Another dumeril boa vs Columbian boa question

[Gio]

I will respond with photos and more information later on.

In my opinion, a BCI male or female would be a much better handling and display option. You can certainly grow a large male or female but age is the key to ultimate end size of a healthy BC. Note HEALTHY here.

A Dumeril boa displays much of the same behavior that the royals you already own do. "Dumeril Ground Boa". You will get a semi arboreal experience with a properly set up BCI. At least some of the time. As far as beauty, I will post photos of a 6 foot male locality Colombian BCI from Barranquilla that will rival the beauty of many BCC boas.

Nothing against Dumeril boas, but they are not a big change from what you have with royals and don't display as well as BCI/BCC.

What is it your it your girl does not like about boa constrictors?

You can get some stunning BCI and BCC specimens for $300 and under.

[Sauzo]

I've had Rosey refuse a meal once in 3 years. She loves to eat so much I had to put her on a diet. Vicky eats anything anytime. She is my go to gal when my BP doesn't eat. If a boa refuses a meal, it usually means something is wrong. I swear the 2 favorite things of boas to do is eat and poop. SO to answer the question, no, boas are not problem feeders.

[Gio]

As I said above, I would post some photos and give you more information.

This is a 2012 Barranquilla, Colombian BCI. The locality is what a natural cross between BCI and BCC would look like in nature. The breeder, Gus Rentfro (Rio Bravo Reptiles) and his friend, Vincent Russo, author of THE COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR have stated these boas exhibit traits of both BCC and BCI. A friend of mine who knows Gus told me these were almost labeled as Colombian BCC boas. However Mr. Rentfro did not want to do that without 110% verification.

This is labeled a BCI. It was also under your price point even after shipping. I bought this male from Legacy Reptiles and they now have all of the old Rentfro stock since Gus has stopped producing BCs.



These boas handle well and are docile in general.



They also have amazing colors. This boa is not a morph and comes from pure lines.





As for size, you can certainly grow a large, healthy male. They can equal the size of a female in certain situations. If you only have 1 male BC and no other female BC's in the house giving off pheromones the boa will not be affected in the same manner it would be during sexual maturity with a female giving off "signals".

Raising a "shoulder pet" male doesn't require feeding/intentionally feeding less. Males can handle the food just like the females can. The secret to size is health and longevity. The big boa posted here was said to be 17 years old. They can and will grow all their lives. Feeding and husbandry play very important roles in the growth. A boa kept in the higher end of the recommended temp threshold and fed larger prey will grow larger and faster than one that is not.

There are a lot of variables involved but IF you want a large male you can get one. Of course genetics will also play a role and a boa that may be from a line that is constantly producing small animals will be less likely to get huge. I feed my male 1 pound rabbits, but I also DON'T feed him over the winter.

He is 6+ feet, lean and fairly active. Big females from his family tree are about 7 feet long. I think Sauzo may have a sister female to my male.


Here are some photos with cages in the background for size reference. Unfortunately these are I-phone pics and the lighting is terrible.





If you're looking for a display animal, you will see more activity from a boa constrictor VS the Dums. This is where your personal preference comes in.

What type of snake do you want to enjoy and what types of behaviors do you want to see? If you want to see a wider spectrum of behaviors, you will need to furnish your cage with "options".

My guy typically hunts from his perches and I can usually tell 3-4 weeks after the previous meal when he is ramping up his activity. I will often let him do this (hunt/climb) for a few days as it is healthy and fun to watch.

When I know he is 100% ready, I let him have his food.




A well appointed boa constrictor cage.


More outdoor action.




And,,, some "in cage" display activity.




Obviously I prefer boa constrictors and carpet pythons to most other species so I'm selling you a biased opinion.

Your desire, if I understood it at the beginning of the thread, was a large/semi large snake that is docile, fun and easy to handle and is something that will be a good display animal. Of the two possibilities you mentioned, using those criteria, I think the boa constrictor fits best.

You should look around, research more, and take all the time you need. See what your girl likes. She may find handling an adult BC is thrilling, as they like to wrap and hold on and investigate the world. They are not "runners" like retics can be and BCs usually move in controlled, slow, deliberate manners. My coastal carpet is a lot more sporadic and does not hold as tight as my BC. BCs give you a big hug and anchor down. They move a lot but use you as their foundation.

Dumeril boas are cool, and I'd gladly trade our royal for one, but I would not take one over a BC or carpet.

Best of luck in your search! I hope you have fun and really get what you want.

I hope this helped a bit.

[threezero]

I will respond with photos and more information later on.

In my opinion, a BCI male or female would be a much better handling and display option. You can certainly grow a large male or female but age is the key to ultimate end size of a healthy BC. Note HEALTHY here.

A Dumeril boa displays much of the same behavior that the royals you already own do. "Dumeril Ground Boa". You will get a semi arboreal experience with a properly set up BCI. At least some of the time. As far as beauty, I will post photos of a 6 foot male locality Colombian BCI from Barranquilla that will rival the beauty of many BCC boas.

