Which big snake should I choose?

[DLena]

If you're looking for big, extremely chill, and overtly lovely (patterns look like flowers), go with a female Dumerils Boa. They are very laid back to handle and petable. Level of food aggression is very low as well. You'd be looking at around 7 feet and some girth. They don't chow down like retics. My adult female takes a large rat every 2.5-3 weeks, and sometimes she stretches it to a month. Poop and pee load is also less than the retics and burms.
I have her in a 72x30x15 with a shelf because she likes to stretch from the floor to along the shelf and she displays well. She was in a 48x30x15 with a shelf and that also worked well. Most Dumerils don't seem to care about a shelf, but Belletrix hangs out a lot, just relaxing. Dums slow grow, which is also a plus if you have younger kids. And you can get a really nice baby for around $150-$250.

[moonlightgdess]

Thanks so much for all the information here, keep it coming! I really appreciate the responses and now I'm looking at some pretty boas.

[moonlightgdess]

Okay now I'm being particular, are there affordable (under $500ish) white or super light colored boas? What are the morph names? Looking at the BCIs, want something that gets up to the 7-10' range. Thanks again!

[ShaneSilva]

Okay now I'm being particular, are there affordable (under $500ish) white or super light colored boas? What are the morph names? Looking at the BCIs, want something that gets up to the 7-10' range. Thanks again!

It's not hard to find snow boas around that price range. But they can turn yellowish with age. Moonglows seem to stay whiter (from what I've seen anyway) but are gonna cost you a couple/few hundred more. The other white morphs are gonna cost you a lot more. If it doesn't have to be white look into albinos (there are two types, kahl and sharp) or Sunglows

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[Sauzo]

Okay now I'm being particular, are there affordable (under $500ish) white or super light colored boas? What are the morph names? Looking at the BCIs, want something that gets up to the 7-10' range. Thanks again!

For under $500, you would be looking at an albino or sunglow BCI.

There are kahl snows which are kahl albino anery and then there are Moonglows which are hypo kahl albino anery. They generally run around $700 for a kahl snow and $1000 for moonglow.

Then there are sharp snows which are sharp albino and anery and Snowglows which are hypo sharp albino, anery. They generally run about $900 for a sharp snow and $1200 for a snowglow.

Then there are the Princess Diamonds which are leucistic boas that will stay white their whole lives. But you are talking $6000-$10000 last i checked lol.

All albinos will yellow up to an extent with age. Sharps tend to hold their color more but thats not always true and with all the work with kahls people have been doing, there are lots of really colorful kahls like Corals which are a kahl only. There is no Coral sharps.

Also as a final note, if you want something that holds reds really well, get a jungle motley sunglow. Those are really nice but really expensive too lol. And if i were you and looking for a nice light colored boa that didnt break the bank, i would find a coral sunglow.

And to give you an idea of the change. Here are pics of my lipstick sunglow girl as a baby and 3 years later.

[dkatz4]

To the OP, for my last boa I was also looking for light/bright colors but on a budget. I ended up looking for and acquiring a nice clean jungle, she is possible het for some stuff but I'm not breeding her I just wanted her for her and a good clean jungle will have nice popping collars a cool pattern and just gets prettier with age (in my opinion).
One thing I would like to add for your edification and also to solicit some advice from everyone else is that ours are very slow growers, especially if you feed them properly with their health as a priority. That, for me, is a bit of a negative. I love my boas to death but it drives me crazy to think of how long I'm going to have to wait before they have some real size and that is why the large pythons appeal to me so much. My understanding (and pleasecorrect me if I'm wrong on this or any other point) is that retics grow more quickly than burms, but burms grow very quickly compared to boas.

[Sauzo]

To the OP, for my last boa I was also looking for light/bright colors but on a budget. I ended up looking for and acquiring a nice clean jungle, she is possible het for some stuff but I'm not breeding her I just wanted her for her and a good clean jungle will have nice popping collars a cool pattern and just gets prettier with age (in my opinion).
One thing I would like to add for your edification and also to solicit some advice from everyone else is that ours are very slow growers, especially if you feed them properly with their health as a priority. That, for me, is a bit of a negative. I love my boas to death but it drives me crazy to think of how long I'm going to have to wait before they have some real size and that is why the large pythons appeal to me so much. My understanding (and pleasecorrect me if I'm wrong on this or any other point) is that retics grow more quickly than burms, but burms grow very quickly compared to boas.

Never had a burm but i can definitely tell you retics grow fast lol. Caesar went from 2' long at 5 months old to now 7' at 1.3 years old. Just note that retics or at least Caesar is not a cuddly little lounger like the boas. He is a gogogo machine that is as nice as the boas but just doesnt really like to sit still unless in his cage. In his cage, he is laid back and i can reach in, pet him, push him around to clean poops and other stuff and he just goes with the flow. Feeding time though, he is crazier than the boas and the boas are pretty freakin scary at dinner time. I almost got tagged by Gina last night during feeding time. She smelled mice on my hand and shot at me twice lol. And Louie is like Caesar at dinner time. When he smelled his mouse, he shot straight in the air and grabbed the tong but wrapped the mouse lol. He let go of the tong and just stared at me while he held his mouse. He let go of the mouse and I reached in slowly with the tongs and picked up his mouse. He spun around, saw me taking his mouse and flew at it with mouth open and grabbed it haha. He's crazy when it comes to food.

[artgecko]

Boas are a great choice... They are my favorite species to work with and generally have calm but curious personalities and like to explore / climb. They have a strong feeding response, so hook / tap training is helpful.

In your price range, I'd like for a coral albino / sunglow, a nice hypo jungle, or possibly an albino / sunglow motley. They sunglows tend to be around $400 and up, with "good" examples being around $500+ You could probably pick up a hypo jungle or motley for around $300 - $400 depending on lineage.

Boas do grow slowly, but in your circumstances OP, where you are just used to BPs, then a slow grower isn't necessarily a disadvantage. You could look for a yearling / 2 year old and start off with a boa that is larger (around 3'). But it is best to feed them on a proper schedule. On the upside, when you have a fully grown adult female boa that is about 7-9' and 20lbs, you will only have to feed her every 4-8 weeks...As opposed to a retic, which needs food very frequently. And, yes, boas produce less waste, so that's a winner in my book lol.

If you want a larger / heavier snake, go with a female. I think a female BCI will get big enough to give you a taste of working with larger snakes and you can then go from there. I purposefully chose males because I wanted leaner snakes. Females can get the width of a 2 liter coke bottle. (that said, keep in mind that boas should resemble a loaf of bread and never be round, if round, then they are over fed).

[ShaneSilva]

My understanding (and pleasecorrect me if I'm wrong on this or any other point) is that retics grow more quickly than burms, but burms grow very quickly compared to boas.

My retic and burm both hatched in June of last year within 2 weeks from each other. retic is about 7 feet long. burm is maybe 5 feet but heavier than my retic. I can no longer wrap my hand around her thickest point and I don't have small hands. So I guess it depends on your definition of growth


Edit: forgot to mention the retic is a male mainland and burm is a female

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[chip07]

If you are in Ohio you need to look at your state laws regarding the big guys.

BI or BC are great and my favorite. I would go with one of them!