Some Red Tail Questions

[DestinyLynette]

I have a confession: I'm having an affair.
Ball pythons are amazing, and I can't wait to breed mine, but I gotta admit.. I've always wanted one *big* snake.. and fell in love with red tails the first time I held a little hypo Columbian girl at a small local pet shop. So I decided that, one day, I will have just one RTB. (well, actually I want two, the albinos are amazing, but let's take it slow.)
This is going to be far off into the future, of course, but I like educating myself early to work it into my future plans. So, here we go:

1.) Where does one find a BCC? I tried to look around to price shop but no one seems to specify what theirs is.
2.) I notice there are variations in tail brightness- some babies have blood red tails, some have more of a brown color. Will the color they have as babies stay as they age?
3.) How fast to boas grow? This will determine when I will get my boa; I read it's okay to keep them in tubs as young'uns, until they get too big- and I want to make sure I have a nice large enclosure ready for my girl when that happens.
4.) To follow that up, when is "too big" for a tub? 5'? 6'?
5.) Red tails seem semi-aboreal... True?
6.) I read on redtailboas.com (or something like that) on their official care sheet that you can control how big your boa goes by feeding... that sounds incorrect.. yet it's on their care sheet on an official-looking site.
7.) I heard they have more personality than ballies?
8.) Where does one find the large 6x2x2 enclosures? Where can I find an even bigger and more decorative display one rather than a compact PVC box?
9.) How do you guys keep humidity up with such large enclosures?
10.) Vivarium for RTB: have you done it? is it manageable? any particular advice or tales to tell?

And lastly,
feel free to include a picture of your boa; they're gorgeous to look at. Sorry for the questions; I like to plan far in advance! Always best to know what you're getting into.

[Expensive hobby]

I have a confession: I'm having an affair.
Ball pythons are amazing, and I can't wait to breed mine, but I gotta admit.. I've always wanted one *big* snake.. and fell in love with red tails the first time I held a little hypo Columbian girl at a small local pet shop. So I decided that, one day, I will have just one RTB. (well, actually I want two, the albinos are amazing, but let's take it slow.)
This is going to be far off into the future, of course, but I like educating myself early to work it into my future plans. So, here we go:

1.) Where does one find a BCC? I tried to look around to price shop but no one seems to specify what theirs is.
2.) I notice there are variations in tail brightness- some babies have blood red tails, some have more of a brown color. Will the color they have as babies stay as they age?
3.) How fast to boas grow? This will determine when I will get my boa; I read it's okay to keep them in tubs as young'uns, until they get too big- and I want to make sure I have a nice large enclosure ready for my girl when that happens.
4.) To follow that up, when is "too big" for a tub? 5'? 6'?
5.) Red tails seem semi-aboreal... True?
6.) I read on redtailboas.com (or something like that) on their official care sheet that you can control how big your boa goes by feeding... that sounds incorrect.. yet it's on their care sheet on an official-looking site.
7.) I heard they have more personality than ballies?
8.) Where does one find the large 6x2x2 enclosures? Where can I find an even bigger and more decorative display one rather than a compact PVC box?
9.) How do you guys keep humidity up with such large enclosures?
10.) Vivarium for RTB: have you done it? is it manageable? any particular advice or tales to tell?

And lastly,
feel free to include a picture of your boa; they're gorgeous to look at. Sorry for the questions; I like to plan far in advance! Always best to know what you're getting into.

I swear I was about to make an identical post to yours yesterday. Like same everything! Scary lol.

I too want one big snake but not so big as an anaconda or reticulated...

I'm building an enclosure(started today) for my future RTB(BCC).

[treeboa]

BCC are hard to find in pet shops and I haven't even seen many lately at shows here in Michigan. There are ALOT of them on Kingsnake.com. They range in price from about $150 on up, depending on locale. Hypos are really nice! I have a female right now. I got out of boas but had to keep her because I love her so much! Most of them are crosses. Hypo showed up in Colombians, Central Americans, and Panamanians. I do still see pure Centrals and Colombians advertised though. They are semi-arboreal and will definitely make use of a tall cage with branches, but they also are fine in the usual short cages too. They are easy to please! Again on the classifieds there are cage manufacturers that make more decretive cages. They will make a mess of a planted cage because they are more active than a ball and heavy. It would probably take daily rearranging. Males and small females are fine in a 4x2x whatever height but larger females need a 6x2. They will need to be out of a tub by the time they are 3.5-4ft. and that's about a year to a year and a half in my experience.

