Red Tail, Id Help?

[MorganM]

Went and got a few outside pictures since it's warmed up a bit. It's very hard to take pictures of her pinks but i don't think she's a hypo since she only have a bit on her sides. Pics also show the bulge.

[Evenstar]

If I understand your explanation correctly, that is not 100% true. The boa constrictor subspecies are as follows:
B. c. amarali
B.c. constrictor
B.c. imperator
B.c. longicauda
B.c. melanogaster
B.c. nebulosus
B.c. occidentalis
B. c. orophias
B.c. ortonii
B.c. sabogae

Longicauda is a separate subspecies and is not a "locality specific BCI". The Peru Longtail Boa is a locality specific BCL. While the Hog Island and the Nicaraguans are locality specific BCIs.

Here is a couple helpful links for more information about Boa Constrictor Longicauda with pictures:
http://www.riobravoreptiles.com/boas_long.htm
http://www.cuttingedgeherp.com/boaco...torlongicauda/

For the OP, it is very difficult to determine what subspecies you have without breeding records. There has been a lot of cross breeding between subspecies and many boas on the market today cannot be identified as pure subspecies or localities. Nice looking boas though.

Oh lord, I need more sleep, lol. Thanks for clarifying! I meant exactly this in my post, but I did misspeak. I meant to say they were all BCI and to go on to say BCL was a subspecies just as BCI is and NOT "locality specific" like the nics or hogs. Geez, guess it's an earlier bedtime for me........

Thanks again for clarifying and also for listing all the subspecies - that's helpful to everyone!

To the OP, Yes, I do believe all your babies are common columbian boas or BCIs. But Pals is right that there has been so much cross breeding between the subspecies that a 100% accurate identification is impossible without paperwork from the original breeder. I do think your new male is a nicaraguan though (that's a locality specific BCI, lol!), or at least a nic cross - he's so dark! They are all really nice!

[xFenrir]

The pictures you posted about the "squishy-bulge"-looking boa; s/he looks pretty fat. I can't comment on the bulge, I've never seen kind of thing before. But boas should have a nice square-ish shape to them, and s/he looks AWFULLY round, bulge aside.

[Evenstar]

The pictures you posted about the "squishy-bulge"-looking boa; s/he looks pretty fat. I can't comment on the bulge, I've never seen kind of thing before. But boas should have a nice square-ish shape to them, and s/he looks AWFULLY round, bulge aside.

I tend to agree. I don't know about the bulge, but I've frankly never seen such a fat boa. Snakes tend to build fat deposits around the base of the tail and I think this is what's going on with her.

Boas should have a slender, squarish appearance - they are not as heavey-bodied as BPs.

How often are you feeding her? Boas tend to do well on a 10-14 day feeding cycle. She appears young, but I would cut back on her meals, lol. Not intended to offend! She looks healthy in every other way. And boas are garbage disposals so she may well be acting hungry all the time and fooling you into feeding her.

[MorganM]

She's supposed to be just over a year old. She is very round, hence the vet visit to make sure it isnt something else.

I feed her every 10 days. I fed her a 1 day old rat pink the first two feedings and she started getting this look. I then switched her to mouse fuzzies to lower the fat content and kept her at feeding every 10 days. I also take her out at least twice a week so she'll move around as she tends to only go from her hide to her water bowl and back.

She also has really bad sheds. I had just gotten her before her first shed with me and she could only get it past her head and then looked completely worn out(took her around an hour the get it off her head), she wouldn't move any more. I put her in a bath to soak and let her slither though a towel to help her get the rest off. It took a few soakings but we got her shed off. Since then I've kept her humidity up and had it at about 70% when she was in shed this last time. Same thing happened, she got really wrinkly then when she shed she got it just passed her head and gave up. I did the same as before to help her and we got it off. Just not sure what's up with this little one.

[Evenstar]

Hmmm......

She's just over a year old, but how long have you had her? Has she defecated for you yet? Good idea to take her to the vet just to be sure - when's the appointment?

After looking at the pics again, she looks more bloated than fat. I'm glad you switched off the rat pinks for now. Mouse fuzzies are too small for a 1 yr old boa, but so are the rat pinks and I'd want to know what's going on with her first before upping her prey size to something more appropriate. Keep us posted on what you find out at the vet's!

[xFenrir]

After looking at the pics again, she looks more bloated than fat.

When I first saw the pics, my first thought was that it looked like she had been filled up with water! I had heard that boas tend to get obese pretty easily, so that was my first thought. I wonder if she's retaining water or something? something about the way her skin "fits" just looks wrong. I too am curious as to what the vet says.

[Evenstar]

When I first saw the pics, my first thought was that it looked like she had been filled up with water! I had heard that boas tend to get obese pretty easily, so that was my first thought. I wonder if she's retaining water or something? something about the way her skin "fits" just looks wrong. I too am curious as to what the vet says.

I know! That's what I thought too. Her skin seems to be wrinkled on but not the way it would be wrinkled in a bad shed. I dunno, it's just... different...

Boas have more difficulty digesting fat. Check out this article from Basically Boas. This seems to be similar to what I'm seeing here. The article talks about genetically "fat rats" which seem to occur in jumbos in particular, but this can happen even without the jumbos if a baby boa is still getting too much fat in its diet from rat pinks. I like to have my boas on mice for their first year - the higher bone and lower fat content is more beneficial to their growth, in my opinion. So I wonder if that's what's going on with this girl....

[MorganM]

The vet appointment isn't until friday.

I've had her for 6 months now, when i got her she weighed 50 grams(i'll have to look back in my book to make sure) I was told she was 6 months old then. The person I got her from bought a boa who was gravid(is that the right term for boas too?) and he walked in one day to find her tank full of babies. She was the last one he had and was eating one day old rat pinks(though he did say mice at one point and then kept saying rat over and over again now that i think about it) when I got her so I kept her on that diet. I had just moved her to slightly larger rat pinks.She had two when she got the look. It was just before this last shed that she got this fat/bloated look. I thought that she just needed to pooh at first but she did so after her shed and still still has this look to her.

She weighed in at 143 grams two weeks ago. She is my first and only baby boa, the others are all over a year old and long and muscular. I have no idea what's a good weight and size for her.

[Daybreaker]

Poor thing: she looks totally swollen (and not from over eating either). Kudos on getting her to a vet.

I would ask to test her for internal parasites personally (because you never know), but keep us posted as to what the vet says.