BCI Male or Female

[L.West]

Here is my new boy "Owen" Male BCI Coral/Albino





Let me know your thoughts on him.

Thank you

[Reinz]

Nice choice, beautiful!

I'm sure that you will be happy with him.

[dkatz4]

Owen: what a looker! Congratulations, I am sure you will enjoy him immensely. Pursuant to this thread, I would certainly be curious to know his measurements now and in the future but regardless I think you've found yourself a fantastic slithery new friend.

[CloudtheBoa]

Good responses above.


There really isn't anything else to consider if you are NOT breeding. IF you ARE, a female may exhibit some nasty behavior when gravid or fresh after giving birth. Otherwise what the others have said holds true. Feeding mistakes, or scared/defensive behavior due to caging, husbandry or newly acquired/unsettled animals.

As far as a "pet" you would be fine with either. Males can attain the same size as females if you do not have any other female boas in the home giving of pheromonal cues which would signal breeding behavior and loss of appetite.

Husbandry and feeding frequency play the biggest roles in the growth rate of your BC.

This is my male.

I don't get tired of showing him off. He is a Gus Rentfro bred, Barranquilla, Colombian, pure locality boa.



He will hit 4 years old late June and he is 6 feet long on the dot.

After learning a great deal about boas over the years, I feel I probably overfed him to a certain extent when he was younger. Now I feed him once a month in the summer and not at all over the winter months.

If he lives 20 - 40 years I'm sure he will make 7 feet.

In general BCI are very hardy, more forgiving of husbandry and feeding mistakes than BCC and also are said to be more docile. These statements are "general" and a great deal of BCC are becoming equally easy to care for and handle because of captive breeding and better understanding of their requirements.

If you are getting back into boas, get what tickles your fancy the most. Giants are not the norm within either species and there are very successful keepers of both BCC and BCI.

I agree with Gio here! Do NOT get a male if you're worried about size, they still very very much have the potential to get the size of a female. There isn't as big of a dimorphism as people seem to think, I've even seen plenty of breeders the same size or bigger than their female mates (although whether that's because she's bred young or something else idk, both are usually a good 6'-7'). My male will be 5 here in August and he's slowly creeping up on 7'. He's 6.5' right now, and still growing (a few inches a year but hey it's growth).

I feed in the same way as Reinz does, and this past year (his second or third winter fast I believe), he put on 3" in just a couple of months after taking almost a year to grow 3".

Both of my current male and my female boas are super docile. My sunglow has yet to bite me, and I can count the amount of times my male has so much as postured/hissed at me on one hand. Even with food in the air, he won't strike unless food is actually in front of his face (not that I chance it but when I was younger and dumber I've walked by my rat breeding cages with him on my shoulders and he wouldn't even acknowledge them with a tongue flick).

Here is my new boy "Owen" Male BCI Coral/Albino





Let me know your thoughts on him.

Thank you

Gorgeous! I was debating on a coral when I got my sunglow last year, but the fact she was female and the coral was male made her win out. Plus, I didn't want to wait a year or two to see how well it colored up with them being my first albino. haha I may get one in the future though!