First Red Tail... What do you recommend?

[Mike Schultz]

So there is a reptile show in a month and I'm trying to decide between another ball python, or a red tail boa. I love my Ball and I think another would be cool, but then again i also like having a little variety.

If I decided to get one, which type would you guys recommend as a good first RTB? BCI, BCC, baby, yearling, what? I am getting a male definitely because I don't want to bite off more snake than I can chew... and a 6.5-7 foot snake is a lot easier to handle than a 8.5-9 foot snake (I've handled them before and can definitely feel those muscles working as they move about...)

So yeah, recommendations? I have a month to brew it over

[starmom]

I would suggest a bci as your first boa because they are more forgiving of husbandry errors than bcc's. They are also pretty mellow (unless you get a spunky one!)

I would recommend going through a breeder (or talking to the breeders at the show) who can tell you of the snakes 'personality'. Getting a baby is fun because then you can grow it up and create the relationship from the very start.

This is the season so there ought to be a lot of choices!! I have a salmon pastel bci, an aby pastel bci, and a columbian bci. They are all females and are pretty neat snakes!!

[Mike Schultz]

I would suggest a bci as your first boa because they are more forgiving of husbandry errors than bcc's. They are also pretty mellow (unless you get a spunky one!)

I would recommend going through a breeder (or talking to the breeders at the show) who can tell you of the snakes 'personality'. Getting a baby is fun because then you can grow it up and create the relationship from the very start.

This is the season so there ought to be a lot of choices!! I have a salmon pastel bci, an aby pastel bci, and a columbian bci. They are all females and are pretty neat snakes!!

Yeah I talked to pretty much every breeder at the show when I got my ball python, lol.

As for bci's being "more forgiving of husbandry errors," what do you mean by this?

Are there differences in requirements between the subspecies? I've been reading up on general "red tail boa" care a lot and it seems that they re all lumped together for the most part.

[starmom]

bcc's are 'red tail' boas and they are the beautiful suriname boas and from other locales as well, I believe...Guyana and other places? I don't know a lot but I do know that surinames can have regurgitation syndrome and so feeding is important to learn about. Temp ranges and I'm certain other considerations are more demanding than those of the columbian bci.

I would maybe pm Jimi and ask if he has time for you to ask him some questions. Also, Jo (frankykeno) has worked with boas for years and has a lot of knowledge that she would love to share with you. I also think that Becky (satanicintention) has worked with boas for years also.... Anyway, those three people know more about locales and bcc's than I do and are great resources

Lastly, Vin Russo wrote a book about boas that is really great and a good resource. Also, Gus Renfro's site http://www.riobravoreptiles.com/ has a lot of great info on it.

Here's another resource: http://www.redtailboas.com/general_c....html#heattemp

[Mike Schultz]

Cool, thanks for the nfo and links (:

If none of them see the thread after a few days i'll start bugging them in PMs :p

[crusher]

i would suggest feeding your bci before you go messing with the snake or anything in its cage on feeding day... booooooy can they strike from far away

[frankykeno]

Thanks Connie but Jimmi knows waaaaaaaaay more about boa's than I think I'll ever know LOL.

Anyways, to the OP....I think a nice male BCI aka common boa aka Colombian Boa aka boa constrictor imperator is a great choice. They don't tend to need the absolutes in temps and humidity that ball pythons do (hence the "more forgiving" comment). We keep our boa's a bit cooler than the ball pythons and they seem to do just beautifully. In fact, unless it's feeding day or the summer evening temps drop, we don't kick on their heat at all as the room they are in stays very warm all summer long. Of course, in the cooler months they all have heat sources on.

I would encourage you to go the route of a nice well started young boa from a reputable breeder. Not only is this always the best route for any snake purchase in my opinion but with boa's you want to make sure you have a healthy snake from an IBD free collection. Due to that issue you do want to keep strict quarantine for a number of months. Even from a top breeder, when you choose to keep a collection with boas and pythons in it, well I think quaratine just becomes that much more imporant. For us, we just make it a part of keeping a mixed collection that we never allow them together even though we've had some of the boas for quite awhile now. They live in seperate parts of our home, they are never out together and we do all our BP work first, then the boas and the milksnake thereafter (with any snake in QT last of course).

As far as temperment, a well started, well cared for boa that is given a routine of calm, quiet handling generally matures into a lovely pet snake. They seem to be more at ease with handling by humans and seem to tolerate it for longer periods of time without showing as much stress as we'd note in our BP's. They are however powerful snakes, even the smaller males, so when you have them out for handling you must keep them under control. Digging a sneaky snake out of the depths of your couch is less than fun (I've been there LOL).

Most boas aren't picky feeders and will take a variety of prey offered in all three feeding methods (live, p/k or f/t). They seem to adjust well in that way to the keepers preference in feeding routines. They do have a very long strike range though and tend to be powerful feeders so use common sense when feeding a hungry boa. We've noted in our boas that they tend to strike fast and hard, constrict well and then guard their now dead prey for a time before settling down to eat (the BP's just hit, constrict and slurp down dinner). During that guarding time if you bug them, I've seen them break off the feed completely so once we know they have their live prey well dealt with, we leave them be to settle down and swallow it.

I would say all in all they are great snakes. Males don't get that big really and are easily handled by just about anyone (at least anyone with good common sense ). The big females like the one we have, who is probably close to 8.5 to 9 feet, do require a bit more smart handling and thought about safety issues, especially for me since I'm barely over 5 feet.

As far as housing our boas seem to enjoy a good size enclosure and the ability to climb to different levels. Some boas like a hide especially when young, others don't seem to care but we offer them a dark hide or an enclosure that allows them to melt away into a dark area where they can't be easily seen. Of course fresh water in a heavy, non-spill, non-breakable bowl. For substrate we use a mix of 3/4 cypress mulch, 1/4 aspen that we do ourselves. The cypress mulch helps keep in humidity in a big boa enclosure, the aspen adds loft and softness that the cypress is missing. We've tried pure aspen but it doesn't retain as much humidity and it tends to get compressed too much under the weight of a big boa.

In shed our boas seem to very much need to be left alone, even more so than our ball pythons. They tend to get very out of sorts and a bit grumpy so other than checking them and misting if they need the extra moisture in the dryer months, we leave them be to get that done.

Hope this was helpful to you.

[darkangel]

Be prepared for some attitude. Baby boas are sometimes the coolest, most laid-back and chill little guys ever, and sometimes you end up with a demon-spawn, like I did. Just know you probably have some work ahead of ya!

[starmom]

Thanks Connie?????
I do believe that is a compliment
Thanks Jo

[Mike Schultz]

Lots of great info! As far as housing is concerned- I was planning on building a single-tub enclosure for the boa, since i'll be living in an apartment next year. Since you said they like climbing- sounds like i should build one that has a decent bit of height to it as well? as opposed to a ball python tub that just needs to be flat and wide enough for them to move around.