Thinking about snake #2, opinions?

[Reinz]

Boa all the way. I got a little pied BP girl and while she is great, she pales in activity and willingness of interaction to my BCI girl. Of course a boa will need a much larger cage, larger food and more precautions since making a mistake with an adult BP is one thing but making a mistake with an 8ft boa is a whole different game. That said, my 6ft BCI girl is super tame and usually likes to have her head pet or her body pet and loves when I leave the cage door open as she just hangs out in the doorway with her head resting on the litter dam for hours. You definitely wouldn't regret a boa but remember, if you get "tired" of your pet, trying to get rid of a large boa is much harder than a BP so keep that in mind as your boa is going to be with you a long time. Oh also boas don't hide nearly as much as BPs. My BCI girl only uses her hide when she is shedding or times when she is feeling grumpy and doesn't want to be pet or touched which isn't very often.

I followed Sauzo's advice and got a 5 ft Boa for my second snake. She's everything that he said it would be.
I couldn't be happier!

[Black Hills Reptiles]

I think I agree with everyone on this with adding a few more. Carpet/diamond pythons good choice. Boas are great, like mentioned you can get dawrf and cool color morphs. My favorite but under rated is the woma pythons. Or if you have the money to spend and want something no one has you could get a black headed python. About the size of the boa without the girth. I'm a big fan of Australian snakes and most of them if cbb are great

[bcr229]

As much as I like the BP's, if I want to pull a snake out of its enclosure and hold it I invariably end up picking either a boa or a king snake.

[DennisM]

An adult common BCI or Dum is not going to fit well in a 55 gallon tank as it's too narrow. One of my adult BRB's came with one, and he did fit in it, but he's a slender boa. A dwarf dum that tops out at 5', an adult male BRB, or one of the smaller locality BCI's like a Sonoran or Tarahumara would also fit.

The problem with all of these is screen top = problems maintaining humidity. There are threads where people have shown how they altered their 55-gal tanks to be used on their sides, with plexiglass drop-doors installed on the top (which is now the side), to give the snake more floor space and improve heat and humidity retention. Here is a recent one: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...a-tank-on-side

Agreed, the 12 inch width is not appropriate for a heavy bodied snake. At one time I kept larger Honduran milks in 35 gallon tanks turned on their side, it worked out reasonably well. Obviously not heavy bodied snakes, but the 36x18 size was nice for them. I hate the weight of glass tanks and no longer use them.

As for the OP's original question, I would like to add sumatran short tails to the list of candidates. Not too long, heavy bodied and very we'll mannered. An adult could be kept in a 55 gallon tank on it's side, but not upright.

[Lyssa981]

I've heard about the side set ups but not seen exactly how it was done, thanks for that. That is toatally doable and most likly what I'll go with if I do get a larger snake. I'm thinking a smaller boa, but still not sure what kind. I don't want to spend a crazy amount so a lot will depend on availability in the area, but at least I have a basic starting point. On a side note I have half the screen covered to maintain a proper humidity/temp. It was high on my list as Sampson's prevous owner's lack of husbandry caused multibal layers of stuck shed and a burn. My poor baby was in a cold basement with a heat lamp, with no cover on the screen and a UTH heater that had a layer of rocks over it.

[Sauzo]

I'm actually about to pull the trigger on this little boy as my deal for a BCA fell through....

[IMG][/IMG]

And as for caging, pretty much no glass cage is going to work well for any boa since first they get fairly big if you are talking a BCI or BCC which are the most common and second they are pretty strong so some little flimsy screen top isn't going to keep a 6ft+ boa from pushing through it.

[LivingwithBalls]

I'm actually about to pull the trigger on this little boy as my deal for a BCA fell through....

[IMG][/IMG]

Gorgeous!


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[Lyssa981]

The side tank lay-out was for a small boa, was it not? I thought it said Red-Tail, but I could very well be mistaken. What is the bidggest snake (in feet prefeably) that would be comfortable in that enclosier? I work at home deopt so I can totally get the side figured out. I think I will stay with those carpet belts for added support also; they are easy to latch close, but hold a ridiculous amount of weight.

[bcr229]

The side tank lay-out was for a small boa, was it not? I thought it said Red-Tail, but I could very well be mistaken. What is the bidggest snake (in feet prefeably) that would be comfortable in that enclosier? I work at home deopt so I can totally get the side figured out. I think I will stay with those carpet belts for added support also; they are easy to latch close, but hold a ridiculous amount of weight.

I prefer at least one square foot of floor space per foot of snake length, though that can also vary a bit based on how heavy-bodied the snake is. For instance, a my six foot long Dumeril's boa will need more space than my six foot Mexican Black King snake or Brazilian Rainbow boa.