Nothing against Dumeril boas, but they are not a big change from what you have with royals and don't display as well as BCI/BCC.

What is it your it your girl does not like about boa constrictors?

You can get some stunning BCI and BCC specimens for $300 and under.

please please do share photos! I think she was mostly put off by the sandy light colouring and the bright red tail on that particular specimen I show her (the bright red tail was what draw me to the specimen in the first place...)

i realize boa have great feeding response but I was specifically asking about the dumeril because from what I read online they can be trouble feeders.

another possible area for concern. Do the Colombians need constant handling to stay tame? I have seen some video of boa breeder with boas with questionable personality. While I have never come across video of any dumeril that is not slow moving gentle giants. But that could be due to the fact that there simply less people keeping dumeril


I don't always have time to constant handle my snake. What I mean is I may have a week where I handle them a lot and than I will have couple week of busy work schedule that only give me enough time for cage upkeep. My ball pythons for example being ball pythons will stay tame and handable during my busy schedules. My carpet Python on the other hand need so much work that whenever I am busy she reverts back to her old self after not being handle for a while. That's probabaly why she is still hard to deal with after 2 years in my care.

This is is hard decision and I guess it should be which ever I go for I will take care of him/ her for the rest of their life. Wanna make sure I make the right choice.

[Gio]

please please do share photos! I think she was mostly put off by the sandy light colouring and the bright red tail on that particular specimen I show her (the bright red tail was what draw me to the specimen in the first place...)

i realize boa have great feeding response but I was specifically asking about the dumeril because from what I read online they can be trouble feeders.

another possible area for concern. Do the Colombians need constant handling to stay tame? I have seen some video of boa breeder with boas with questionable personality. While I have never come across video of any dumeril that is not slow moving gentle giants.


I don't always have time to constant handle my snake. What I mean is I may have a week where I handle them a lot and than I will have couple week of busy work schedule that only give me enough time for cage upkeep. My ball pythons for example being ball pythons will stay tame and handable during my busy schedules. My carpet Python on the other hand need so much work that whenever I am busy she reverts back to her old self after not being handle for a while. That's probabaly why she is still hard to deal with after 2 years in my care.

This is is hard decision and I guess it should be which ever I go for I will take care of him/ her for the rest of their life. Wanna make sure I make the right choice.

You may have typed this while I was posting. Check my thread above your last post. I have the BC pictures there.

In my experience a BC will remain docile once it has experienced handling. I am NOT a frequent handler and only use a hook to tap my guy and then I take him out. I know some people who have been tagged by large BCs and have come out OK. I've seen photos of people who have been tagged by retics that have been to the hospital and the retic that bit them was NOT all that large as far as retics go.

Check my thread and report back with questions if you have any.

I tend to like heavy contrasting patterns and am not a fan of faded BCs or many of the morphs.

[Gio]

So did you look at any of the photos?

Any other questions?

I can point you in the direction of some very good BCC and BCI breeders.

Sorry I can't help with the Dumerils.

I saw 2 of them (Dumeril boas) at our local reptile store yesterday and they were very thick. Almost Burmese python thick of course they have been around there for a long time.

[JoshSloane]

Everyone here as usual is giving wonderful information about boas. Another thing to point out is that even within a species, two genetically different boas that are raised with the exact same husbandry standards can achieve vastly different adult sizes. I can take some pictures later, but I have two female BCI that were born in different litters, but only about a month apart. They are housed in the same rack, fed the same frequency, and handled all the same. One female is almost twice the size of the other currently.

My vote always goes to BCI over dumerils. My largest albino girl is so puppy dog tame that she doesn't even strike at rats anymore. Just slithers over and slowly eats it.

[Sauzo]

Everyone here as usual is giving wonderful information about boas. Another thing to point out is that even within a species, two genetically different boas that are raised with the exact same husbandry standards can achieve vastly different adult sizes. I can take some pictures later, but I have two female BCI that were born in different litters, but only about a month apart. They are housed in the same rack, fed the same frequency, and handled all the same. One female is almost twice the size of the other currently.

My vote always goes to BCI over dumerils. My largest albino girl is so puppy dog tame that she doesn't even strike at rats anymore. Just slithers over and slowly eats it.

She's probably getting bored with them lol. One of my girls would just grab rats and eat them, not coil them but after I fed her her first rabbit yesterday, she went bonkers for it. She slammed it, coiled it and got all hissy when I tried to pick aspen off of it and pulled it away from my hand like I was going to take it from her lol. She never even cared if I did that with her rats, she would just keep eating it. And I agree, cant go wrong with a BCI, they are the puppies and 2 year old kids of the snake world....keep them away from tables as they try to pull everything off of them that they can reach when you aren't paying attention lol.

[Lady mkrj58]

Interesting Reading

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

[Gio]

Interesting Reading

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

I'm glad you think so.

I was hoping to hear from the OP to see if there was a decision in the works.

Boas are wonderful snakes that's for sure!