[I-KandyReptiles]

I have a confession: I'm having an affair.
Ball pythons are amazing, and I can't wait to breed mine, but I gotta admit.. I've always wanted one *big* snake.. and fell in love with red tails the first time I held a little hypo Columbian girl at a small local pet shop. So I decided that, one day, I will have just one RTB. (well, actually I want two, the albinos are amazing, but let's take it slow.)
This is going to be far off into the future, of course, but I like educating myself early to work it into my future plans. So, here we go:

1.) Where does one find a BCC? I tried to look around to price shop but no one seems to specify what theirs is.
2.) I notice there are variations in tail brightness- some babies have blood red tails, some have more of a brown color. Will the color they have as babies stay as they age?
3.) How fast to boas grow? This will determine when I will get my boa; I read it's okay to keep them in tubs as young'uns, until they get too big- and I want to make sure I have a nice large enclosure ready for my girl when that happens.
4.) To follow that up, when is "too big" for a tub? 5'? 6'?
5.) Red tails seem semi-aboreal... True?
6.) I read on redtailboas.com (or something like that) on their official care sheet that you can control how big your boa goes by feeding... that sounds incorrect.. yet it's on their care sheet on an official-looking site.
7.) I heard they have more personality than ballies?
8.) Where does one find the large 6x2x2 enclosures? Where can I find an even bigger and more decorative display one rather than a compact PVC box?
9.) How do you guys keep humidity up with such large enclosures?
10.) Vivarium for RTB: have you done it? is it manageable? any particular advice or tales to tell?

And lastly,
feel free to include a picture of your boa; they're gorgeous to look at. Sorry for the questions; I like to plan far in advance! Always best to know what you're getting into.

1). Are you wanting a BCC or a BCI?

BCC's are a lot more sensitive to their husbandry, or so I've heard. I only have BCI's.

Are you looking online? Lots of breeders should have both available.

2).I can't speak about their tails. I have an adopted 10 year old female BCI and a baby boa. I'm assuming they won't change THAT much.

3/4/5). My male boa is about 1200g. He takes up about 1/3 or 1/2 of a 41qt tub. Some people will keep boas their entire lifespan in the large Christmas tree runs.

I have both my boas in large cages now and offer both arboreal branches.

A lot of people will suggest a 4' cage minimum for a male and a 6' cage minimum for females.

6). Boas digest a lot slower than bps. They are typically slow grown, fed every 7-14 days as babies and longer in between as adults.

7). They have tons of personality. I find it hard to get them back in their cages!

8). Animal plastics, boaphile and other places ALL make bigger cages. If you want a nice big one though, I'd suggest making one.

9). I haven't had a problem with humidity in my large cage.

10). I don't do live plants.

My female BCI is in a 6' long, 4' high and 3' wide enclosure made out of wood.



She has no interest on leaving her branches:



My male is in a 4' by 2' by 2'.



And Moar pics

Conga:




Damon:

[Evenstar]

Welcome to the addiction!!!

I have a confession: I'm having an affair.
Ball pythons are amazing, and I can't wait to breed mine, but I gotta admit.. I've always wanted one *big* snake.. and fell in love with red tails the first time I held a little hypo Columbian girl at a small local pet shop. So I decided that, one day, I will have just one RTB. (well, actually I want two, the albinos are amazing, but let's take it slow.)
This is going to be far off into the future, of course, but I like educating myself early to work it into my future plans. So, here we go:

1.) Where does one find a BCC? I tried to look around to price shop but no one seems to specify what theirs is. If this is your first boa, I strongly recommend you stick with a BCI instead of a BCC. BCCs can be much touchier than BCIs - both in husbandry and temperament. They are not the greatest first boa. But BCIs are fantastic and there are many pure locality BCIs available if you aren't into morphs. However, whichever you choose, Here are a few resources for you: Facebook - Boa Constrictor Aficionados, Reptile Classifieds - Boa Constrictors, or Pure-Locality Boas are some good groups to get you started there. A couple of breeders on Facebook that don't have personal websites but are excellent are: Michael Masters (Masters Morphs), Ryan Burke (Clockwork Reptiles), and Star Schaffer (Star's Snakes) - Star is WONDERFUL to work with!! Here are a couple of websites for good breeders working with both BCI and BCC....
http://www.cuttingedgeherp.com/ - Vin Russo
http://www.legacyreptiles.com/southamerica.htm - Orlando and Joel Diaz
http://www.riobravoreptiles.com/ - Gus Rentfro
http://www.deviantconstrictors.com/i...strictors.html - Jonathan Brady (JB) - this is probably the FIRST place I'd go for a Guyana BCC. JB has the best!

2.) I notice there are variations in tail brightness- some babies have blood red tails, some have more of a brown color. Will the color they have as babies stay as they age? That's mostly a difference of whether or not the snake is a BCC or BCI. The BCCs have the blood-red tails. The babies usually have brighter coloration so the coloring will tend to tone down as the snake ages.

3.) How fast to boas grow? This will determine when I will get my boa; I read it's okay to keep them in tubs as young'uns, until they get too big- and I want to make sure I have a nice large enclosure ready for my girl when that happens. They grow fast. However, if you start with a baby, you should be able to keep him comfortably in a tub until he's about 2 years old or about 4 ft.

