Odaria. My new baby viper boa.

[Snagrio]

Hey, been a long time. A lot has changed since I was last here that I may post about in the future (namely some frogs and a LOT of invertebrates of all kinds), but for now I'll share the latest, very special addition to my critter crew. I've had my eye on Candoia aspera for quite a while now, but between wanting a more red/orange individual and the species overall being difficult to find captive-bred, I couldn't settle on one for the longest time. Until around a month ago I chanced upon a listing on Morph Market, and after extensive discussion with the breeder, I brought this beautiful girl home with me just last week.

Meet Odaria.






The images do no do her justice. Her colors are practically radiant they're so vivid. Couldn't believe it when I first saw her in person. Extremely calm too, didn't even recoil when I touched and briefly handled her while looking her over. And she's even already had her first meal with me with no issue.


Quite amusingly, I weighed her when she first came in. She was born in March 2023 (so around a year and a half old). She weighs less than Mira (my Vietnamese blue beauty) did when she wasn't even a full month out of the egg. I knew Candoia grew super slowly but my goodness.

[Starscream]

Yay I'm so happy for you! Candoia are gorgeous little snakes. I will be following this thread for sure!

[Homebody]

Cool. Love those keeled scales! I didn't realize they came in different colors. I held one at an expo once. It was dark brown. It's pattern was nearly faded out. Will yours keep its coloration and pattern into adulthood?

[Snagrio]

Cool. Love those keeled scales! I didn't realize they came in different colors. I held one at an expo once. It was dark brown. It's pattern was nearly faded out. Will yours keep its coloration and pattern into adulthood?

More than likely what you held was WC (most in the hobby are). The majority of viper boas are plain brown, and the ones fresh from the wild look even more dull since they still have the "jungle skin" (they live on/in the ground and take a VERY long time to shed so what you see most of the time isn't what they actually look like so to speak). Her colors will hold true with age, they don't fade out like BPs do.

They can come in all sorts of colors. Varying shades of brown and beige, almost black, banana yellow, blood reds. And variations of dark dorsals with red/orange/yellow undersides amongst those colors.

[Homebody]

The one at the expo looked like this one. It was definitely wild caught. Very tame, so, probably half dead, poor thing. I see yours is taking rodents. I read they're frog & lizard eaters. Do you plan to keep her on rodents?

[Snagrio]

The one at the expo looked like this one. It was definitely wild caught. Very tame, so, probably half dead, poor thing. I see yours is taking rodents. I read they're frog & lizard eaters. Do you plan to keep her on rodents?

From what I've read they're similar to Western hognoses where they are generalists with a lean towards frogs/lizards, but do well with rodents. In the future I do however plan on ordering frog reptilinks all the same to see if she'll take them to offer a healthier variety (iguana would be optimal but they don't come in sizes that she could swallow). She had been raised on pinkies though so that's what I went with to start to make sure she's eating under my care. As it is she also feeds very infrequently, every two weeks (when I fed her it was right on the dime of that time frame). Basically treat her as I do my BP compared to my colubrids.

[Homebody]

I love small pythons and boas. If I see that you have a positive experience with her, maybe I'll pick one up for myself.

[Snagrio]

Had her out for a brief handling session to really get a good look at her. The head and eyes look almost draconic, and the tongue is pitch black. Never noticed either of those details before now that I see one up close like this. Also of note is now I see firsthand how viper boas tend to look so dulled out, she already looks noticeably muted from being in the substrate. But it makes her happy so I don't mind.






She's so incredibly calm too. Very slow, doesn't flinch or recoil to anything (but still alert and not lethargic in an unhealthy manner). So glad I found her.

[Bogertophis]

Neat little snakes- I hope she does well for you.

[Homebody]

Had her out for a brief handling session to really get a good look at her. The head and eyes look almost draconic, and the tongue is pitch black. Never noticed either of those details before now that I see one up close like this. Also of note is now I see firsthand how viper boas tend to look so dulled out, she already looks noticeably muted from being in the substrate. But it makes her happy so I don't mind.

Does she spend a lot of her time buried in her substrate?