least a few instances of him falling asleep wedged on top of the tree, or nestled near the "ceiling" of his tub, or who knows where else. For the record, he has zero objections to striking and eating from any of these awkward positions, including when suspended in midair.



He makes an excellent suspension bridge.

[Luvyna]

Nah, they’re very manageable at this size. If you’re uncomfortable, it’s not unreasonable to have another person around then. Snakes, even large snakes, can be easy to get off so long as you have the hands and do it properly.

They are heavy if you aren’t used to it, though. If you get a baby you’ll grow with it, and get used to its weight as it grows slowly. I power fed the male on accident when he was young, so he reached 6’ by 3 years old, but normally you wouldn’t see that for a good 4-6+ years. The female is 11 years old, and was slow grown by her breeder. So even if they get bigger than you currently want, you have time.

The male is quite used to being handled, but the female has taken a lot of work to get her to the point I was comfortable measuring her, and she was comfortable enough to not mind using me as a tree. Haha When I first got her, she was intent on staying off of me and did not like me to touch her at all. Handling boas is definitely an experience, and a rewarding one.

Dwarves, such as Tarahumara, Crawl Cay, etc. should stay small no matter how you feed. There are some genetic lines that get bigger (even when pure), which I see from time to time mostly in Nics. Most Nics are also small, but they’re more likely to get big and are as commonly bred into “Colombians” as Hogs tend to be. But pures aren’t hard to find.

Thanks for the tips! I will definitely look into Tarahumara and Crawl Cay boas. Since I'm planning to wait until my BP is full grown before getting any other snakes, I'll see how I feel once he's a 3-4 foot snake and maybe getting a Hog Island or mainland BCI will seem more manageable.

My other concern about a large snake is the housing, I will likely be moving soon and I might be in a pretty small apartment so I need to see how much space is available, especially since I already have a snake that I plan to eventually house in one of those vision enclosures. I've heard boas like to roam around their enclosures more than BPs and can sometimes rub their noses to the point of injury trying to escape if the space is too small or otherwise inadequate.

Looks like you did a great job with the female, she looks calm as ever in that photo you took

So many lovely boas on this thread! And some solid advice, to boot.

Yes... join us in the Sonoran boa club. Once you join, you may never want to leave!

In all seriousness, though, I would highly recommend looking into male Sonorans if you'd like to go that route and 5 feet is the most you feel comfortable with. Female Sonorans (like my girl) average between 5-6 feet, with breeding males averaging around 4 feet. So, a Sonoran of any gender may end up being a bit more snake than you're looking for right now. As the others have said, though, you can more or less grow with your boa and perhaps become more comfortable with a snake that large over time. I certainly would have been more hesitant about getting even a 5 foot boa if they followed the same growth pattern as, say, a retic. Having that ability to grow with your snake is just another reason why boas are so awesome.

I'd definately recommend meeting a potential Sonoran in person before purchasing it. I've heard some say that Sonorans are a bit feistier than other localities. My girl is pretty much the antithesis of that, though, and is an angel whenever she's out, even for the odd non-snakey friend who comes over and wants to meet/hold her.

If size is still an issue, I would highly recommend looking into the Tarahumara and Crawl Cay boas Cloud mentioned. They're pretty much the smallest of the small as far as boas go, with Tarahumaras topping out around 4 feet. I started a "locality boas for beginners" thread a few months ago that may be of some help. It should be floating around here somewhere!

Oh my goodness, what a precious baby boa! All these photos are just making me want a boa more. She looks so sweet and gentle and she actually reminds me a lot of the little Hog Island boas I held at the reptile show.

Thank you for the tips as well about Sonorans, I've also heard they can be feisty but looks like you lucked out with your girl. I like the sound of Tarahumaras topping out at 4 feet, I would feel totally comfortable with that. I found your thread and will be reading through it!

Luvyna, I think the question of manageable size is a very reasonable concern to have. I've heard a fair number of reptile keepers (both reptile Youtubers and in-person) say that something in the boa constrictor/boa imperator size range is the largest they would consider still being relatively safe for one individual to handle on their own. You'd definitely want someone else present as a spotter once you're talking about the true giants like burms and retics. However, it's all up to your personal comfort level. Sometimes boa breeders at shows will bring an occasional adult boa or two, either to sell or just to showcase one of their breeding pairs; if you happen to be attending another expo in the future, perhaps it would be helpful to take a look at one of those, to get a sense of actual size scale, and ask if the breeder has time and is willing to demonstrate how it handles? Q's breeder actually had a 4-year-old male boa imperator at his table, so when I asked what I could roughly expect Q's adult size to be, he just pointed at that fella, haha.

Some rather ugly but hopefully entertaining pictures incoming! These are just from me coming home from work at whatever hour in the evening, seeing a boa pose that made me chuckle, and snapping a photo, in dim lamp lighting and through the hazy sides of their plastic tubs.

First of all, your boas are SO CUTE I can't handle it, if I saw boas doing cute things like this at a show it would be so, so much harder to resist. I don't mind the photo quality at all, it's cool to catch snakes being adorable in the moment. Genesis coiled up on the thermometer just melted my heart. Q looks like a true jungle snake haha! Very impressive climbing skills.

It's pretty amazing you get to seem them out doing fun things like this too, my BP only ever comes out in the dead of the night when my lights are out and even if I can hear him I'm usually too sleepy to get up and see what he's doing at that point lol. Also awesome that they really use their furniture, I'll definitely set up an enclosure with lots of branches and maybe different levels of platforms for my boa to explore.