Quote Originally Posted by Evenstar View Post
Ok thanks for more details on the male's behavior - I can surely understand the gloves now. Perhaps you can find smaller and less bulky gloves? It truly might help.

And I still say he's a normal columbian BCI. He's most definitely not an Argentine. I have an Argenting boa (plan on taking pics and introducing him tonight so watch for that post) and he is very dark and granite-y. BCOs look nothing like BCIs - the closest subspecies that ressemble BCOs are BCLs (Longicauda). Columbian boas can vary quite a lot in appearance. Some have more pink hues and some are more grey. Some have narrower saddles and some have lots of speckling, etc. Yours has a nice clean pattern and appears to have nice cream and pink blushing, but he's still a normal columbian - which is perfectly fine!

Yes, BCC means Boa Constrictor Constrictor. And I agree that your female should be much bigger. I missed where you though she was an adult or I would've mentioned that earlier. But don't overfeed her to try and get her up to weight in a hurry! Give her an apprpriate sized prey item only after each defecation. That could be once every 2-4 weeks. BCCs do better with less frequent meals and slightly cooler temps (76-78 ambient and 88 hotspot is good). Let us know what you find out with Ed from Wild Morphs. I hope he can help you!

Can I ask you why you started using black lights in their enclosures?? That isn't generally considered appropriate lighting for snakes so I wondered if you had a specific reason?


The gloves are Class A dress gloves from when I was in the service, and are actually the most low-profile leather gloves I own. they're actually quite tight on my big ape hands.


I'm not overly-concerned about his subspecies, just as long as I know what he is so that I can continue to learn proper care & husbandry for them both!

Thanks for sharing that with me, I'll look into and try to learn as much as I can.

As far as the lighting goes? Eh.... I had free reign of the pet store I worked at and my payment was usually whatever supplies I needed. I've been kinda strapped for cash lately as I've been largely unemployed as far as "gainful employment" goes. The black lights & fixtures are things I have around. I'm a carpenter by trade and have many things like this available to me.

I've been meaning to buy some red bulbs for them both, but haven't had the cash that pets mart wants (has anyone else noticed their outrageous mark up?). Both tanks have UTH in them, but neither snake seems to be too interested in them.

There's another pet store I've been using, but it's a 45 minute drive one way and they seem to be competitively priced, so I'll try them.

I understand that lighting is more important for Bao's vs. BP's, and when I have the ability to get the right lighting I will do so.

For the most part it's just to give some lighting to them rather than being in the dark. I turn the female's day light bulb off at night, and she doesn't care to spend much time under or near it. That also probably comes down to the humidity in the atmosphere of her enclosure.

For the record, I've never "power-fed" anything I've ever owned or taken care of. I have heard the term thrown around, and assumed it means feeding the snake more frequently than one normally would. Although I know little about it and have never practiced it. I loosely understand that, as a rule, it is a bad idea.

I PM'd Ed last night, I'm still waiting for him to get back to me.