4.) To follow that up, when is "too big" for a tub? 5'? 6'? See above.

5.) Red tails seem semi-aboreal... True? Yes, they will climb if given the opportunity.

6.) I read on redtailboas.com (or something like that) on their official care sheet that you can control how big your boa goes by feeding... that sounds incorrect.. yet it's on their care sheet on an official-looking site. The answer is "sort of." If you keep your boa on rats all it's life, it generally won't hit the growth spurt that seems to be prompted when boas are fed rabbits. So they generally don't get as big. However, boas are large snakes and you should not withhold food to try to keep your snake on the small side. Most boas will do fine on 2 jumbo rats fed every 14-21 days. Female BCCs, however, almost always need rabbits - they can and do get huge.

7.) I heard they have more personality than ballies? Oh absolutely! All of mine are incredibly curious and outgoing snakes. They like to be held and will immediately climb out of their cages to say hi. My hypo female and my snow female will both hang out for hours and watch tv with me. My Argentines know their mama and won't let anyone but me take them out without huffing and puffing and trying to imitate a cobra. They are not shy snakes and almost never refuse a meal.

8.) Where does one find the large 6x2x2 enclosures? Where can I find an even bigger and more decorative display one rather than a compact PVC box?
www.pvccages.com
http://www.constrictorsnw.com/
http://www.animalplastics.com/
Personally, I think these places are the best. I like Constrictors NW and Ed is really nice and knowledgeable - he'll help you a lot.

9.) How do you guys keep humidity up with such large enclosures? The proper enclosure will not be a problem. The cages are designed to maintain good humidity.

10.) Vivarium for RTB: have you done it? is it manageable? any particular advice or tales to tell? I personally have not done it, and I don't think I ever would - even though I'd love to. My concern is the size you'd need to build to accommodate a large snake in a naturalistic environment. It would be very expensive and I think rather difficult to maintain. Not for the average keeper. But not impossible either.

And lastly,
feel free to include a picture of your boa; they're gorgeous to look at. Sorry for the questions; I like to plan far in advance! Always best to know what you're getting into.

Here are a few of my younger babies....

Savannah - 2011 female dh leopard albino



Dali - 2013 female Monstertail Pastel Dream



Pandora - 2012 female Sunglow Arabesque



Peaches - 2011 female Hypo dh Ivory Ghost



Jadis - 2011 female Snow



Salvador - 2011 male Jungle



Zeppelin - 2012 male dh leopard albino

[Daybreaker]

Great info so far!

Here's some pics of my boas:

Jericho, jungle morph Colombian BCI:



Jaida, hypo morph Colombian BCI:



DiOra: sharp line albino morph Colombian BCI:



Attika, pure Hog Island BCI:



Revo, pure T+ albino Argentine BCO:



Ravenna, pure 100% het T+ albino Argentine BCO:



Olive, pure het anery Peruvian Long tail BCL:

[DooLittle]

Welcome to the addiction!!!



Here are a few of my younger babies....

Savannah - 2011 female dh leopard albino



Dali - 2013 female Monstertail Pastel Dream



Pandora - 2012 female Sunglow Arabesque



Peaches - 2011 female Hypo dh Ivory Ghost



Jadis - 2011 female Snow



Salvador - 2011 male Jungle



Zeppelin - 2012 male dh leopard albino

Great info, you are always so thorough and awesome! And I ♥♥♥ Zeppelin .

Op- great helpful info so far. Yes, they have amazing entertaining personalities. You may check out Bob Futo as well. I got a ball from him, but I have seen some gorgeous boas come from him too.

Here are mine-

1. Hypo "Guapo"





.1 Coral Albino "Ripley"

[WifeOfSlasher]

Here's my guy. He's "just a normal"





What I didn't see answered... These guys to tend to darken overall. My guy was more of a light grey with pink sides and a dark red/orange tail as a baby. Now... He is soooo coral with the same fabulous red/orange tail and some fabulous purples that pop up in his light phase.

[WifeOfSlasher]

So you can see how they can darken. Here he was when he was much smaller.

Light phase




Dark phase


And even younger.


As you can see... His tail hasn't changed much.


My guy is not "browning out" like some.

[DestinyLynette]

Thank you all *very* much for the info and for sharing your babies. I'm excited to get one some day. I didn't realize BCC were touchier with husbandry- I will look into BCI. Which locality to you recommend? Is there any particular ones known to get larger or stay smaller?

Yes, the hypo I held at the pet shop was a Columbian. Active little girl. They feel so interesting! Way different skin texture than balls.

DooLittle: I absolutely fell in love with Ripley last time you posted pictures of her. She's the reason I want an albino some day!