Venturing into boas

[Julia]

Hi all,
I am the proud owner of 7 ball pythons. As much as I enjoy BPs, I have been looking for a snake that can go into a display case in another year or two. My BPs are gorgeous, but they prefer to spend 95% of their time in hides and are easily stressed. So I have been looking into getting a boa. After quite a bit of research, I decided on a Hog Island boa (mainly due to size & temperament). I have purchased a baby. He will be arriving to me in a couple weeks, once he's gotten 3 meals in him. I am super excited, and had difficulty asking the breeder to hold on to him for a couple of extra meals (but I know its best for him, and I like my babies well started before the stress of shipping/settling in).
I am wondering if anyone has specific tips for someone new to Hog Island boas. In my research, it looks like temp and humidity requirements for BPs and Hog Island boas are alike. (?)
Also, I have questions about feeding. Do I feed size based on the widest girth of the boa (equal to girth?), and would feeding a baby every 7 - 10 days be sufficient?
Any advice welcome, thank you!

[bcr229]

Temps are pretty much the same, upper 70's on the cool side and a UTH set for belly heat of 90*F on the warm side will be fine. Ditto for humidity.

I feed babies every 7-10 days, with a feeder just wider than their girth. Once they hit six months push that out to 10-14 days, then every two weeks for a yearling, every three weeks for a two year old, and after that every 4-6 weeks.

For the first 12-18 months that baby will spend most of its time hiding, which is normal. It may also be nippy but time and patience take care of that.

Good luck. Boas are awesome!

[Julia]

Great, thank you!

[piedlover79]

Careful...boa are just as addictive as ball pythons!!

[Julia]

Yeah, I'm a little worried about that :-)

Another question... is it a big deal to keep them in smaller tubs when they are babies? ( for security?), or is that dependent on the individual snake? I am not sure if I want to set him up in a shoe box (6 qt) tub or a 16 qt tub.

[CloudtheBoa]

Some boas like to hide. Up until I moved last fall, my boa Cloud has pretty much lived in his hides, nowadays he's found outside of them more often than not. My babies are inside their hides about 50% of the time, my little anery motley is found laying about more often than the other 2 young ones, who are twice his age.

As far as feeding, pretty much what bcr says. For yearlings and under I like to see a small bulge, but as they get older I aim for smaller and smaller meals until there's no bulge like with my adult male. I gave him a larger than usual large rat and it made him rather grumpy for about a week, he actually struck the glass at me, which he's never done in 5 years. He's calmed down now that the rat is digested, but next time I'll just feed the bigger rat to my retic. haha

As far as caging that's up to you, as long as there's plenty of cover a baby should do fine in as big an enclosure as you wish. I have my 5 month old (6 months at the end of the month) in a 66 qt tub I think it is, he was 82 grams when he arrived, not sure how big he is now, he's probably around 20" give or take an inch since that's how long my sunglow was at that weight. He has 5 or 6 hides and a big fake vine, and he does well. He was nippy for a bit, but the breeder had him in a blacked-out rack before I got him so I suspect it was just the change as he's no longer nippy. My 3' yearling is in a 105 qt tub and my 4' yearling is in a 120 qt tub. When the large yearling is out of quarantine she's going into a 4'x2'x2' that is currently housing my 6.5'-7' retic.

[Julia]

Your experience is helpful, thank you for responding! :-)

[Julia]

He arrived today! He's adorable, curious, active, and sooooooo tiny. Handling him is way different than handling my 1,000+ gram BPs! I'm afraid he is going to be a little Houdini, so I'm trying to make sure his quarantine tub is super secure at all times. I still need to figure out a name for him. I snapped a few pics while giving him a look-over before putting him away to settle in.

Come on out, little one!

[Eavlynn]

He's absolutely precious! Came right out of the bag with his tongue flicking away. What a doll congratulations on your first boa! They are fantastic.