First off CONGRATS on your new snake. Being happy with your animal is all that matters. Colombian, not "Columbian" boas are 99.9% of the time BCI. I believe Vin Russo and Gus Rentfro have only seen the BCC version of the Colombian boa. Neither has one in their collection and they are about as "Boa knowledgable" as it gets. There are however different opinions about BCC and BCI as well. Jeff Ronne, a respected breeder says they are BCC and so does Herpetologist Mark O'shea.
But I don't want to confuse things. The majority will agree that Colombian boas or "common boas" are BCI.
Female BCI boas can get huge, but 8-9 feet is a big boa for a Colombian BCI.
There are some 7 foot 30 pound male BCI's I've seen. Tom McCarthy's male Squeezer was a huge male BCI. (McCarthy Boas).
According to Gus Rentfro, the Peruvian BCC is one of the biggest of the boas. Also BCC from Surinam and Guyana. They grow slower but tend to get bigger on average. Gus Rentfro also states "The biggest boas are the oldest boas". So if you let your boa grow slow, it will live long and get big.
Here is my Colombian BCI male.
I don't claim to have anything rare or overly special. Gus Rentfro of Rio Bravo Reptiles breeds these and sells them every year but,,,, this boa is a true locality Colombian boa from the Barranquilla region of the country.
His friend, Vincent Russo, wrote about boas from this area and stated these boas are what a "natural cross" between BCC and BCI would look like. He did scale counts on them and apparently they differ from BCI boas.
Again, there is not a need to get really technical unless we are counting scales and getting deep into herpetology.
Your Female BCI will more than likely get to at least 7 feet. Don't be in a rush to get her there though.
Kali and the others have pretty much already stated what I've gone over here. "True Red Tail" = BCC. Red tail boa is more of a pet trade name that is used loosely and it can apply to all boas in that context with a few exceptions.
BCI's are very good snakes and they feed and breed in captivity second to none. Probably the hardiest of the BCC boas are the Peruvians. That's from Gus Rentfro so I believe it.
This is a good video explaining some basic differences. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzp48...=TL138GtRj8DS4
Pardon the long winded explanation especially since the others here with more boas than I have covered this.
I just like to help : )
You have a great pet BCI and it will get nice and big. Enjoy!
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