Help! Rescue red tail boa!

[Bogertophis]

He looks quite comfortable, good job! Too bad about his momma, he looks to have good body weight and appears healthy. As already said, boas are VERY
into their food, so use long tongs when you offer food. Hope you can find him a good home. He looks like a big cuddler...what's his length, approx.?

[richardhind1972]

He looks nice health, so he can't have much of a problem eating, good luck

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[dakski]

Looks good Sunnieskys.

Watch the temps and humidity and he should do great.

Less is more with BCI's when it comes to feeding. If he's eating large rats, feed every 3-4 weeks (probably closer to 4 once you know he's a good weight).

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Sunnieskys]

He looks quite comfortable, good job! Too bad about his momma, he looks to have good body weight and appears healthy. As already said, boas are VERY
into their food, so use long tongs when you offer food. Hope you can find him a good home. He looks like a big cuddler...what's his length, approx.?

He has my wing span maybe a little more and I am 5'3"

[Sunnieskys]

Looks good Sunnieskys.

Watch the temps and humidity and he should do great.

Less is more with BCI's when it comes to feeding. If he's eating large rats, feed every 3-4 weeks (probably closer to 4 once you know he's a good weight).

Good luck and keep us posted!

Oh I don't feed every week? Good to know lol. I would have fed him every Friday with all the other snakes. Is he an adult? I think they said he might be close to two but they were not sure. He was a rescue from a rescue org.

[richardhind1972]

Definitely every 3-4 weeks on large rats, at that weight I would say pretty much adult as males are small than females

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[Sunnieskys]

So do you guys think he will get any bigger? He really is lovely!

[dakski]

So do you guys think he will get any bigger? He really is lovely!

If he's a BCI, and I'll leave that up to the experts like Richard, 2-3K grams is average. Males generally are 4-8 pounds or so, although there are exceptions. Females usually 6-8K Grams. The females are much larger.

Regarding the feeding. BCI's have very slow metabolisms compared to colubrids and even some other boids. My 2 year old female is 1K G and eating small rats every two weeks and growing. When I bump her to mediums, she will go to every 3 weeks.

Obesity can happen fast if you are not careful with these guys and it can be lethal. Less is more.

Aside from a strong food response, once out, BCI's are often total puppy dogs. Behira is confident, chill, and calm. Nothing scares her so I never have to worry about a defensive bite. I do have her hook trained. It has worked wonders. A few rubs with the hook and I take her out no problem with my hands.

Once out, she's a total dream.

If you have any inkling of keeping this guy, get a hook and start hook training.

Here's a link to the thread I started on hook training: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=hook+training

Good luck and keep us posted.

[richardhind1972]

I reckon he's not far off fully grown, as dakski said 2-3k is about right for a male, my 10year old male is 3.2kg and 6ft ,boas as said are on the whole pretty chilled and not easily spooked, you get the odd exception who had not been handled regular from young.

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[Bogertophis]

Are you sure it's a male? If so, he should stay smaller than a female. The only boa I had was a female BCI- she stayed around 5-6' for quite a while,
but then grew to 7'6" by the time she was 13 years old. She was always a cuddler, though she had a few days where she was cranky upon approach
but once she was cajoled into handling, she was perfectly fine. Sometimes they need to be touched to be reminded they "know" us, whether by hand
or by hook training.

You definitely don't want to feed him every week. If he was my snake, I'd probably try to feed mediums every 2-3 weeks rather than large rats,
which can be more fatty & less healthy.